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Prolific author Myron J. Smith, Jr., is emeritus library director and professor at Tusculum University, Greeneville, Tennessee.

“an excellent account...highly recommended”—Choice; “an incredibly detailed chronicling of the river gunboats’s career from construction to self-destruction...the ship’s 23 day operational career is meticulously recounted...the most thorough, and best by far, treatment for the vessel’s history”—Civil War Books and Authors; “If it sailed on the brown water of America’s Western rives during the Civil War and flew the Stars and Stripes of the Union Navy, Myron Smith more than likely knows about it”—America’s Civil War; “Smith provides a well-written and thoroughly engrossing account of this extraordinary vessel...this is a truly outstanding book, essential to any student of naval warfare...it highlights the essential role played by the Union and Confederate navies on the Yazoo and Mississippi rivers in 1862”—Civil War News.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgments      viiiForeword by George Wright      Introduction      1. Beginnings      2. The Upper River Ironclads      3. A Frustrating Start, August–December 1861      4. From Memphis to Yazoo City, January–May 1862      5. Five Weeks Up the Yazoo, Early May–Late June 1862      6. Descending the Yazoo, June 25–July 15, 1862      7. Morning (Part I), July 15, 1862: Dawn Fight in the Yazoo      8. Morning (Part II), July 15, 1862: Running the Gauntlet      9. Surviving Farragut’s Charge: Night, July 15, 1862      10. Arkansas vs. Essex, Round One: July 16–22, 1862      11. Arkansas vs. Essex, Round Two: Finale Off Baton Rouge, July 23–August 6, 1862      Epilogue      Chapter Notes      Bibliography      Index