WITH THE MISSISSIPPI GUNBOATS
CREATING A FLEET FOR THE OPENING OF THE WATER ROUTE ACROSS THE
CONFEDERACY--IRONCLADS THAT WERE NOT SHOT-PROOF, BUT FAIRLY
EFFICIENT NEVERTHELESS--GUNS THAT BURST AND BOILERS THAT WERE
SEARCHED BY SHOT FROM THE ENEMY--WHEN GRANT RETREATED AND WAS
COVERED BY A GUNBOAT--FIRST VIEW OF TORPEDOES--CAPTURE OF FORT
HENRY--A DISASTROUS ATTACK ON FORT DONELSON--WHEN WALKE BRAVED THE
BATTERIES AT ISLAND NO. 10--THE CONFEDERATE DEFENCE SQUADRON AT
FORT PILLOW--THE FIRST BATTLE OF STEAM RAMS--FRIGHTFUL EFFECTS OF
BURSTED BOILERS--IN THE WHITE RIVER--FARRAGUT APPEARS.
In all the naval operations of the Civil War hitherto described in this
history, the object had in view by the government was to strangle and
starve the Confederates. The blockade and the occupation of points on
the Confederate coasts had but one object, and even the capture of the
Confederate agents on the _Trent_ was intended as a part of the same
work. The battle between the _Monitor_ and the _Merrimac_ was fought on
one side to raise and on the other to maintain the blockade at Hampton
Roads. The _Merrimac_ was not seaworthy and could not have been made
so. The Confederates had no thought of using her beyond the waters
of the Chesapeake. But while the naval forces were carrying on this
alongshore work with practically uninterrupted success, an aggressive
movement that was to have far-reaching consequences was planned and
in time carried out by the naval power. This was the opening of the
Mississippi.
In the early days of the war the Confederates having erected a
number of forts along the principal streams of the lower Mississippi
watershed, the government army officers were of the opinion that no
armed vessels would be of any use there. They thought, curiously
enough, that the forts must effectually close navigation on the streams.
However, this hopeless view vanished as the importance of the
navigation of those streams grew upon the minds of all interested in
the conflict in that region. One has now but to glance at the map of
the Mississippi Valley to understand the situation as it was then. For
the Mississippi itself, below Cairo, wound its way through a course
more than 1,000 miles of what was practically Confederate territory.
And, then, there were the Cumberland and the Tennessee Rivers, that
were navigable almost into the heart of the Confederate States, while
other streams like the Red, further south, were to be considered. In
these streams were found the cheapest and most comfortable highways
for the conveyance of armed forces; but more important still was the
fact that if the government controlled the Mississippi, it cut the
Confederacy into two parts and shut off the supplies grown in the
western part from the hungry East. An inland navy was an imperative
necessity, and the War Department undertook the task of providing one.
Commander John Rodgers was ordered to report for duty to Gen. John C.
Frémont, who was then in command in the Mississippi Valley, in order
that he might attend to this work. His first move, like the work of
the Navy Department in establishing the blockade, was to buy and arm
some merchant vessels. Three that were named _Taylor_, _Lexington_,
and _Conestoga_ were obtained at Cincinnati, and converted into
warships by shifting the boilers and steam-pipes into the hold and
building five-inch oak bulwarks around the decks to protect the crews
from musket-shots. These bulwarks were pierced with portholes, and
old guns were mounted in them, navy fashion. The _Taylor_ had seven,
and the others five and three respectively, nearly all the guns being
medium-length sixty-four-pounder shell guns. They had no iron armor of
any kind.
[Illustration: Mississippi Valley--Cairo to Memphis.
_From “The Navy in the Civil War.”_]
In those days James B. Eads, afterwards famous as an engineer, was a
river-boat builder, having his yard at Carondelet, Missouri. When in
July, 1861, the quartermaster-general of the army advertised for bids
for the construction of seven ironclad gunboats for service in the
Mississippi Valley, Eads submitted plans, with estimates of cost and
time, that were at once accepted by the government. The contracts were
signed on August 7th, and it was agreed that the seven should be ready
for crews and guns in sixty-five days, although the birds were teaching
their young to fly among the branches of trees that were to be used in
building the hulls of these vessels, and the shops that were to supply
the iron were and had been idle ever since hostilities had stopped the
business of the country.
[Illustration: The _Cairo_.
