February 8, 1863, The New York Herald
The Union Ram Queen of the West Successfully Rams the Blockade.
Sketch of the Queen of the West and Her Commander.
The Queen of the West is one of the celebrated ram fleet organized by the late Colonel Charles Ellet, Jr., and now commanded by his son, Brigadier General (formerly Lieutenant Colonel) A. W. Ellet. The fleet was established under the cognizance of the Secretary of War, and was under the orders of that department until very recently, when it was transferred to the Navy Department and placed under the control of Admiral D. D. Porter. The fleet has played an important part in the operations of the United States forces on the Mississippi river from and after the time of the fall of Island No. 10.
WHEN SHE FIRST CAME INTO NOTICE.
The Queen of the West was first brought prominently before the public in the naval engagement above Memphis on the 6th of June, 1862, in which engagement the organizer of the fleet was seriously wounded, of which wounds he afterwards died. Colonel Ellet, in his report, said: “I ordered the Queen, my flagship, to pass between the gunboats and run down upon the two rams of the enemy. The Queen struck one of them fairly, and for a few minutes was fast to the wreck, but after separating the rebel steamer sunk. The Queen was then herself struck by another rebel steamer and disabled, but, though damaged, can be saved.” In another paragraph he praised conduct of the pilots, engineers and military guard of the Queen and the brave conduct of her captain. In a subsequent report, in speaking of the conduct of the men of the Queen of the West, he stated that two rebel steamers had been sunk out right and immediately by the shocks of the ram.
Another account states that the rebel ram Little Rebel was gallantly run down by the Queen of the West during this engagement, and the rebels acknowledged that the rebel ram Beauregard was struck by the Queen of the West; she went down rapidly in deep water opposite Jackson Mound. The Little Rebel was run aground on the Arkansas shore as soon as she was struck, and was afterwards captured by our forces.
The capture of Memphis followed soon after, and much of the success of the taking of this city is due to the gallant operations of the ram fleet just recorded. It is justly due to the army to state that they have ever since held this city against every effort put forth by the rebels to recapture it. The river above this city has also been kept clear of rebel craft by the combined action of the gunboats and ram fleet.
THE AFFAIR WITH THE REBEL RAM ARKANSAS.
We next hear of the gallant Queen of the West in the affair of the escape of the Arkansas from the Yazoo river, in July last. When the Arkansas made her first appearance in the Yazoo river, previous to her run into the Mississippi, her opponents were the Union gunboats Carondelet and Tyler and the ram Queen of the West. The fight down the Yazoo river was a running one, but on arriving at the Mississippi river the Arkansas ran by all the Union fleet, after receiving the fire of the Queen of the West and other steamers, and anchored under the guns of the rebel batteries at Vicksburg.
A gallant attempt to capture the Arkansas was made before Vicksburg on the 22d of July last, in which the Queen of the West took a very important part. From the accounts given at the time we learn the following facts:
The fleet under Commodore Farragut was to engage the lower batteries, and the boat under Commodore Davis would engage the upper ones, while the gunboat Essex and the ram Queen of the West were in the meantime to attack the Arkansas and tow her out. The Essex attempted to run into the Arkansas and jam her against the levee, but the latter swung round and the Essex merely grazed her side. As she passed, however, she gave the rebels three eleven-inch shot from her bow guns. The Queen of the West then came to her aid, and ran into the Arkansas but the shock was so great that it made the Queen tremble from stem to stern. Recovering herself she again ran on the rebel with great violence – so forcibly, in fact, as to strain her own works very badly. During the engagement she received several heavy discharges from the rebel, and was shot through several times. The Grenada Appeal of July 24 also described the action, stating that, notwithstanding the [illegible] and persistence of the attacks of the Yankee ram, the Arkansas bravely repulsed her, after having seriously damaged her.
THE AFFAIR AT SKIPWITH LANDING.
