On October 5th Breckenridge attacked the Union forces at Baton Rouge, and the _Arkansas_ went there to help. The Union ironclad _Essex_, Capt. William Porter, with four other gunboats, were below Vicksburg at the time, three of the others being of Farragut’s fleet. The _Katahdin_ and _Kineo_ were able to give the Union army a good support in a fight against superior numbers. The _Arkansas_, while trying to come to the aid of Breckenridge, broke down and ran ashore. While she lay in the mud the _Essex_ came up looking for her, and as she could not be moved her crew set her on fire and escaped. She was of the usual form of the river ironclads, and was armored with railroad iron. The design and the material were good for that day, but she was doomed to defeat by her builders before she was launched. [Illustration: _Queen of the West._ _Taylor._ _Carondelet._ _Arkansas._ Battle between the _Carondelet_ and the _Arkansas_. _From a painting by Admiral Walke._] [Illustration: _Arkansas._ _Carondelet._ Battle between the _Arkansas_ and the _Carondelet_. _From a painting by Admiral Walke._] On October 1, 1862, the Mississippi squadron was transferred to the Navy Department, and David D. Porter was promoted and placed in charge. A lot of light-draft steamers clad with half-inch or better iron were added to the squadron and were armed with howitzers. They were called tin-clads, and were of service in carrying transports, and for light work generally. [Illustration: Destruction of the _Arkansas_ near Baton Rouge, August 4, 1862. _From a lithograph published by Currier & Ives._] Another addition to the squadron was a class of heavy boats with their wheels well aft and rectangular casemates forward. They carried some eleven-inch Dahlgrens, and were plated with two and three-inch iron, one carrying as much as six inches on the casemate. But they were built in actual war-time, so the builders took advantage of the haste to rob the nation by scamping the work, and the engines were constantly breaking down. In November the first of a series of moves against Vicksburg was made by the way of the Yazoo River country. The swamps of the Yazoo had served to keep the Federal forces from turning the north end of the Confederate defences along the Vicksburg side of the river, and an expedition was sent across through the bayous, leaving the Mississippi near Helena, and entering the head-waters of the Yazoo. It failed utterly, and the gunboat _Cairo_ was destroyed by torpedoes made of whiskey demijohns. [Illustration: David D. Porter. _From a photograph._]