_From a photograph._]
As the event showed, Eads was for the Mississippi what Ericsson was on
the coast. He was a man of original ideas. And yet, as Porter says, “it
is strange how slowly even the cleverest of men receive new ideas.” He
built ironclads, it is true, but with the smooth water in which he was
to send them afloat they might have carried a thickness of armor fit to
turn the heaviest shot instead of the boiler plate that was used. As
described by Eads himself, these boats “were to draw six feet of water,
carry thirteen heavy guns each, be plated with two-and-a-half-inch
iron, and have a speed of nine miles an hour. The _De Kalb_ (at first
called the _St. Louis_) was the type of the other six, named the
_Carondelet_, _Cincinnati_, _Louisville_, _Mound City_, _Cairo_, and
_Pittsburg_. They were 175 feet long, 51½ feet beam; the flat sides
sloped at an angle of about thirty-five degrees, and the front and rear
casemates corresponded with the sides, the stern-wheel being entirely
covered by the rear casemate. Each gun-boat was pierced for three
bow guns, eight broadside guns (four on a side), and two stern guns.
Before these seven gun-boats were completed, I engaged to convert the
snag-boat _Benton_ into an armored vessel of still larger dimensions.”
[Illustration: The _Pittsburg_.
_After a photograph._]
Each was propelled by a single paddle-wheel set into the stern, where
it was protected by the fork-shaped hull as well as a casemate. The
boats were expected to fight bow on, and the iron plate across the bow
was backed by two feet of oak. On the sides opposite the boilers the
iron armor was not backed save by a slender supporting frame, while the
stern had neither armor nor oak wall. The pilot-house was of good oak
covered with two and a half inches of iron in front and an inch less
in the rear. The crews had every incentive to keep the bow of the ship
toward the enemy.
“The armament was determined by the exigencies of the time. The army
supplied thirty-five old forty-two-pounders, which were rifled and so
threw a seventy-pound shell. These having lost the metal cut away for
grooves, and not being banded, were called upon to endure the increased
strain of firing rifled projectiles with actually less strength than
had been allowed for the discharge of a round ball of about half the
weight. Such makeshifts are characteristic of nations that do not
prepare for war, and _will doubtless occur again in the experience of
our navy_.” So says Mahan.
[Illustration: The Mississippi Fleet off Mound City, Illinois.
_From a photograph owned by Mr. C. B. Hall._]
The _Benton_ had been a snag-boat--a craft with two hulls so joined
and strengthened that she could get the largest kind of a cottonwood
tree between the hulls, hoist it out of the mud, and drag it clear of
the steamer channel. She had had two wheels, but one between the hulls
was substituted, and the whole was built over into the semblance of an
angular turtle, and armored with plates of iron three and a half inches
thick, well backed with oak. She was a five-knot boat and of deep draft
for the service (nine feet), but she was at that date the most powerful
warship afloat, and “she went by the name of the _Old War Horse_.” She
carried sixteen guns, of which two were nine-inch Dahlgrens.
Another vessel, like the _Benton_, was called the _Essex_, because
commanded by Capt. William Porter, a son of the Porter of _Essex_ fame.
“After bearing a creditable part in the battle of Fort Henry she became
separated by the batteries of Vicksburg from the upper squadron, and is
less identified with its history.” She carried one ten-inch and three
nine-inch guns besides several smaller ones.
Other vessels were added to this upper Mississippi squadron from time
to time, but “they bore no proportionate share in the fighting. The
eight (from the Eads’ yards) may be fairly called the ships of the line
of battle on the Western waters.”
Commander John Rodgers was relieved by Flag Officer Foote on September
6, 1861. He brought a number of younger officers who were to command
the ships of the new fleet while taking orders from the commanding
general of that department. Among these was Commander Henry Walke, who
had saved Fort Pickens at Pensacola, as already told, by disobeying
orders. Walke was sent to the _Taylor_.
These salt-water fighters found strange materials awaiting them--ships
such as they had never dreamed of in connection with war, and men from
the river banks and the corn-fields who knew nothing of great guns
and less, were that possible, of the restraints of naval discipline.
Nevertheless, the effects of naval discipline made first-class tars
out of the raw material, and the gunboats proved good enough for the
occasion.
[Illustration: A. H. Foote.
