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tied up for the night, with orders of sailing issued to each commander; instruc-tions to be ready to round out at the signal from the flag-ship, and that “ eachboat should go into the anticipated fight in the same order they maintainedin sailing.” At the first dawn of day (June 6th) the fleet moved down the river,and at sunrise the flag-ship rounded the bend at “Paddy’s Hen and Chickens,”and immediately after came in sight of the Federal gun-boats anchored inline across the river, about a mile above Memphis . Colonel Ellet promptlysignaled his vessels to tie up on the Arkansas shore, in the order of their sail-ing, as he desired to confer with Flag-Officer Davis before passing further.
The Queen of the West came to, first, followed by the Monarch and otherrams in regular succession. The Queen of the West had made the land, andpassed out line to make fast; the Monarch was closing in just above, but hadnot yet touched the shore. At this moment, and as the full orb of the sunrose above the horizon, the report of a gun was heard from around the pointand down the river. It was the first gun from the Confederate River DefenseFleet moving to attack us. Colonel Ellet was standing on the hurricane-deckof the Queen of the West. He immediately sprang forward, and, waving hishat to attract my attention, called out: “ It is a gun from the enemy! Roundout and follow me! Now is our chance! ” Without a moment’s delay, theQueen moved out gracefully, and the Monarch followed. By this time ourgun-boats had opened their batteries, and the reports of guns on both sideswere heavy and rapid.
The morning was beautifully clear and perfectly still; a heavy wall ofsmoke was formed across the river, so that the position of our gun-boatscould only be seen by the flashes of their guns. The Queen plunged forward,under a full head of steam, right into this wall of smoke and was lost sightof, her position being known only by her tall pipes which reached above thesmoke. The Monarch , following, was greeted, while passing the gun-boats, withwild huzzas from our gallant tars. When freed from the smoke, those of uswho were on the Monarch could see Colonel Ellet’s tall and commanding formstill standing on the hurricane-deck, waving his hat to show me which oneof the enemy’s vessels he desired the Monarch to attack,—namely, the GeneralPrice , which was on the right wing of their advancing line. For himself heselected the General Lovell and directed the Queen straight for her, she beingabout the middle of the enemy’s advancing line. The two vessels cametoward each other in most gallant style, head to head, prow to prow;and had they met in that way, it is most likely that both vessels would havegone down. But at the critical moment the General Lovell began to turn;and that moment sealed her fate. The Queen came on and plunged straightinto the Lovell's exposed broadside; the vessel was cut almost in two anddisappeared under the dark waters in less time than it takes to tell the story.The Monarch next struck the General Price a glancing blow which cut herstarboard wheel clean off, and completely disabled her from further participa-tion in the fight.\
\ It is impossible to reconcile this statement conflicting, but it has always been the generalwith that of Admiral Walke, on page 450, q. r. impression that the Price received her disablingThe reports of the engagement are meager and blow in an accidental collision with the Beaure -