The government gunboats started at 4.20 o’clock and dropped slowly down, stern first, until the Confederates opened fire, when they turned about and returned the fire with vigor. The Union rams under Ellet had, until this time, kept in the rear, but when the firing began two of them—the Queen of the West and the Monarch, swift vessels for their day—took advantage of the smoke, dashed through the government line, and boldly headed for the Confederate boats.

This attack was wholly unexpected, and the crowds of Memphis citizens on the heights groaned aloud. The officers of the Confederate ships were startled, too. Some of their vessels swerved about under the nervous handling of their tiller wheels, and that gave the gallant Ellet the opportunity he hoped for. With the Queen of the West he crashed fairly into the broadside of the Confederate ship Lovell, and she sank out of sight immediately. But as the Queen of the West hauled clear, the quick-witted pilot of the Confederate ram Beauregard rammed her, and she was headed for the Arkansas shore, where she grounded. The government ram Monarch was close behind the Queen of the West, and the Confederate rams Beauregard and Price made a dash at her from opposite sides. She cleverly eluded them, and they crashed together, the Beauregard making a hole in the Price that sent her to the Arkansas shore.

That mishap very naturally confused the pilot of the Beauregard, and while he was recovering his wits the Monarch turned on him and rammed. Just then a shot from the Benton pierced the Beauregard’s boiler, and with the steam and scalding water pouring over her crew, she surrendered. The Monarch took charge of her and towed her over toward the Arkansas shore, where she sank and quelled the agonies of the dying by burying them under the river.

And then, to add to the disasters of the Confederates, a shot pierced the steam-chest of the Little Rebel, sending her also to the morgue on the Arkansas shore.

The remainder of the Confederate squadron now turned and fled for safety, but the shells from the government flotilla were too swift for them. The Thompson was sunk, and the Bragg and Sumter surrendered. Only the Van Dorn escaped.

On the whole, this was the most interesting day in the history of the flotilla. The fight was soon over (Memphis was in the hands of the flotilla at 11 o’clock), but the Confederates fought with the greatest gallantry until four of their ships were destroyed. The chief feature of the fight, from a naval point of view, was the destructive work of the rams, for therein one may find a foreshadowing of what shall come to pass if ever two modern squadrons are arrayed in battle. Three ships were rammed out of the conflict within fifteen or twenty minutes; the actual time does not appear. It was the first fight of steam rams in the history of the world.

While the flagship remained at Memphis until June 29th, the river was practically opened as far as Vicksburg by this fight. An expedition to coöperate with the army was sent up the White River in Arkansas, where, at Charles City, a combined attack was made by the gunboats and an Indiana regiment under Colonel Fitch, on the Confederate works. The Mound City was leading the gunboats, and had arrived within 600 yards of the Confederate fort, when a shell entered her casemate, killing three men and bursting her boiler. Of 175 officers and men on board, but three officers and twenty-two men escaped unhurt from the frightful blast. Eighty-two died of wounds and the scalding, and forty-three were drowned or shot in the water when they jumped overboard to escape the steam, for the Confederates continued firing at her crew when they were swimming away from her.

The other gunboats continued battle until Fitch was ready to make an assault from the rear, when they ceased firing, and Fitch carried the works by storm. The Confederate commander was Capt. Joseph Fry, who was captured and executed by the Spaniards in the Virginius expedition, of which he was the leader.

On June 29th Flag Officer Davis steamed down the river from Memphis, and early on the morning of July 1, 1862, came upon a government fleet lying just above Vicksburg, under the command of Admiral Farragut.

The story of Farragut’s journey from the Gulf of Mexico to this point will be told in the next chapter.