_From a photograph._]
The first actual conflict between the gun-boats and the Confederates
was on September 10, 1861, when Grant (who was then under Frémont)
determined to dislodge a body of Confederates stationed on the west
side of the Mississippi, eight miles below Cairo, and near Norfolk,
Missouri. The _Conestoga_, Captain Phelps, and the _Lexington_, Captain
Stembel, were sent down. They found the Confederates had sixteen
field-pieces and a considerable body of cavalry. There was a lively
bit of cannonading for a time, and two Confederate gunboats (converted
river steamers) came up to join in. The Confederates’ guns were
silenced, and then the government gunboats returned to Cairo.
A number of equally fruitless skirmishes followed. On November 7th
there was quite a battle at Belmont, on the Missouri side of the
river, opposite Columbus, Kentucky. Grant, with between 3,000 and
4,000 men, went down the river in transports convoyed by the gunboats
_Taylor_, Captain Walke, and _Lexington_, Captain Phelps. They landed
just out of range of the Iron Bluff forts above Columbus, and attacked
the Confederates at Belmont with success, while gunboats under Walke
shelled the works on the Columbus side. Although each boat might have
been penetrated and its boiler exploded by a stray grapeshot, they were
repeatedly carried by Walke, who was senior officer afloat, under the
Confederate batteries. The reader should understand that taking a frail
steamboat under the fire of heavy guns is a much more dangerous affair
than going under fire with an old-fashioned ship with sails; for one
shot could scarcely disable even a thin-walled sailing ship, but one
shot into a steamer’s boiler not only disabled her, but slaughtered her
crew with the steam. Walke and Phelps showed great gallantry on this
occasion.
The Confederate troops were driven to their transports at first, but
they rallied and were reinforced from the Columbus side of the river
until they numbered about 7,000. Grant then retreated, and his troops
were in some disorder, for they were yet undisciplined.
When Grant was compelled to retreat, Walke took the _Taylor_ within a
few yards of the banks where the Union troops embarked and drove off
the victorious Confederates. It is not unlikely that Grant would have
been captured but for Walke’s timely aid, for he was the last man to
board the transports, and the Confederates were at hand in force with
plenty of field-guns to sink the Union transports.
[Illustration: The Battle of Belmont: First Attack by the _Taylor_ and
the _Lexington_.
_From a painting by Admiral Walke._]
The next operation of importance was the capture of Fort Henry on the
Tennessee River, just south of the Kentucky line. It was the first
of the advances into the Confederate territory by way of the rivers
of the West. On February 2, 1862, Flag Officer Foote assembled at
Paducah, at the mouth of the Tennessee, the ironclad gunboats _Essex_,
Capt. William D. Porter; _Carondelet_, Captain Walke; _St. Louis_,
Captain Paulding; and _Cincinnati_, Captain Stembel; besides the three
wooden gunboats _Conestoga_, _Taylor_, and _Lexington_ to act as a
reserve. Here the troops under Grant were embarked on transports, and
the expedition proceeded cautiously up the river--cautiously because
a boastful woman in a wayside house had told a scouting party that
the ships would be blown out of water by torpedoes before passing an
island just below the fort. On Tuesday, February 3d, the expedition had
arrived within a few miles of Fort Henry, and the troops were landed,
and a combined assault by the ironclads and the troops was ordered.
But before the movement could be made, a tremendous storm came on; the
river rose until the gunboats, with both anchors down, had to keep
their engines going at full speed to hold their own against the tide
and the flotsam.
To the impatient sailors this seemed a misfortune, but after a time
they saw they were enjoying the greatest good luck, for there were
full-sized trees in the flood, and these swept the torpedoes clear of
their moorings and brought them floating down. Small boats were sent
out to gather them in, and very ugly things they were--cylinders of
sheet iron big enough to hold seventy-five pounds of powder, with a
lock and trigger that should catch on a boat’s bottom and explode the
powder.
However, on the 6th the water was low enough to permit an advance. Flag
Officer Foote went to the ships to inspect the crews, and told the
gunners that every shot cost the government eight dollars, so none must
be wasted. They were to aim at the guns of the fort--_aim_, and not
merely point in the direction.
Finally, the soldiers on shore waded away through the mud, and the
gunboats steamed slowly up the river.
The fort they were to attack was a well-planned earthwork mounting
twenty guns, but of these only eleven or twelve (accounts differ)
could be brought to bear on the approaching fleet. The best of these
was a sixty-pounder rifle, but a ten-inch medium-weight shell gun and
two forty-two-pounders supported it, and the rest were thirty-twos.
