ightly wounded." Naturally, such
work as this could not drive the Confederates from their trenches; and
the fleet soon concluded to leave the army to capture Port Hudson,
while the ships steamed on up the river toward Vicksburg. The army
kept up the siege for weeks, until the Confederates, hearing of the
fall of Vicksburg, surrendered.

While the Union fleet was thus fighting its way up to Vicksburg, the
Confederates were working away at a great ram that they were building
in a secluded spot far up the Yazoo River. Work on the ram was being
pushed with the greatest energy; and the Union sailors, in their ships
on the Mississippi, listened daily to the stories of escaping negroes,
and wondered when the big ship would come down and give them a tussle.
The crew of the ram were no less impatient for the fray; for they were
tired of being hidden away up a little river, plagued by mosquitoes
and gnats. The dark shades of the heavy forests were seldom brightened
by a ray of sun. The stream was full of alligators, that lay lazily on
the banks all day, and bellowed dismally all night. The chirp of a
bird was rarely heard. In its place were the discordant screams of
cranes, or hisses of the moccasins or cotton-mouths. When at last the
carpenters' clatter had ceased, and the ram, ready for action, lay in
the little river, the crew were mustered on the deck, and told that
the new boat had been built to clear the Union vessels from the
Mississippi, and that purpose should be carried out. No white flag was
to flutter from that flagstaff; and she should sink with all her crew
before she would surrender. Any sailor who feared to enter upon such a
service might leave the ship at once. No one left; and the "Arkansas"
started down the river to look for an enemy. She was not long in
finding one. At the mouth of the Yazoo floated three Union
gunboats,--the "Carondelet," the "Tyler," and the "Queen of the West."
As the ram came down into sight, her men heard the roll of the drums
on the decks of the hostile vessels. The gunboats quickly opened fire,
which was as promptly returned by the "Arkansas;" and, as she came
swiftly rushing down the stream, the three vessels fled before her.
The men on the ram were all new recruits, and made awkward work of the
firing; but as she came to close quarters she sent her shells crashing
into the Union ships, while the shot she received in return rattled
harmlessly off her steel-mailed sides. The "Carondelet