1863 print: Union Ram vs Confederate gunboat; VICKSBURG blockade; Ellet Porter

Description

“The Federal Ram ‘Queen of the West’
Attacking the Rebel Gun-Boat
‘Vicksburg’ off Vicksburg”
Harper's Weekly
1863
This is a single sheet only which is
over 150 years old
. It was published in the
Feb. 23, 1863,
issue of
Harper's Weekly,
America’s leading illustrated paper during the 1800s. It measures 11 x 16 inches in size, is in excellent condition, with some light age browning, and will make an interesting display piece.
It presents a dramatic naval encounter on the waters of the Mississippi River. It will be accompanied by a photocopy of a related article about the scene which appeared elsewhere in the issue. That story begins:
“We illustrate on page 132 the attack of the Federal ram
Queen of the West
upon the rebel ram
Vicksburg
, off the city of Vicksburg, on February 2.”
It then gives a detailed account of the action (over 125 lines of text in small print), as reported in a letter to the
New York Herald
, which started:
“A very exciting scene was witnessed here this morning. The Union ram
Queen of the West
, Captain E. W. Sutherland, ran the blockade of the rebel batteries at Vicksburg. Colonel Charles R. Ellet, commander of the ram fleet, was on board of her, and directed all her movements. The event has created great excitement in this vicinity. When the rebels saw the ram run into the rebel steamer, near the city, and then pass down the river uninjured, they were not less astonished than chagrined, because it was believed, by them at least, that no Union steamboat could safely pass their formidable batteries. . . .
“The
Queen of the West
had been previously provided with all the arrangements deemed necessary to insure the complete success of the dangerous undertaking. Three hundred bales of cotton had been procured further up the river and placed on board, particularly about the machinery, in order to save her from any serious injury by shot and shell from the rebel batteries. Rear-Admiral Porter had given orders that she should . . . destroy the rebel steamboat
City of Vicksburg . . .”
The piece goes onto a colorful description of the strife, reporting how Ellet maneuvered his ship to directly strike the Confederate ship, as well as scatter the rebels crowding the shore, and says. After ramming the
Vicksburg
, the article says, in part:
“. . . To set the rebel steamboat on fire was part of the arrangement. . . . Sergeant J. H. Campbell . . . was directed to fire the forward guns loaded with combustible balls saturated with turpentine. . . . a tremendous blaze was vomited forth from them. . . .
“About the same time the ram was found to be on fire. A shell from shore had set her on fire near the starboard wheel . . . Both steamers were thus ablaze at the same time. . . .”
Etc.
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