As the gunboats were to fight bows on, they could bring to bear
twelve guns, of which two were nine-inch Dahlgrens, and the rest
sixty-four-pounders, or better. The weight of metal afloat was
superior, but until the days of armored ships one gun in a fort was
counted equal to from three to five afloat.
[Illustration: Battle of Belmont: U. S. Gunboats Repulsing the Enemy
during the Debarkation.
_From a painting by Admiral Walke._]
[Illustration: Interior of the _Taylor_ during the Battle of Belmont.
_From a painting by Admiral Walke._]
By any reasonable standard here was as fair a fight as one could hope
to find between ships and forts at that day, and at 12.30 o’clock on
Friday, February 6, 1862, the _Cincinnati_ (the flagship) fired her
three bow guns simultaneously at an estimated range of 1,700 yards.
The wily gunners on the other ships, remembering Flag Officer Foote’s
warning about wasting shot, waited to see the effect of these shots,
and saw them all fall short. “So there was $24 worth of ammunition
wasted,” writes an officer of the _Essex_; but the gunners had learned
the range, and “Jack Mathews, an old tar who had seen much service on
men-o’-war, and was always restive under the command of a volunteer
officer,” was the first to get his gun elevated, and the first to fire
when the word came.
A fresh breeze athwart the bows drove the smoke away, and a shout arose
as the shell from Jack’s gun burst in the parapet under one of the
Confederate guns and covered it with the soft earth.
The squadron advanced slowly but steadily, reducing the elevation of
the guns from seven to six and then five degrees, and cutting the
fuses of the shells shorter and shorter. Every shot reached home in
the parapet, and some passed clear through to lodge in and fire the
barracks of the Confederates. The Confederates fought back stubbornly.
“The fort seemed a blaze of fire.” Their shells drove the officers
of the boats down into the casemates, but when the casemates were
struck the projectiles bounded clear, doing little or no harm until
the battle had raged for nearly fifty minutes. Then the gunner in
charge of the Confederate rifle got the range of the _Essex_ and drove
his sixty-pound shell right through her bow armor just above a port.
Continuing its flight, it took off the head of Master’s Mate Brittain
and plunged into the middle boiler located amidships.
In an instant the deck was deluged with steam and scalding water, and
the crew who could reach them went plunging through the ports, while
the ship herself began drifting with the current out of the fight.
When the steam had exhausted itself the men from aft hastened forward.
The deck was covered with men dead or writhing in their last agony.
“Marshall Ford, who was steering, was found at the wheel, standing
erect, his left hand holding the spoke and his right hand grasping the
signal-bell rope,” dead at his post.
[Illustration: Battle of Fort Henry.
_From a painting by Admiral Walke._]
The men who had been working the bow guns from the first had just been
relieved and sent aft to rest, but Jack Mathews had his blood up and
had obtained permission to stay at his gun. He was among those who
crawled through the port and was picked up by the boats, but he died
that night. In all, twenty-nine men were scalded, and more than half of
them died. Captain Porter was one of the severely scalded.
But while one ship was disabled by a well-directed shot, the other
three steadily advanced, and their shot told with increasing effect.
The Confederate rifle burst a few minutes later, and the ten-inch shell
gun was spiked with its own priming wire. Five other guns were disabled
by the fire of the gunboats, and this fire was rapidly becoming more
deadly, for they were soon less than 500 yards away. Gen. Lloyd
Tilghman, the Confederate commander, had “done all that could be done
to defend his charge, and saying, ‘It is vain to fight longer--our
gunners are disabled, our guns dismounted--we can’t hold out five
minutes longer,’ he ordered a white flag hoisted.”
As the firing ceased the _Carondelet_ grounded, and the steam on the
flagship _Cincinnati_ having been shut off, she began drifting with
the current. To Flag Officer Foote it seemed that the _Carondelet_
was steaming ahead of the flagship, and Foote ordered her to fall
back. Of course she could not do so. Foote became excited at the
seeming insolence of Captain Walke, and, running forward, he shouted
himself hoarse, and then a junior officer tried it also. Finally
the _Carondelet_ got free, and the matter was explained; but it is
apparent, from the published memoirs of the two men, that ill-feeling
prevailed between them thereafter.
Tilghman went on board the _Cincinnati_ and surrendered to Foote, for
the army under Grant was detained by the muddy roads, and did not
arrive until an hour after the fort had been silenced. It was a victory
for the gunboats exclusively.
