Cruise of the U.S. Flag-Ship Hartford – From the Personal Journal of Wm. C. Holton.

April 19th. This morning the ram Switzerland and gunboat Albatross, got under way and entered the mouth of Red River, with the intention of proceeding a short distance up same, to find the enemy if possible. In the afternoon however, they returned from their reconnoissance, having seen nothing of him. It seems rather singular after all his boasting of what he was going to do—come down from Alexandria some night, with his ram the Queen of the West (a vessel captured from Col. Ellet, some time since), the Dr. Beatty, and some other steamers, and try their butting power upon us, and if not able to punch a hole into the old Hartford and sink her where she lies anchored, then make her skedaddle, and chase here down the river until she came under the guns of Port Hudson, when her destruction would be sure. Secesh is a great blower, and as the story goes, a barking dog never bites, so we must not fear him. He has had many propitious nights to put his threats into execution, and his failure to do so prove him a braggart and a liar of the basest kind.