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[242] carried but two guns each, except one, which carried four. It was therefore a brave thing for Captain Montgomery to lay down the gage of battle to a fleet far stronger than his own. But he and his men did not falter. They moved up the swift current and opened the battle of Memphis, one of the most hotly contested naval battles ever fought in American waters. it was the 6th of June, 1862, and one of the most charming days that nature ever gives. As the sun rose over the eastern hills the people of the city gathered along the bluff in thousands, standing in dark silhouette against the sky, to watch the contest, and one can imagine how their emotion rose and fell as the tide of battle ebbed and flowed on the river below. it was at 5:00 A. M. That Montgomery moved up the stream and fired the first gun. At this opening Colonel Ellet sprang forward on the hurricane deck, waved his hat, and shouted to his brother: “Round out and follow me. Now is our chance.” the Queen instantly moved toward the Confederate fleet; the Federal ironclads followed, but already both fleets were engaged in a brisk cannonade and the smoke was so dense that the Queen was soon lost to view. The daring little vessel plunged on through the waves. She was headed for the General Lovell, almost in the center of the Confederate line of battle. The Queen struck her antagonist squarely on the side and cut her almost in two. The wounded vessel groaned and lurched, and in a few minutes she sank, with many of her devoted crew, beneath the dark waters of the river. soon after this the Queen was rammed by the General Beauregard and a little later when the Beauregard and the General Price were making for the Monarch, the Beauregard missed her aim and struck her comrade, the General Price, tearing off her wheel and putting her out of service. The Queen fought with desperation and in the melee Colonel Ellet, her commander, received a pistol shot in the knee. He fell on the deck and, unable to rise, continued to give orders to his men while lying prone on his ship. But the Queen was now disabled,
Review of Reviews. New York. 1912.
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