Download The Ellet Ram 8eet, with the Monarch By JAMES V. SWIFf WJ

The Ellet Ram 8eet, with the Monarch
front.
By JAMESV. SWIFf
The wreck of the Monarch and that ofthe
ton Blvd., Suite 120,St. Louis, Mo. 63108;
WJ Contributing Editor
City of Saltillo at GlenPark(Mile 155.5, phone 314, 367-6612;e-mail www.wordFor manyyearsa river wreck at Kimm- Upper Mississippi),resultedin an articleby news.com.The price is $8.95.)
swick, Mo., (Mile 158.8,Upper Mississip- Tim Rowdenin the February 20, 2000,St.Louis
The Monarch
pi) hascome out for air when the river got
Post-Dispatch.This in turn led to a
low. It is quite an attraction for photogra- recognition by the Post'sfamous "Weath- Getting back to the Monarch,we have
phers. It was known as the wreck of the erbird" by Dan Martin in that issueof the neverfound a picture of the boat,but we do
Windsor for a long time, but Terry Norris, paper,and it was reprinted in the Weath- have a sketchof it from Harper's Weekly
district archaeologistfor the St. Louis Engi- ,eroird book printed in honor of the car- with its sister vesselsin the "Ram" fleet.
neer District, has nowpinpointed it as that toon's first 100 years. (Copies of all the Each is identified (or those in the foreof the Monarch, which sank in the ice at greatcartoons are availablefrom the Vir- ground) by the initial letter between the
Kimmswick in December 1864.
ginia Publishing Company,4814Washing- stacks.The other two would be the Queen
-of the West and the Lioness; further back
there is another"M," probablythe Mingo;
an "S" for Switzerland;and an "N" for a
Ramwe can't name.
The Monarchwas built at Fulton, Ohio,
(nowpart of Cincinnati)in 1853 for Capt.
John A. Williamson and others, for the
Cincinnati-New Orleans trade. It sank
March 5, 1861, at Louisville while downbound for New Orleans with a big cargo,
but wasraisedandrepaired.Whenthe Civil
War camethe boatwaspressedinto service
for the Union and went up to Fort Dobelson with troops. Coming down the Cumberland the boat hit the Clarksville,Tenn.,
bridge, losing the port paddlewheel;three
were drowned.
in
Into Union Service
Repaired at New Albany, Ind., the
Monarch was sold to those assembling a
The wreck at Kimmswick.
-SEE
MONARCH
PAGE29
Monarch
(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 30)
fleetto becomeRamsfor CharlesEllet. The
Monarchwas about180by 37by eightfeet.
Ellet had three enginesandboilersprotected by three layersof heavytimbers,two to
sixinchessquare.The upperworkswere cut
downand the bows reinforced with heavy
timber thatreachedhalfwaybackin thehull.
On June 6, 1862,at the Battle of Memphis,the Monarch,following the Queenof
the West, struck the Confederate fleet,
damagingthe GeneralPriceanddriving the
Little Rebel ashore. The Monarch later
went up the ArkansasRiver,and sawservice
on the Yazooand Red. One of the boat's
main jobs was to patrol the Mississippi
around Greenville,Miss.,for guerillaswho
fired onpassingboats,often with artillery.
8rERN REMINCER
A
-The
Post-DispatchWeatherbird.
Ellet's Brigade
«
An accountof all the Monarch'sactivities orders of Gen. u.s. Grant. When the crew (
can be found in EZZot'sBrigade: The opened the orders, they found they were to (
StrangestOutfit ofAll, by ChesterG. Hear- round up and take captive the most autoan. It was a strange group of boats that cratic young women of the town and bring
Charles Ellet Jr. talked Secretaryof War them to Vicksburg. Amid great distress
Stantoninto funding. The Ram Fleet and from the families of Port Gibson, the girls
later the MississippiMarine Brigadewere were hauled over the rough roads in dilapthornsin the sideof both the Army and the idated wagons drawn by broken-down horsNavy,becausethe brassin neither service es to Rodney, Miss., and on the boats.
had control over them. It becamethe fleet When there, the Marines learned the rearun by the Ellet family; on the death of son for all this. The Confederates were
Charles Ellet Jr., the boats passed on to holding as prisoner some Union schoolAlfred W. Ellet, CharlesRivers Ellet, John teachers, and the ladies of Port Gibson
A. Ellet,RichardC. Ellet andJamesE. Ellet. were held until an exchange could be made.
Most of the records of both the Ram
The Ram Fleet
Fleet and MississippiRiver Brigade have
been lost or omitted from the "Official
Besides the Monarch the Ram Fleet conRecords of the Union and Confederate sisted of the stemwheelers Lioness, SampNavies,"sothis authorhad someproblems son and Mingo, the sidewheelers Queen of
getting to the bottom of it all.
the West, Switzerland and Lancaster, and
the tenders T.D. Homer and Dick Fulton. .
Ellet's Brigade was published by the I
Manyquestionedthe record and useful- Louisiana State Press at Baton Rouge,La. It
nessof the services,
particularlythe Marine is hardbound, 289 pages.The price is $34.95.
A Checkered History
Brigade, but the Ram Fleet certainly did
win the Battle of Memphis, and it was
Medical CadetCharles Rivers Ellet, age
19, who took the surrenderof the city of
Memphis from the mayor. Charles Ellet
Jr., who started it all, was wounded at
Memphis anddied of his leg wound on the
Switzerland en route to Cairo.
The MississippiMarine Brigade,formed
out of the Ram Fleet,wasto patrolthe river
with cavalry,artillery and Marine troopsto
keep the guerillasundercontrol.
S&D Luncheon
A late report from Grafton, Ill., on the
Great Rivers Towboat Festival calls for a
luncheon at 11:30 a.m. June 23 at the
Ruebel Hotel, sponsored by the Mississip- .
pi River Chapter of the Sons & Daughtersof
Pioneer Rivermen. Those planning toatte
should call Tom Dunn, president,
314,621-1042, or Jim Swift, 314, 725-9467.
Golden Eagle Meeting
Stephen W. Kinsy of St. Charles, Mo.,
will be the speaker at the Golden Eagle
One of the mostunusualexpeditionsthe River Museum in Bee Tree Park in southSt.
r
Brigade had was when a contingent was
Louis County May 27. A business meet-ing
sent to Port Gibson, Miss., under sealed
will precede the talk at 2:30 p.m.
An Unusual Expedition