ted down and lodged
against the bank under the enemy's battery, remaining in their power.
The pilot of the boat towing the Juliet abandoned the wheel-house--an
act unparalleled among a class of men whose steadiness and devotion
under the exposure of their calling elicited the highest praise from
Porter and others; the crew also tried to cut the hawsers, but were
stopped by Watson, the captain of the gunboat. A junior pilot named
Maitland, with great bravery and presence of mind, jumped to the wheel
and headed the two boats up river. This confusion in the centre of the
line prevented the Hindman from covering the admiral as Phelps wished,
but he now got below the Juliet and engaged the enemy till she was out
of range. Meanwhile the admiral had found the pilot of the Cricket to
be among the wounded, and taking charge of the vessel himself, ran by
the battery under the heaviest fire[21] he ever experienced. When
below he turned and engaged the batteries in the rear, but seeing that
the Hindman and the others were not coming by he continued down to the
point where he expected to meet the Osage and Neosho.

In this truly desperate fight the Cricket, a little boat of one
hundred and fifty-six tons, was struck thirty-eight times in five
minutes, and lost 25 killed and wounded, half her crew. Soon after
passing below she ran aground and remained fast for three hours, so
that it was dark when she reached the Osage, lying opposite another
battery of the enemy, which she had been engaging during the day.

During that night the vessels still above were busy repairing damages
and getting ready for the perils of the next day. Fearing the enemy
might obstruct the channel by sinking the captured pump-boat across
it, a shell was fired at her from time to time. The repairs were made
before noon, but the Juliet being still crippled, the Hindman took her
alongside, and so headed down for the batteries. Before going far the
Juliet struck a snag, which made it necessary to go back and stop the
leak. Then they started again, the remaining pump-boat following. When
within five hundred yards the enemy opened a well-sustained fire, and
a shot passed through the pilot-house of the Hindman, cutting the
wheel-ropes. This made the vessel unmanageable, and the two falling
off broadside to the stream drifted down under fire, striking now one
shore and now the other but happily going clear. The guns under these
circumstances could not be used very eff