About one o'clock we met the balance of our fleet coming down, and our boat turned her prow down stream to act in concert with them. The whole fleet consists of the Queen of the West, the Gun-Boat Webb, our own steamer (the Dr. Beatty), and the transport Grand Era. Altogether, we make quite a formidable appearance, and can certainly take one Yankee vessel.
We are stearing down stream at a rate that will soon bring us upon the broad bosom of the Mississippi, and, unless the Indianola has skedaddled, we will soon be in our first naval engagement; and, to judge from the fitting out of our craft, it will be a novel one. I do not know the plan of action, and will have to wait for it to develop itself, when, if nothing prevents, I will record the events as they occur. I am enjoying the expedition more than I expected at the starting, and have no greater desire than to go into action.
SOURCE: Edwin L. Drake, Editor, The Annals of the Army of Tennessee and Early Western History, Vol. 1, p. 66-7
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