Memphis Daily Appeal, CS
THE WAR IN ARKANSAS.
Full Details of the Explosion on the Mound City.
...
"The Mound City’s crew numbered 175 officers and men. Sad to relate, only from twenty to twenty-five, including the three officers above named, escaped uninjured—leaving one hundred and fifty men killed, drowned, missing, and wounded! The mortality is fearful. At the present writing—Thursday. June 19, 10 A.M. On gunboat Conestoga, in sight of Memphis—one hundred have died, while the recovery of the remaining fifty is considered doubtful.

We left forty-three dead bodies on the Mound City, awaiting interment at Fort St. Charles. Since leaving there, thirty-four have died on the Conestoga and Musselman, while Master Downing and all who witness the poor man struggling and crying out in the water for help, are positive that from thirty to forty were drowned before assistance could possibly be rendered them. As before stated, a number were cruelly shot in the water by the enemy’s sharpshooters from both shores, and from the other boats were seen to sink to rise no more.

In the excitement and confusion attending the sudden and unexpected accident, the muster and descriptive rolls were left on the Mound City. Therefore, we’re not been able to give the names of one tenth of the forty-three dead left on the gunboat.

James A. Duble, first master of the Conestoga, was left in charge of the Mound City. She can be repaired where she lies without delay but, as really all her men were killed and wounded, a new crew must be furnished from receiving ship Maria Dening, lying off Cairo."
The Press Covers the Invasion of Arkansas, 1862, Vol I, pg. 328