Butler's boat.
--The Petersburg Express says of the Smithfield capture:‘ The Smith Briggs was a new boat, about the size of the Curtis Peck, which for a long time ran to a passenger boat on James river, and is represented to have been a model of beauty and speed. She was built three months ago at a cost of $85,000, and with her elegant outfit, armament, etc., paid the Yankee Government $125,000. She carried two guns — a thirty two pounder Parrott, and a rifle piece of the same calibre. Capt. Pipkin and his men applied the forth with great reluctance, as she would have proved a most valuable acquisition of the Confederate Government. Her Assistant engineer, who was captured by our scouts on Monday night, says the Briggs was Butler's flag boat, and that the Beast regarded her with a peculiar fondness. His last words to the Captain of the Briggs, when she steamed off from Fortress Monroe were, "Take good care of that boat."
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