During the recent attack upon Vicksburg in December last we find that the ram fleet, under General Ellet, were prominently engaged in the Yazoo, and that the Queen of the West took an active part in the affair with the rebel battery at Skipwith Landing, near the mouth of the Yazoo river. Her commander at that time was Captain Edward W. Sutherland, a bold and brave man and a gallant officer.
AN INTERESTING ANECDOTE ABOUT THE COMMANDER.
The following anecdote relative to the Commander of the Queen of the West during the last recited adventure will be doubly amusing and interesting at this particular time:
It appears that during the late movement against Vicksburg the national transports were fired upon by the before mentioned rebel battery at Skipwith Landing. No sooner was the outrage reported at headquarters than the Admiral sent an expedition to remove the battery and destroy the place. The work of destruction was effectually done; not a structure which could shelter a rebel head was left standing in the region for several miles around.
Among other habitations destroyed was that of a Mrs. Harris, a widow lady, young, comely and possessed of external attractions in the shape of a hundred and fifty niggers, whom she had contrived to save from the present operation of [illegible] decree by sending them up the Yazoo river. But Mrs. Harris was a rebel – intense, red hot in her advocacy of Southern rights and her denunciation of Northern wrongs. Although she had not taken up arms against the government, she was none the less subject to the indiscriminate swoop of proclamation; her niggers, according to that document, were free, and if confederacy failed she could only get pay for them by establishing her loyalty in a court of justice. Her loyalty to the Yankee nation? – not she! She was as spunky as a widow of thirty can be. She would see Old Abe and every other Yankee in the happy land of Canaan before she would acknowledge allegiance to the Washington government. Nevertheless, being all she possessed of this world’s valuables, she would like to save those niggers.
“Nothing easier,” suggested Captain Edward W. Sutherland, of the United States steam ram Queen of the West, who, attracted by her snapping black eyes, engaged in a friendly conversation with the lady, after burning her house down. “Nothing easier in the world, madam.”
“How so, Captain? You don’t imagine I will take that odious oath, do you? I assure you I would not do it for every nigger in the South.”
“But you need not take the oath, madam – at least not that oath.”
“I do not understand you, Captain,” said the widow.
“I said you need not take the oath of allegiance; you can establish your loyalty without it – at least,” with a respectful bow, “I can establish it for you.”
“Indeed, how would you do it, Captain?”
“Simply enough. I am in the government service. I command one of the boats of the Western navy – technically denominated a ram, madam – down here in the river. Of course my loyalty is unimpeached, and, madam, I assure you it is unimpeachable. Now, if we could only say to the government those niggers are mine – “
The captain waited a moment to see what effect his speech was producing. “Well,” said the widow, impatiently tapping with her well shaped foot one of the smoking timbers of her late domicile.
“In short, my dear madam, you can save the niggers, save your conscientious scruples, and save me from a future life of misery by becoming my wife.”
The captain looked about wildly, as if he expected a sudden attack from guerillas. The widow tapped the smouldering timber more violently for a few minutes, and then, turning her bright eyes full upon the captain said, “I’ll do it.”
A recent arrival at Cairo from Vicksburg brought the intelligence that Captain Sutherland, of the ram Queen of the West, was married, a few days since, on board the gunboat Tyler, to Mrs. Harris, of Skipwith Landing. Several officers of the army and navy were present to witness the ceremony, which was performed by a Methodist clergyman, and Admiral Porter gave away the blushing bride. She is represented to be a woman of indomitable pluck, and for the present shares the wild life of her husband on board the ram Queen of the West.
CAPTAIN SUTHERLAND IN CHARGE OF TWO QUEENS OF THE WEST.
It therefore appears that during this last gallant exploit the heroic lady of the no less brave commander accompanied him through the perils of the running of the gauntlet of the rebel batteries at Vicksburg. If this be so, Captain Sutherland had at that time two Queens of the West to look after – one the Queen of War and the other the Queen of Beauty.
There is little doubt we shall soon hear more of Captain Sutherland and his noble Queens of the West.