Adam Badeau, Military history of Ulysses S. Grant from April 1861 to April 1865. Volume 1

[344] of Grant, Porter sent the iron-clad Cincinnati from above, Lieutenant-Commander Bache commanding, to attack the water-battery, and enfilade the left of the rebel line. The vessel was packed with logs and hay, for protection; and, at half-past 8 o'clock, with a full head of steam, she stood for the position assigned her. No sooner had she got within range, than the rebels opened rapidly with heavy guns from different batteries. Their shots at first went wild, but, as the iron-clad was rounding, broadside to, abreast of a battery, she received a shot in her magazine, flooding it almost immediately. Shortly after this, the starboard tiller was carried away, the enemy now firing with greater accuracy, and hitting almost every time; his shots passed entirely through the triple protection of hay, wood, and iron. The national batteries and all of Sherman's musketry within range, opened in support of the gunboat; but, the current being very swift, the Cincinnati was compelled to lay head to the stream, exposing her stern, which was unprotected by plating. She was especially annoyed by plunging shots from a ten-inch columbiad and a heavy rifle on the hills, two hundred feet above the decks. Her stern was repeatedly struck, and the flag-staff shot away, but the colors were nailed to the stump. Officers and men behaved admirably. The enemy's metal, however, was too heavy; and the leak in the magazine, with the shot-holes in the stern, compelled the commander to withdraw. He ran the vessel up stream, as near the right-hand bank as his damaged steering apparatus would allow, got out a plank, and put the wounded ashore. Next, he attempted to make his vessel fast to a tree, but before the hawser could be tied, the boat began drifting