The Cincinnati-built steamboat, Lady Walton, built in 1858, had been operating since the start of the war in the Confederate service, carrying men and materials on the Arkansas River. She left Little Rock under her Illinois-born captain, Moses Pennington, with orders to deliver corn up the White River. On a plan agreed between Pennington and his nine man crew, three white and six black, the Lady Walton instead headed for the Mississippi River and surrendered to the first U.S. Navy gunboat she saw, the U.S.S. Tyler. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
Frank Moore, ed., The Rebellion Record: A Diary of American Events, with Documents, Narratives, Illustrative Incidents, Poetry, Etc. (New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1861), VII: 4.