Steamer from St. Louis to New Orleans attacked below Vicksburg, Mississippi

The Mississippi River may have been opened for Union steamboat traffic but the route was still hazardous.  The steamboat Welcome was hit by shells and rifle fire from the bank near Waterproof, Louisiana, below Vicksburg. at around eight in the evening as she made her way from St. Louis to New Orleans.  An estimated eleven shells and 100 rifle bullets hit the vessel but although a few were injured, no fatalities were reported.  (By John Osborne)