Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1864-11-19
From the Mississippi souadrou.

From the Mississippi squadron.
Dull sirnes-A Change of COMMONWEALTH
sniral Porter-Rspausng he, Iadionala-A.
sad accident -
Correspondence of the. State 10 urnal.s
! - MissIssIPPI Sou pRosl
3 - SB.S. S. Mound City, Oct 2sth.
Messrs Editors IS Standing. or rather sit
ting out a watch on gunboat at night, es-
.pecially during the long midnight hours, is
tedious and one casts about him for something
to do that viii pass away the time, and this
being precisely the situation in which l find
myself at present, drop line or two to the
The rebels in the vicinity of Davis Bend,
or Hurricane Island, flor we have taken up
our old station here,) will not furnish me
with 4 single item We neither see or hear
anythingsof- them, so will-confne myself to
what is and has taken place in the affairs Of
this squadron. First we have change of
commanders and Admiral Porter has left us
As far as my knowledge extends, Admiral D.
d. Porter was universally beloved by the
men in the command and we all miss him
much. He was kind, humane, yet strict
disciplinarian, fearless and cool in times of
danger and an officer of excellent Judgment
In his farewell address, which was read on the
quarterback of every vessel, he feelingly
and gratefully alludes to the warm and eff
Gent support he has always received from
the officers and men of this squadron, and
reminds us of the fact that since his advent
as commander of the Mississippi Squadron,
some 500 miles of the Mississippi river, and
nearly 1000 miles of its tributaries have
been opened to almost uninterrupted naviga-
ton. He deprecates the fact that what this
navy has done has not been more highly ap-
preciated by the military authorities, hints at
the prospect at no late day, Of having the sat,
isfaction of furnishing some of our foreign al
lies to the would-be Confederacy, and hopes
to meet us all in other fields of service
Our squadron is now commanded by Captain
A. II. Pennock, who has been for a long time
Fleet Captain and Commandant at Cairo.
-About three weeks ago a party of some
sixty caulkers and carpenters, in charge of
Capt. tanning, q. S. N, came down and
commenced work on, the LadianOld,~ with the
assistance of our large crew. She is now
nearly ready for launching, having been rails
ed some seven feet, new hog chains put in
and newly caulked rerdy for the water. They
are now Constructing the ways on which to
launch her, and then as soon as the old Mis-
sissippi concludes to rise we shall have another
new gunboat. The hull and machinery are
almost entirely uninjured, only the upper
works being burnt off, and with very little
additional expense she wild be as good as
new Capt. tanning deserves credit for the
expeditions manner in which he has ACCOM-
plished SO heavy job. We understand he is
to take command of her when completed.
A serious accident occurred here an hour
ago. 1t has been the custom to send boat
out to passing steamers to save their landing
whenever it was necessary to communicate
with them. Unless the, boat is manned by
an experienced crew this is always attended
with great danger. . This evening a boat went
out to put two women and boy (passengers)
on board the great steamer Continental. Al
though the engines were stopped the wheels
continued to .revolve with the force of the
current. The small boat did not succeed in
making fast to the steamers side, and was
carried under the ponderous wheel, and with
a crash was stove to atoms. The boat con-
tanned nine persons, two of whom saved them
selves by clingihg tosthe steamers guards.
One woman, the boy and one man were pick
ed up afterwards by our boats, while the
other female and three men were drowned
Among the lost we have to lament the loss
of Mr. Thomas B. Taylor, Acting Masters
Mate on this vessel, who was in charge of the
boat. He is supposed to have been struck
by the buckets of the wheel and crushed in
stantly with the boat. He was young and
promising officer and although he had been
on board the Mound City but a short time, he
had endeared himself to his messmates and
the entire crew, by whom his loss is deeply
felt.
There is corral Of some fifteen hundred
negro women and children on the Davis plan
tations, but no able bodied men. Some are
picking their little patches of cotton, but
most of. them are idle. rs5sts E-f
Our health is good and the weather fine.
Yours, j. b. A.