Col. John C. Moore, Confederate Military History, a library of Confederate States Military History: Volume 9.2, Missouri
Clement Anselm Evans, Ed.

[123] and the First Missouri brigade was ordered to the threatened point. It bad six men killed or wounded—Colonel Cockrell being among the wounded—which was the first blood of the siege. The next morning the batteries of the enemy opened, but the guns of the besieged did not reply. These guns were manned principally by the Missourians from .the batteries of Walsh, Landis and Lowe, whose guns had been lost at Black river, and it has been remarked as singular that they had orders not to fire except when charged by the enemy's infantry, though there was no lack of ammunition, immense quantities of it being surrendered with the town. On the 19th the Missouri brigades were armed with Enfield rifles, very much to their satisfaction, and the First Missouri Confederate infantry, in a fight on the left, captured the battleflag of the Eighth Missouri Federal infantry. The cannonading from the gunboats and the land batteries, as well as the musketry firing, was incessant, but the besieged took no active part in the uproar, except when their works were charged. On the 22d the Federals of Gen. Frank Blair's division made three fierce assaults on the stockade on the left of the line, but were repulsed each time with great loss by the First Missouri brigade. The Third Missouri infantry, though protected by breastworks, lost fifty-six killed and wounded, and the other regiments of the brigade lost in proportion. This experiment was so disastrous to the Federals that they did not make another attempt to storm the works during the siege. But they were at work with their picks and spades, under cover of constant fire from their gunboats and sharpshooters. On the 27th five ironclads steamed down the river, headed by Commodore Porter's flagship, the Cincinnati, and at the same time four other ironclads appeared from below and opened a vigorous fire on the upper and lower batteries. The largest of the Confederate guns were trained on the Cincinnati, and with such effect that it was disabled and sunk before it could get