CSS Grand Duke, a steamer built at Jeffersonville

Jeffersonville, Indiana

Jeffersonville is a city in Clark County, Indiana, along the Ohio River. Locally, the city is often referred to by the abbreviated name Jeff. It is directly across the Ohio River to the north of Louisville, Kentucky along I-65. The population was 44,953 at the 2010 census...

, Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

 in 1859, was outfitted as a cotton-clad

Cotton-clad

Cottonclads were a classification of steam-powered warships where a wooden ship was protected from enemy fire by bales of cotton lining its sides. This provided some protection from enemy fire, but not to the extent of ironclads...

 gunboat

Gunboat

A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...

 for service with the Confederate States Army

Confederate States Army

The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...

 in February 1863.

Grand Duke transported troops to Fort Taylor, Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

 late in February 1863. On April 14, 1863 she was in company with the steamer Mary T. and ram CSS Queen of the West when they were taken under attack on the Atchafalaya River

Atchafalaya River

The Atchafalaya River is a distributary of the Mississippi River and Red River in south central Louisiana in the United States. It flows south, just west of the Mississippi River....

 by Union vessels USS Estrella, USS Calhoun and USS Arizona

USS Arizona (1858)

The first USS Arizona was an iron hulled side-wheel steamer in the United States Navy.-USS Arizona:USS Arizona was an iron-hulled, side-wheel merchant steamship laid down in 1858 at the shipyard of Harlan and Hollingsworth in Wilmington, Delaware, and completed in 1859...

. Her speed, turning power, and superior piloting allowed Grand Duke to escape up river.

On May 4, 1863 Grand Duke and Mary T. were taking on guns, ordnance stores, and other public property prior to the evacuation of Fort De Russy when a Union reconnaissance force that included USS Albatross

USS Albatross (1861)

USS Albatross was a screw steamer rigged as a three-masted schooner acquired by the Union Navy during the beginning of the American Civil War. She was outfitted as a gunboat with heavy guns and used in the Union blockade of the waterways of the Confederate States of America.- Built in Mystic,...

, Estrella and Arizona hove into view. In the ensuing hour-long engagement, each of the principal contestants sustained damage, but the Union ships withdrew, allowing the Confederates to remove their materiel further up 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...

 and to delay the Federal advance by obstructing the river. Grand Duke was ordered to Shreveport, Louisiana

Shreveport, Louisiana

Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....

where she burned late in 1863.