Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1899-03-16

Ir0nI or us so that our DroadSldes could reply, the Hartford's guns did good work. She carried DahIgen o. inch guns, eleven on q side. The fires of the batteries on shore were our tar gets and the men blazed away at them vigorously. Far from needing to be urged en, the gunners had to be re- strained ard many of the admirals orders at this were given to stop too rapid firing.
 It was a wild magnifcient scene. as the action grew hotter The numer- oHs bonhres on the shore lighted up hriIliantly with blue and yellow flames The shells thrOwA bv the mortar boats I our rear were wbizzng like mete
 ~s. There was q continual roar from the great numbers of guns constantly in use. Many shots and shells struck the ship, but did very little damage. We were exceedingly fortunate.
 "Then q new difficulty arose. The Smoke became so thick and hung so low over the ship that the pilot could not see ahead, even from his post in the mizzentop, where he had gone for q better view, and from where he was communicating with the deck by means of a speaking tube. The firing was instantly stopped, and it was found. to our horror, that the current had turned the ships bow toward the east bank until we were almost aground under the batteries. The next ship, the Richmond, was dangerously near us, too. 1 don't know just how near we came to running ashore; some said that we touched bottom once, but 1 know that the overhangtng banks, with their trees ana vines, loom ed up fearfully close in front of us. It was q critical moment. Then we had reason to be thankful for the gunbOat Albatross alongside us Her engines backed vigorously and finally succeed cd in turning us around with our head up the river again. This happened just where the stream makes q sharp bend and the current is especially strong.
 "A few minutes after we were well started again it was reported that there was ram on the port bow! This announcement, usually without foundation, of rams bearing down up on us, was q continual bugbear while the fleet was in the river. It used to veX the admiral greatly, because it tended to disturb the men unneceS- sarily. Reports of the rams, alleged to be of terrible power, were often brought by the negroes who found their way to the river banks. T he ad- miraI often said that every one seemed to have the ram fever and he wished he could break it up. In this instance, however, no chances could be taken, and the order was given to Call away the boardersr My father intended to have a hand in this fight himself if there was to be any, and he seized his own cutlass and started forward. He was at that time nearly 62 years old, but wonderfully active and energetic. This ram rumor failed to materalize, however like most of the others, and we went ahead without hindrance. We came to anchor above the bend in the river out ofrange of the batteries. It was remarkable, considering that we had been under fire over an hour, per haps nearly two hours, that we had only one man killed and two wounded. The spars and parts of the deck were pretty we'll splintered up from the shell which had struck them.
 ..As we waited in our safer position in great anxiety for the other ships, of whose fate we knew nothing, we saw a bright light in the sky, which we could tell must come from ship burn ing. We did not know then which one it was, but we learned later from mem bers of it's crew, who made their way to land and up to our position, that it was the Mississippi. It had run hard aground on the shoal at the western bank of the bend and it was found inn possible to get her off. By that time the confederates had got the range much better and their well directed shots cut it up badly. It's commander ordered it to be set on fire and man. aged to get most of his men ashore in boats The other vessels had met with various accidents to their machinery or had run aground on the treacher- ous shoals, and our two, the Hartford and the Albatross. were thus the only ones to pass the batteries. Of course two vessels could not do the same work for which the admiral had des- tined seven, but it is a matter of record that by lowering around the Red river district they kept the enemy pretty short of supplies in that neighborhood.
 As for me, l had to go home when we got up to Vieksburg. My father and some of the officers held a sort of council of war over ne and the de- cision was that I had better go to some safer place So that was my last naval battle. I went to West Point later and became a member of the other branch of the service"