The chase was on. The Indianola was moving up the Mississippi River, but slowly. Even worse, the ship stopped to take cotton on board which cost her time she did not have. The Confederate pursuit ships were commanded by Joseph L. Brent of the Confederate Army.
The Confederate ships caught up with the Indianola near Palmyra Island, about 30 miles south of Vicksburg. After being rammed six times in the space of an hour and with the Queen of the West upriver and bearing down hard (along with the current) for a final ramming, the USS Indianola surrendered after also running aground.
The loss of both the Queen of the West and the Indianola derailed the supply line on the railroad.
With the Confederates working rapidly to raise the Indianola, it was decided to make a fake ironclad and send it down river from the Union position north of Vicksburg, so the Black Terror was built. An old coal barge was lengthened and had a casemate built along with Quaker guns and two smokestacks made out of pork barrels.
The Black Terror was sent downriver on February 27 and frightened Confederates destroyed the Indianola.
--Old B-R'er
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