Diary of Private W. J. Davidson, February 22, 1863—Evening

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

Diary of Private W. J. Davidson, Monday, February 23, 1863

We are steaming up the river in search of the enemy, and have just passed the place where he lay-to last night; so that we are now in full chase, though not in sight. We are some distance below Natchez at this writing, and the probability is that we will overtake him there. Our decks were cleared for action this morning, but the alarm proved false, and was occasioned by the Grand Era mistaking the smoke of a sugar factory for the gun-boat. Yesterday evening the Queen of the West, in reconnoitering in Old river, ran aground, and had to signal the Era to come and tow her off; after which we entered the Mississippi again and ran all night without accident or incident. The weather has been quite cool since 12 o'clock yesterday.

SOURCE: Edwin L. Drake, Editor, The Annals of the Army of Tennessee and Early Western History, Vol. 1, p. 67

Diary of Private W. J. Davidson, February 25, 1863

We took one hundred and five prisoners on board the Indianola, and a few are said to have gone down the river on a coal barge. The Beatty was sent down to look after them, and, on her return, she was run into by the Queen of the West, who mistook us for a gun-boat from above, which was reported as having passed Vicksburg a short time before. On our return we had passed the fleet in the darkness unobserved, and when we turned again, the Queen ran at us with the full speed of her powerful engines [they were the most powerful on the river], and did not discover her mistake until too late, although we signalled with might and main. At the last moment she managed to sheer a little, and only took off our larboard quarter, carrying all of the cotton bales into the river on that side. The Beatty then careened to the heavy side, and we had to throw off the cotton in haste to keep her trim.

I have just been aboard the Indianola, and find her to be a splendid craft, mounting four guns: two 11-inch Columbiads forward, and two 9-inch Parrots aft. She is heavily ironed. We rammed her in the only vulnerable place, and if she could have worked her guns and her men had been more gallant she would have blown us into the middle of next week. However, she had little chance to work her guns, for the action was fought at close range, and our infantry poured a constant stream of bullets into her port-holes. Thousands of balls had flattened on her sides, particularly in the neighborhood of the port-holes. The prisoners themselves say that she was their best iron-clad.

The boys, following the example of the officers, have stripped her of every thing portable, from a fine sofa down to old newspapers. We didn't get much in the way of commissary stores, as the water was too deep in the hold this morning. A few barrels of flour and a box of soap were fished out. We will get a great many articles if we succeed in raising her, which is extremely doubtful unless we go about it with more energy than has yet been shown. We have two men at work making pumps, but every one is too intent on plunder to think of raising a gun-boat worth millions of dollars to our government at this particular time.

The affair is now being badly managed, and I fear that the Yankees will run another boat past Vicksburg and recapture our prize before we can get her up. We are only twenty-five miles below this place, and they could plainly hear the firing. In our present crippled condition we couldn’t make much of a fight, if we were to attempt it at all.

The Webb is in almost a sinking condition, from damage to her prow. The Queen of the West is the only one of the fleet uninjured. She is now up the river reconnoitering, and if danger approaches, will give us timely warning.

SOURCE: Edwin L. Drake, Editor, The Annals of the Army of Tennessee and Early Western History, Vol. 1, p. 68-9

Diary of Private W. J. Davidson, February 25, 1863—7 p.m.

About 4 o'clock this afternoon we went up the river to bring down a company of artillery, and one of cavalry, to assist us in raising and repairing our prize. When we had taken the last man aboard, the Queen of the West was descried coming down stream under a full head of steam, and signalling violently that a gunboat was in close chase of her. Lest we might not understand the signal, some one aboard called out for us to follow at once.

We now had a panic. The officer in command of the Beatty, Captain McDonald, of the Fifty-fifth Tennessee, ordered the two companies just taken aboard to get off. The order was misunderstood, and every man of the expedition, even to the cabin boy, started ashore, but the mistake was rectified, except as to five of them, who failed to return. We are now in full retreat, the Queen of the West taking the lead, the Webb following in her wake as fast as her crippled condition will allow.

The Grand Era is some mile and a half behind the Webb, while the Beatty is bringing up the rear, and covering the retreat. She has thrown off some cotton to make her more trim and increase her speed. What is to become of our prize we haven’t the remotest idea, and the natural inference is that she will fall into the hands of the enemy again. We made no attempt to destroy her; and, in fact, the attempt would have been useless, unless we could have gotten to her magazine and blown her up; she would have only burnt to the water, which was deep in her. I am surprised at the precipitateness of our officers in abandoning the boat without an attempt to hold it. If they had placed some artillerymen on board, they could have made an impregnable battery of it. Such is not their judgment, however, and it becomes not a private soldier to set up his opinions in opposition to superiors.

SOURCE: Edwin L. Drake, Editor, The Annals of the Army of Tennessee and Early Western History, Vol. 1, p. 69-70