ay had overtaken and recalled Taylor on his way up the Atchafalaya
to bring down the _Queen of the West_ and her consorts, the _Grand
Duke_ and _Mary T_, to join in the intended operations against
Weitzel. Although Taylor at once sent a staff officer to urge
despatch, yet from some cause more than two full days had passed
before, on the afternoon of the 13th, the distant smoke of the
Confederate gun-boats coming down Lake Chicot was seen by the
lookouts of the Union navy in Grand Lake. At daylight the _Queen
of the West_ and the _Mary T_, were seen approaching from Chicot
Pass. Cooke at once got the _Estrella, Calhoun_, and _Arizona_
under way, opened fire at long range, and forming his boats in a
crescent began to close with the enemy. Soon, however, the _Queen
of the West_ was seen to be in flames, from the explosion of the
Union shells, and, her consort having promptly taken to flight,
Cooke ceased firing and lowered all his boats to save the crew of
the burning vessel from drowning. Captain Fuller, who had formerly
commanded the _Cotton_, was rescued with 90 of his men, but nearly
30 were lost. Then with a loud explosion the eventful career of
the _Queen of the West_ came to an end, leaving her five guns,
however, once more in the hands of the Union navy. This fortunate
stroke gave the mastery of the Atchafalaya into Cooke's hands with
nothing save Butte-a-la-Rose and two feeble gunboats to hinder his
taking possession.

Once safely across the Cypremort, Taylor's army began to melt away
and his men, as they passed their homes, to fall out without
hindrance. Many were of the simple class called Acadians, with
scant sympathy for either side of the great war into which they
found themselves drawn, and in all the regiments there were many
conscripts.

On the 15th of April, Taylor marched ten miles to New Iberia.
While there, he had the unfinished ironclad gunboat _Stevens_,
previously known as the _Hart_, floated two miles down the Teche,
destroyed by fire, and the wreck sunk in the channel.

On the 16th he marched twenty miles, crossed the Vermilion River,
went into camp on high ground on the north bank, and burned the
bridges behind him.

Early in the morning of the 15th of April, Banks took up the pursuit
with his united force, now outnumbering Taylor's as three to one.
Weitzel led the advance of the main column on the direct road.
Emory followed him, and Grover marching at first on the bayou road
fell