er case the nearest
gunboat must hasten and engage it. Weak isolated posts were suddenly
attacked; a gunboat, usually not far off, must go to the rescue.
Reconnoissances into the enemy's country, as the Yazoo Valley, were to
be made, or troops carried in transports from point to point;
gunboats went along with their heavy yet manageable artillery,
feeling doubtful places with their shells and clearing out batteries
or sharpshooters when found. The service was not as easy as it sounds.
It would be wrong to infer that their power was always and at once
recognized. Often they were outnumbered in guns, and a chance shot in
a boiler or awkward turn of a wheel, throwing the vessel aground,
caused its loss. Even when victorious they were often hardly used. The
limits of this book will permit the telling of but two or three
stories.

In the latter part of June, 1864, General Steele, commanding the Union
troops in Arkansas, wished to move some round in transports from
Duval's Bluff on the White River to the Arkansas, hoping to reach
Little Rock in this way. One attempt was made, but, the enemy being
met in force on the Arkansas, the transports were turned back.
Lieutenant Bache assured him that the trip could not be made, but as
the General thought otherwise, he consented to try again and left the
Bluff with a large convoy on the 24th, having with him of armed
vessels the Tyler, his own, the Naumkeag and Fawn. The two latter were
tinclads, the first an unarmored boat. When about twenty miles down,
two men were picked up, part of the crew of the light-draught Queen
City, which had been captured by the Confederates five hours before.
It was then nine o'clock. Bache at once turned the transports back and
went ahead fast himself to take or destroy the lost boat before her
guns could be removed. Before reaching Clarendon two reports were
heard, which came from the Queen City, blown up by the enemy when the
others were known to be coming. The three boats formed line ahead, the
Tyler leading, Naumkeag second, and Fawn third, their broadsides
loaded with half-second shrapnel and canister. As they drew near, the
enemy opened with seven field pieces and some two thousand infantry
and put one of their first shots through the pilot-house of the Tyler,
the vessels being then able to reply only with an occasional shell
from their bow guns. As they came nearly abreast they slowed down and
steamed by, firing their guns rapidly. When under the