Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 137, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 June 1912 — CAMP FORE STORIES BATTLE IN CYPRESS SWAMP [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

CAMP FORE STORIES

BATTLE IN CYPRESS SWAMP

What Happened In Flooded Louisiana. Region When Gunboats Fought lo Told by Chicagoan. Theodore H. Esscben, who lives St 1748 Bt. Michael's court, Chicago, took? part in engagements between union and confederate naval forces in thelatter years of the war. He accompanied the expedition made by Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks into the network; of swamps and bayous of Louisiana) and known as the Red river campaign. An incident on the Journey was the* blowing up of the confederate ram Queen of the West, of which Mr. Eeschen tells. " '• . “The St Mary was the boat I was on,” said Mr. Esscben. “She was a. transport and was one of the fastest steamers we had. She was one of a number of gunboats and unprotectedriver boats that made their way into? Grand lake to land troops in General ■ Banks’ red river campaign. "The lake was a mudhole, formed by overflow from the Mississippi. In low water it was a cypress swamp, and timber had been cut from a large area. In high water the stumps of the great trees, standing perhaps eight feet above the ground, were covered

with water, and there was no current to mark their presence. It was high! water when we landed troops on the* shore ot the lake. “Our boats were of different drafts., The large onee could not go near shore, and the smaller steamers lay: between them and the shore, so that* the soldiers could walk over thetn< somewhat as If they were a pontoon *3f|gp§e. We had several gunboats, there, two of them, ti|e Colorado and the Matagora, ironclad, and there were river boats and ferry boats. The Clifton was well armed and so was the Calhoun, a terry boat from New* York, with a heavy gun at bow and' at stern and two broadsides of sour 1 smaller guns each. “We were not allowed to stay in the* lake without a visit from the enemy. A fleet of confederate boats came down the bayous from the R«gi river and disputed our position. The Queen at the West was the most formidable of them. She was a ram, though not Ironclad, The other boats were river steamers, with bales of cotton around their sides and with guas pointing through apertures In the cotton guard. They were floating forts. “The Queen of the West came steaming down at us and in hey path was one ot our ironclads. They told, us afterward that the pilot had called out to the captain that they were headed for an iron boat and that the captain had sworn to sink the boat even it it was iron. They put on full steam ahead. The water was HOTglass. They cut through it at a great speed and ran on a lot of submerged stumps. The bow was thrown high into the air and there hung the Queen of the West. “The Calhoun and the Clifton took position, one on each side, and shelled her. The Cadhoun, a sidewheeler, was kept swinging about without moving away from her position and firing broadsides or stem, or bow guns as they came into range. The Queen, of the West was game to the last and she returned the fire until her boiler room and magazine blew up. There was nothing left of her except a pile of wreckage. As soon as she blew up the rest of the confederate fleet, which had been doing a little firing* turned about and made for the bayous. They knew the channel and so escaped, but some of them were captured after our boats had madei their way north/* - v

Bolter Room and Magazine Blew Up.