May 13th. Commences with pleasant weather; firing commenced between the hours of one and two o’clock this morning, and continued up to three o’clock; it was heard to the southward; at daylight the gunboat Benton, with the General Price and tug Ivy, got under way and steamed up the river; at 10 o’clock a steam tug came down and out of Red river alongside of us, with despatches for Rear-Admiral D. D. Porter; gave her some coal; at two P. M., after finished coaling, the tug got under way and steamed up the Mississippi river in chase of the flag-ship Benton, and I think she was not long in overhauling this slow, cumbersome, and ungainly specimen of river craft. This afternoon the Albatross got under way and steamed up Red river; at six o’clock Albatross returned from her foraging trip up Red river; received from her a quantity of fresh beef.
