ctiles
that struck the boat, injured a boiler sufficiently to allow the
escape of steam. In ten minutes our engines moved very feebly. We were
forced to "tie up" to the eastern bank of the river. We were by this
time out of range of the Rebel battery. The _Neosho_ had opened fire,
and by the time we made fast to the bank, the Rebels were in retreat.

The _Neosho_ ceased firing and moved to our relief. Before she reached
us, the steamer _Atlantic_ came in sight, descending the river.
We hailed her, and she came alongside. Immediately on learning our
condition, her captain offered to tow the _Von Phul_ to Red River,
twenty miles distant. There we could lie, under protection of the
gun-boats, and repair the damages to our machinery. We accepted his
offer at once.

I can hardly imagine a situation of greater helplessness, than a
place on board a Western passenger-steamer under the guns of a hostile
battery. A battle-field is no comparison. On solid earth the
principal danger is from projectiles. You can fight, or, under some
circumstances, can run away. On a Mississippi transport, you are
equally in danger of being shot. Added to this, you may be struck by
splinters, scalded by steam, burned by fire, or drowned in the water.
You cannot fight, you cannot run away, and you cannot find shelter.
With no power for resistance or escape, the sense of danger and
helplessness cannot be set aside.

A few weeks after the occurrence just narrated, the steamer _Brazil_,
on her way from Vicksburg to Natchez, was fired upon by a Rebel
battery near Rodney, Mississippi. The boat was struck a half-dozen
times by shot and shell. More than a hundred rifle-bullets were thrown
on board. Three persons were killed and as many wounded.

Among those killed on the _Brazil_, was a young woman who had engaged
to take charge of a school for negro children at Natchez. The Rebel
sympathizers at Natchez displayed much gratification at her death. On
several occasions I heard some of the more pious among them declare
that the hand of God directed the fatal missile. They prophesied
violent or sudden deaths to all who came to the South on a similar
mission.

The steamer _Black Hawk_ was fired upon by a Rebel battery at the
mouth of Red River. The boat ran aground in range of the enemy's guns.
A shell set her pilot-house on fire, and several persons were killed
in the cabin.

Strange to say, though aground and on fire under a Rebel battery, the
_Black