CHAPTER XIII.
THE NAVAL FIGHT AT MEMPHIS.
On the evening of the 5th of June, while we were lying above Memphis, Commodore Montgomery, commanding the fleet of Rebel gunboats built by the citizens and ladies of Memphis, was making a speech in the Gayoso Hall of that city. There was great excitement. It was known at noon that Fort Pillow was evacuated. The stores were immediately closed. Some people commenced packing up their goods to leave,—expecting that the city would be burned if the Yankees obtained possession. Commodore Montgomery said:—
“I have no intention of retreating any farther. I have come here, that you may see Lincoln’s gunboats sent to the bottom by the fleet which you built and manned.”
The rabble cheered him, and believed his words. On the morning of the 6th, one of the newspapers assured the people that the Federal fleet would not reach the city. It said:—
“All obstructions to their progress are not yet removed, and probably will not be. The prospect is very good for a grand naval engagement which shall eclipse anything ever seen before. There are many who would like the engagement to occur, who do not much relish the prospect of its occurring very near the city. They think deeper water and scope and verge enough for such an encounter may be found farther up the river. All, however, are rejoiced to learn that Memphis will not fall till conclusions are first tried on water, and at the cannon’s mouth.”[28]
I was awake early enough to see the brightening of the morning. Never was there a lovelier daybreak. The woods were full of song-birds. The air was balmy. A few light clouds, fringed with gold, lay along the eastern horizon.
The fleet of five gunboats was anchored in a line across the river. The Benton was nearest the Tennessee shore, next was the Carondelet, then the Louisville, St. Louis, and, lastly, the Cairo. Near by the Cairo, tied up to the Arkansas shore, were the Queen City and the Monarch,—two of Colonel Ellet’s rams. The tugs Jessie Benton and Spitfire hovered near the Benton, Commodore Davis’s flag-ship. It was their place to be within call, to carry orders to the other boats of the fleet.