Charles Rivers Ellet (June 1, 1843October 29, 1863) was a colonel in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He served in the United States Ram Fleet under his father Charles Ellet, Jr. and as commanding officer of the ram fleet as part of the Mississippi Marine Brigade under his uncle Alfred W. Ellet. He commanded the ram ships USS Queen of the West, USS Switzerland, USS Lancaster and USS Monarch during the brown-water navy battle for control of the Mississippi River and its tributaries as part of the Vicksburg Campaign from 1862 to 1863. At only nineteen years of age, he was one of the youngest colonels in the Union Army. His daring runs of two different ram ships past the batteries at Vicksburg as well as operations on the Yazoo River won him praise from William T. Sherman and David Dixon Porter. However, he was criticized by Porter when his aggressive actions on the Red River led to the capture of the Queen of the West by Confederate forces. Early life and education Ellet was born on June 1, 1843 in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. He was the only son to the well-known civil engineer Charles Ellet Jr. In 1855, he traveled to Europe with his father and attended school in Paris for two years. He studied medicine at Georgetown University until the Civil War began. In 1861 he volunteered as an assistant surgeon and helped treat wounded soldiers from the First Battle of Bull Run in Washington, D.C. Civil war Ellet joined the Union Army in the spring of 1862 as a medical cadet working as an assistant to a Union Army surgeon. He transferred to the United States Ram Fleet led by his father. The ram fleet was a Union Army unit of ram ships converted from commercial steamboats. In June 1862, he served in the First Battle of Memphis as a medical cadet on the Switzerland. He was one of the Union Army representatives that accepted the surrender of Memphis. Ellet and his cousin, Edward Ellet, lowered the Confederate flag over the Memphis post office and raised the American flag in its place. His father died from a wound received during the Battle of Memphis and command of the ram fleet went to his uncle Alfred W. Ellet. Actions north of Vicksburg On June 26, Alfred W. Ellet commanded the Monarch and