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[244] after her crash with the Beauregard, and Ellet ordered that she be headed for the Arkansas shore. the next scene in this exciting drama came when the Beauregard, after disabling the Queen, made for the Monarch with like design. But the Monarch was the more agile. She evaded the blow, and dexterously whirling about, struck the Beauregard on the bow with terrific force, tearing a great hole beneath the water line. The Beauregard, disabled also by the gunboats, began to sink and the men on her decks fluttered handkerchiefs or any white thing at hand in token of surrender. the Monarch, however, had determined to add one more to her list of trophies. There was the little Rebel, the Confederate flag-ship, on whose deck Captain Montgomery had stood with unfaltering courage in the midst of Federal gun-shots. The Monarch now turned her prow to the little Rebel and put on full steam. The latter, conscious of her inability to stand before the little fighting monster, fled toward the Arkansas shore. The race was a hot one; the Monarch gained rapidly, but ere she could strike the little Rebel, the latter ran aground in the shallow water. Her commander and her crew leaped into the water, and they swam to shore and escaped into the forest. the Monarch then steamed back to the middle of the river and rounded out her day's work by doing a deed of mercy. The Beauregard was still above water, but was settling rapidly, and her faithful crew, knowing that they had done all they could for the cause for which they fought, were still waving their white flags. The Monarch rescued them and towed the sinking Beauregard to shallow water, where she sank to her boiler deck. four of the Confederate gunboats had now been destroyed and the remaining four turned down the river and made a desperate effort to escape. But the Union fleet closed in on them and three of them turned to the Arkansas shore in the hope that the crews might make their escape. In the lead was the General
Review of Reviews. New York. 1912.
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