Era No. 5 — a shallow-draft steamer built in 1860 at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...

 — was chartered by the Confederates early in 1863 to transport corn from the Red River

Red River (Mississippi watershed)

The Red River, or sometimes the Red River of the South, is a major tributary of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers in the southern United States of America. The river gains its name from the red-bed country of its watershed. It is one of several rivers with that name...

 to Camden, Arkansas

Camden, Arkansas

Camden is a city in and the county seat of Ouachita County in the southern part of the U.S. state of Arkansas. Long an area of American Indians villages, the French also made a permanent settlement here because of its advantageous location above the Ouachita River. According to 2007 Census...

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As the steamer — laden with 4,500 bushels of corn — proceeded to her destination on 14 February 1863, she rounded a sharp bend 15 mi (24.1 km) above the mouth of the Black River

Black River (Arkansas)

The Black River is a tributary of the White River, about 300 mi long , in southeastern Missouri and northeastern Arkansas in the United States. Via the White River, it is part of the Mississippi River watershed...

, came upon and was captured by the USS Queen of the West

USS Queen of the West (1854)

US Ram Queen of the West, a sidewheel steamer built at Cincinnati, Ohio in 1854, was purchased by the United States Department of War in 1862 and fitted out as a ram for Colonel Charles Ellet, Jr.'s Ram Fleet which operated on the Mississippi River in the U.S...

. After a loss of the Queen of the West the same day, her crew fled to Union positions in the Era No.5. Era No. 5 was then assigned to Colonel Charles R. Ellet

Charles R. Ellet

Charles Rivers Ellet was a medical student who became a colonel in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was most noted for his command of the ram Queen of the West during the Vicksburg Campaign in 1863....

's river fleet, fitted out with protective cotton baling and used by the Union as a dispatch boat

Dispatch boat

Dispatch boats were small boats, and sometimes large ships, tasked to carry military dispatches from ship to ship or from ship to shore or, in some cases from shore to shore...

 and transport in the Mississippi River

Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...

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