An up-to-date item on the Red River Delta Queen to Travel Red River to Natchitoches: AP (25 May 1999) NATCHITOCHES - Civil War enthusiasts will soon be able to travel to historic sites along the Red River just like 19th Century travelers - on a 72-year-old paddlewheeler. The Delta Queen will arrive here June 7 as part of a cruise to places associated with the Red River campaign. It's the fartherest that the steamboat will have been up the river. Passengers will be shuttled into town and outlying historic sites such as the Pleasant Hill battlefield and Mansfield State Commemorative Area. The cruise will feature seminars by Civil War experts, a ballad singer and an actor playing Abraham Lincoln. Last year, the Delta Queen got up to Alexandria on the Red. The company hopes to make it as far as Shreveport withinseveral years.