The order received by Lieutanant-Commander Bache can be read through the links in the footnotes.

Gunboat Cincinnati
Under weigh on the Mississippi
Carondolet,
April 26 / [18]63

Dear Sister [Maggie],

We left Carondolet as I stated we would in my letter to Father & Mother on the afternoon of the 24th. But we did not reach our destination. We were taken in tow by the towboat Gartside and moved down the river till we came to a small village or station about 30 miles from here. At this place the captain went ashore for a short time and on his return gave orders for us to return. We immediately started back and arrived at Carondolet at ten o.c. P.M. I suppose the captain had received orders before we started to go as far as this station and then if he found that all was quiet below to return.

I have heard no news for some time and, of course, I can give you none. There have been a couple of new monitors launched here lately, one of which is finished, and the other soon will be. Three more are now on the stocks. A trial trip was made by the Osage Osage (the monitor that is finished) yesterday. She runs very well and answers to the helm very readily. These monitors are wholly iron clad and are sunk so low in the water that the upper deck is but a few inches above the surface. The deck is covered with plates of iron two inches thick. There is a revolving turret forward in which is mounted two eleven inch guns. The wheel house is an immense cone shaped affair, taking up about one third of the vessel. These monitors will not be so healthy by far as the gunboats of the turtle fleet. There is hardly any place for fresh air to get in and in summertime, when the iron on the upper deck becomes heated, it seems to me that it will be so hot below that it will be almost impossible for anyone to live there. It is said, however, that these boats are supplied with fans for the purpose of circulating air throughout the boat. I was on the unfinished one yesterday. It is impossible to stand upright on either side of the boat as the decks are built in a sloping manner. The fire room is situated amidships and will, I think, be a more comfortable place for the firemen than the firehold on the turtles. These monitors are, I think, capable of doing good service. There is a number of men from our boat to be put aboard the “Osage” to take her to Cairo, but whether they are to remain aboard of her or not is more than I can say. I hope, however, that my name is not on the list as I’ve no desire to be transferred to one of these monitors.

We’ve been waiting here for the past few days for the steamboat Emma to come off the weighs, which she did this morning. I expect we will go on the weighs tomorrow.

Our doctor, who has been home on furlough, returned today. Three of the other officers are absent on furloughs. A mail arrived yesterday, but there was nothing for me. We have received no papers since we left the Yazoo. Why doesn’t Jenny write? I haven’t heard from her in a long time. Tell Mr. Johnson I’d like an answer to my last letter. Tell me in your next letter how Mrs. Lander is getting along. John Fox, Leopold Snyder and all the other Buffalo boys are well. Write soon and let me know how Archie, Robie and all the rest are getting along.

Your affectionate Bro.

Daniel

Footnotes

Image: Muller, F. Osage. http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/h55000/h55832.jpg (Accessed May 9, 2008).

The orders received by the commanding officer of the Cincinnati can be read beginning on page 577 of United States. Naval War Records Office & United States. Office of Naval Records and Library. Official records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion. / Series I - Volume 24: Naval Forces on Western Waters (January 1, 1863 - May 17, 1863) Washington, GPO, 1911.