Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1892-12-15

Which Aarylandsrs Played I'm
portant Roles, Ba Of Whsca the
Present Generations Knows Little
Gen. Dick Taylor's Unmsaal
Praise--A Deed That Ricaied
Those Of Nelson and Dandonsld.
"Thus we regained control Of our
section of the Mississippi by an act
that for daring viii bear compare
son with any recorded of Nelson or
Dandonal."
Such is the comment of Gen.
Dick Taylor upon the capture of
the United States ironclad gunboat
lndianola by Major, afterward Gen.
Joseph L. Brent. These ere words
of wondrous praise coming from a
man so studiously chary of COM
mendation as Destruction and
Reconstruction," General Taylor's
book, shows its author to be.
The commander of the expedition
by which the capture of the Indian
ola was effected is now a resident of
Baltimore. He belongs to the we'll
known Brent family SO closely con-
nected with Maryland, especially in
the first settlement. when Giles
Brent was Governor and Margaret
Brent quelled a soldiers mutiny
and upheld the proprietary govern
ment, facts with which every stu
dent of Maryland history is famil-
lar.
What Marylanders did during the
Civil War in Virginia is well known
to the present generation, and there
are still to be seen in the streets of
Baltimore grey veterans whose
achievements are the common pride
and history of the State. A peru
sal of such books as that of Gene
raj Dick Taylor will, however, re-
veal many incidents in which Ma
ryland men in far and remote fields
have rivaled their comrades in Vir-
ginia in feats of arms but little
kown to those of today. None of
! these incidents stands out with
greater prominence than the cap
tur,s of the Indianola.
In February, 1868, all of the
Missis sippi from the Ohio to the
gulf b ad been captured from the
ConfedeI-ates by the Union armies
and navy, except small section of
the great river lying between Vicks-
burg and Port Gibson. The small
section constituted the only means
of communicating between the east
and west divisions Of the Confede-
racy and was of vital import ance.
1t was guarded north and south by
two intrenched camps, and the forts
at Vicksburg and Port Gibson,
both then attacked by large armies,
and both defended with all the re-
sources of the Confederacy.
Into this section Of the river, of
such infinite value to the Confede-
rates, the Union commanders had
introduced a wooden gunboat called
the Queen of the West, which had
courageously and safely run past
the formidable Vicksburg batteries,
but which had been captured by the
Confederates in Red river. The
captors, however, had no time te
rejoice at their restoration to ths
control Of the river before it wa.
again taken from them by the Un.
ion ironclad gunboat Indianola,
which also passed the Vicksbura
batteries in safety.
Gen. Richard Taylor, who com,
manded in Louisiana, seeing thai
this formidable ironclad completely
severed him from the Confederate
east of the Mississippi, determined
to make a desperate effort to cap
ture the Indianola and thus reopen
his communications. His naval re
sources consisted of the Queen o.
the West, just captured, but in bad
order, and q New Orleans towboai
called the Webb, upon which hai
been mounted q gun, while q row
of cotton bales had been extended
across her in front Of the boilers,