3-008-724 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Civil War in America: Colonel Fitch and the 46th Indiana Volunteers taking at the point of the bayonet the Confederate battery of Fort St. Charles, on the White River, Arkansas, from a sketch by our special artist, 1862. 'On the 13th of June four of the gun-boats from the flotilla in front of Memphis were dispatched to the White River, Arkansas, 185 miles below, to clear out the cotton-burners and to endeavour to communicate with Curtis. The expedition, on its way up the White River, met with a battery mounted on a bluff, and the gun-boats immediately engaged, the Mound City leading. Unfortunately, a 42-pound shot from the breastwork entered the casemates of the Mound City and burst her steam-drum, scalding 125 persons. The poor fellows, writhing with agony, jumped through the ports into the river, and were there, while shrieking for help, shot down by the rebels. Colonel Fitch, who was on board one of the Union transports, immediately landed, and carried the works at the point of the bayonet. The success of the Union forces was complete, and the Southern artillerymen were shot at their guns'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.