Vicki,

Here's an incident from mid-March, 1864. It involves the US gunbooat Fort Hindman, loaded with Confederate prisoners from the recently captured Fort DeRussy on Red River. This account is by one of the CS prisoners:

"As we passed Port Hudson, they fired a signal gun, for the vessel to haul in, and let its business be known; the Capt. however, paid no attention to it, and they repeated it, this time, with a solid ball, which struck the water before it reached us; then a third, which went over and beyond, then a fourth, which cut a post (which was one of a number that suppports the hurrican deck), only a few feet from me. The Capt. seeing the danger, rang the bell, face about, and went back; and he and the Commander had some sharp words, after which all went well until sun up the next morning the 16th, we arrived at Baton Rouge . . ."

It would no doubt be real interesting to have heard the "sharp words" that were exchanged. The shots that were fired at the Fort Hindman were from the General Bragg, another US gunboat, which had been posted at the mouth of Red River, had not seen the Fort Hindman's signal lights when she entered the Mississippi, and had chased the boat all the way from the mouth of the Red down to Port Hudson. The Fort Hindman's logbook plays down the incident, says only two shots were fired at her, and doesn't mention that the boat was actually hit. This is typical of logbooks, which tend to diminish incidents which would make the captain of the boat look less than professional.