The importance of taking the fort appears when it is recalled that
it was a main point in the frontier chain of Confederate posts that
extended from Columbus, Kentucky, on the Mississippi, east to the
Cumberland Mountains. The way to the interior of Tennessee was open,
and the Confederate positions at Bowling Green and Columbus, Kentucky,
were becoming untenable because the Union forces were in their rear.
Foote returned to Cairo immediately with three ironclads, leaving the
_Carondelet_ at Fort Henry, while the three unarmored gunboats were
sent up the river to destroy the bridge of the main line of railroad
from Memphis to the East, thus cutting off rail communication between
the Confederate capital and all the western parts of Kentucky and
Tennessee. Lieutenant Phelps was in charge of these boats, and after
reaching the bridge, he left the _Taylor_ to destroy both bridge and
trestle-work while he pushed on with the other two. Three Confederate
steamers, two of which were loaded with military stores, were grounded
and fired above the bridge when Phelps appeared, and there was a
tremendous explosion when they blew up.
Continuing on to Cerro Gordo, near the Mississippi State line, he
captured a river steamer called the _Eastport_, that was already partly
converted into a gunboat. Further up two more steamers were captured,
and three others were fired by the Confederates. The raid extended to
Florence, and was one of the notably brave deeds on Western waters.
The _Eastport_ was taken into the government service, and Phelps
commanded her until she ran on a torpedo in the Red River two years
later and was destroyed.
From Fort Henry the gunboats turned to Fort Donelson on the Cumberland
River. This fort, although on another river, was but twelve miles from
Fort Henry. It was a much stronger position. As described by Mahan,
“the main work was on a bluff about a hundred feet high, at a bend
commanding the river below. On the slope of the ridge, looking down
stream, were two water batteries, with which alone the fleet had to
do. The lower and principal one mounted eight 32-pounders and a X-inch
columbiad; in the upper there were two 32-pounder carronades and one
gun of the size of a X-inch smooth-bore, but rifled with the bore of
a 32-pounder and said to throw a shot of one hundred and twenty-eight
pounds. Both batteries were excavated in the hillside, and the lower
had traverses between the guns to protect them from an enfilading fire,
in case the boats should pass their front and attack them from above.
At the time of the fight these batteries were thirty-two feet above the
level of the river.”
Foote thought the position too strong for the gunboats because the
forts could deliver a plunging fire that would strike on top, where the
gunboats were not armored, but he consented to join the expedition.
Meantime Grant had sent the _Carondelet_, Captain Walke, around in
advance of the others, and she arrived within range of Fort Donelson at
11 o’clock A.M. on February 12, 1862. Grant arrived overland an hour
later.
[Illustration:
Upper Battery.
Water Battery.
Grant’s army attacking, in distance.
U. S. Gunboats.
Battle of Fort Donelson.
_From a painting by Admiral Walke._]
To announce her arrival to General Grant the _Carondelet_ threw a few
shells at the enemy and then dropped down out of range. Next day,
by order of Grant, the _Carondelet_ took a partly sheltered position
behind a point, and at a range of a mile and a quarter fired 184 shells
into the fort to divert the attention of the Confederates as much as
possible from General Grant. She was twice hit by the return fire, and
one shot penetrated, wounding a few men with splinters.
On the night of the 13th Foote, with the _St. Louis_, _Louisville_, and
_Pittsburg_, arrived, and at 3 P.M. on the 14th the squadron advanced
in line abreast to the attack. Opening fire at a range of a mile, they
steadily lessened the range until at last within 400 yards of the
lower Confederate battery. The Confederates were rapidly abandoning
their guns at this moment (4.30 P.M.), when a shot passed through the
pilot-house of the flagship _St. Louis_, wounding Foote seriously, the
pilot also, and smashing the wheel; and at the same moment a shell
cut the tiller ropes of the _Louisville_. The preventer tackles that
had been provided proved utterly inadequate in both cases--a most
serious fault that should have been foreseen--and both vessels drifted
helplessly out of the fight.
Seeing this, the Confederates rallied to their guns and renewed the
fight. The _Carondelet_ and _Pittsburg_ were soon seriously damaged,
and followed the disabled boats down stream.
