3-008-714 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Civil War in America: destruction of the Confederate flotilla off Memphis - from a sketch by our special artist, 1862. 'Memphis, the hotbed of Secession, has fallen... we...came in full view of the Confederate fleet, eight in number, drawn up in line across the river to dispute our progress...The General Bragg now came up to the assistance of the Beauregard and struck the Queen of the West on her port paddle-box, crushing it in, but in turn got a huge rent in her port bow...the other Federal ram, the Monarch, bore down towards the General Lovell, and, striking her amidships...in three minutes she sunk in one hundred feet of water, taking with her most of her crew. Thus two of the Confederate boats were disposed of, six only being left for the five national vessels to contend with, the rams retiring from the fight...The Jeff Thompson was set on fire by a shell from a Federal boat, and...blew up shortly after she was abandoned; the General Bragg also was struck by a shell and her cotton bulkheads ignited, but the crew of the Benton, who boarded her, succeeded in extinguishing the fire. To sum up the whole affair, one Confederate vessel alone escaped...three were destroyed, and four were captured after a running fight of one hour and a half'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.