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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