Mahan says of this fight: “Notwithstanding its failure, the tenacity
and fighting qualities of the fleet were more markedly proved in this
action than in the victory at Henry. The vessels were struck more
frequently (the flagship fifty-nine times, and none less than twenty),
and though the power of the enemy’s guns was about the same in each
case, the height and character of the soil at Donelson placed the
fleet at a great disadvantage. The fire from above, reaching their
sloping armor nearly at right angles, searched every weak point. Upon
the _Carondelet_ a rifled gun burst. The pilot-houses were beaten in,
and three of the four pilots received mortal wounds. Despite these
injuries, and the loss of fifty-four killed and wounded, the fleet was
only shaken from its hold by accidents to the steering apparatus, after
which their batteries could not be brought to bear.
“Among the injured on this occasion was the flag-officer, who was
standing by the pilot when the latter was killed. Two splinters struck
him in the arm and foot, inflicting wounds apparently slight; but the
latter, amid the exposure and anxiety of the succeeding operations, did
not heal, and finally compelled him, three months later, to give up the
command.”
[Illustration: Explosion on Board the _Carondelet_ at the Battle of
Fort Donelson.
_From a painting by Admiral Walke._]
The Confederates surrendered to Grant on the 16th. It was an army
victory. Nashville fell on the 25th, and on March 1st the Confederates
began to evacuate Columbus, on the Mississippi. No attempt was made by
the Confederates to hold Hickman, the next town down the Mississippi,
but they fortified Island No. 10, that lay in the river opposite the
dividing line between Kentucky and Tennessee, and both banks of the
river. The position there was particularly strong. The river, for some
distance, flowed south until the island was reached, and then turned to
the northwest, and sweeping around a horseshoe bend, came back again
to its old line and continued on south. The island lay right in the
pocket of the sharp bend where the river turned to the northwest. The
current was strong and full of eddies, and the channel lay right under
the muzzles of the guns that were placed to defend it. “On the island
itself were four batteries mounting twenty-three guns, on the Tennessee
shore six batteries mounting thirty-two guns. There was also a floating
battery, which, at the beginning of operations, was moored abreast the
middle of the island, and is variously reported as carrying nine or ten
IX-inch guns.” So says Mahan.
Nevertheless, the Union forces were sweeping down, and this stronghold
had to yield, and the most interesting fact in connection with its
capture was the brave dash of an American sailor, Captain Walke of the
_Carondelet_.
Pope captured New Madrid, on the Missouri side of the river, on March
3d, and began fortifying the river below that town. A glance at the map
will show this necessarily cut off river communications between Island
No. 10 and the Confederates down stream. But the Confederates could
come to Tiptonville, and from that place a good road led across the
neck of land three miles to the shore opposite Island No. 10, and that
was but a small overland journey for supplies. However, supplies could
come by no other route, because the region east of the island was one
vast swamp. Accordingly Pope determined to cross over to Tiptonville
and so shut the Confederates in.
Meantime Foote’s flotilla had arrived in the river just above Island
No. 10, bringing along a number of mortar boats--mere floating
platforms carrying a thirteen-inch mortar each. Pope soon sent to
Foote, asking that a couple of the gunboats be sent down the river, on
the first favorable night, past the Confederate batteries to New Madrid
to serve as ferryboats for the troops and to cover the landing. To this
request Foote sent a positive refusal, although Capt. Henry Walke, of
the _Carondelet_, was urgent in asking permission to make the run.
Foote said that the risk was too great, and he could not afford
to lose even one ship from his present command. But he added that when
“the object of running the blockade becomes adequate to the risk,” he
would consent.
[Illustration:
Iron Bluffs.
Chalk Bluffs.
U. S. Flotilla Descending the Mississippi River.
_From a painting by Admiral Walke._]
[Illustration: Battle with Fort No. 1 above Island No. 10.
_From a painting by Admiral Walke._]
This unexpected attitude of Foote delayed the capture of the island
about two weeks. At the suggestion of Schuyler Hamilton, a channel was
cut through the trees of the swamp from the Mississippi to New Madrid.
There was water enough there to float shoal transports and barges,
and when this work was done and the transports for ferry use were
lying in the bayou behind New Madrid, Foote gave Captain Walke, of the
_Carondelet_, permission to try running the batteries.
Captain Walke got his orders on March 30th. To prepare his ship for the
iron deluge he put extra planking over her deck, and then ranged her
chain cables across it to serve as additional armor--a use of chain
cables that became famous in the one great naval duel of the Civil War,
as will appear further on. Lumber and cord wood were piled where they
would protect the boiler and engines, and the pilot-house was wrapped
with ropes to a thickness of eighteen inches, while the escape-pipes
were changed so as to exhaust in the wheel-box, that thus the puffing
or coughing noise of the high-pressure engines then in use should be
drowned. To still further protect her, a barge loaded with baled hay
was lashed on the left side, which was the one that must receive the
Confederate fire. The resourcefulness of Captain Walke was well shown
in these preparations.
The night of April 10, 1862, was selected for the dash. The moon set
at 10 o’clock that night and, as fortune favored, a heavy thunderstorm
came on. Lifting her anchors as the first breath of the squall arrived,
the _Carondelet_ swung around and headed down the stream. The crew were
at quarters, and every man but two was under cover. One, a seaman,
Charles Wilson, stood at the rail heaving the lead, while Theodore
Gilmore stood half-way between him and the pilot-house to pass the
whispered call of the leadsman. By the time they were heading their
course the rain began to fall in sheets, and the monotonous words “no
bottom” from the leadsman were drowned, as was the puffing of the
engine. Not a lamp was burning anywhere about the ship. The pilot,
William R. Hall, was a man who could feel his way. But just before the
batteries were reached, the boat met the one contingency for which no
provision was made. Wood was used as fuel in the furnaces, and the soot
in the chimney caught fire and went blazing up from the top of the
smoke-stack. The lightning, too, was streaming across the sky, and
“the gallant little ship floated like a phantom” before the eyes of the
Confederates, who ran to their guns, and in a moment set the batteries
flaming. The roar of the cannon echoed to the boom and rumble of the
thunder. But the lightning that revealed the “phantom ship” blinded the
eyes of the gunners, and they strove in vain to aim their guns with
accuracy. The _Carondelet_ passed unharmed, and the fate of Island No.
10 was sealed.
The hardy spirit of the brave Walke has never been sufficiently
appreciated. This was because other batteries were run safely later
on. But Walke was not only the pioneer. He alone of all the captains
in Foote’s command favored the project from the first. The others
“believed that it would result in the almost certain destruction of
the boat, passing six forts under the fire of fifty guns.” He was
willing to face the danger when all previous experience made even the
most daring of his associates believe the task impossible. Nor was the
danger from the batteries the only one, for it must not be forgotten
that the Confederates had a half dozen well-armed gunboats at New
Orleans, besides the ram _Manassas_, that created so great a panic
at the mouth of the Mississippi. The _Carondelet_, when below the
Confederate batteries, was for the time cut off from all support. The
power of the Confederate fleet was exaggerated at the time, as we now
know, but the officers of Foote’s flotilla had no means of learning
the real facts. Moreover, it would have been rank folly for them to
underestimate the power of the enemy.
It is worth telling that Island No. 10 has disappeared under the
action of the current, and the main channel lies where the Confederate
batteries stood.
On April 6th Pope crossed over to Tiptonville under cover of Walke’s
guns. On that day, also, Grant fought the Confederates at Pittsburg
Landing on the Tennessee. The _Taylor_, under Lieutenant Gwin, and the
_Lexington_, Lieutenant Shirk, had part in that battle. During the
afternoon the Confederates made a desperate attempt to turn Grant’s
left and capture the landing place and transports. Gwin opened fire and
silenced their batteries. At 4 o’clock the _Lexington_ arrived, and
the two gunboats silenced the Confederate batteries three-quarters of
a mile above the landing. Again at 5.30 the Confederates came in such
force against Grant’s left that they arrived within an eighth of a mile
of the landing, but the boats then drove them back in confusion. It
is not unlikely that Grant would have been entirely overwhelmed
by the superior force of the Confederates but for the support of the
gunboats. They enabled him to hold out until reinforcements came. And
that night, to quote a Confederate account, “the enemy broke the men’s
rest by a discharge, at measured intervals, of heavy shells thrown from
the gunboats.” The Confederates could not sleep because a great shell
was dropped somewhere in their camp, bringing death and disaster every
fifteen minutes. Imagine those soldiers lying there all night counting
the time as they waited for the next shell.
[Illustration: The _Carondelet_ Running the Gauntlet at Island No. 10.
_From a painting by Admiral Walke._]
[Illustration: The _Carondelet_ Attacking the Forts below Island No. 10.
_From a painting by Admiral Walke._]
The next matter of interest in the story of the Mississippi flotilla
was what may be called an irregular squadron battle. Island No. 10
surrendered on May 7, 1862, and the government fleet advanced until
near Fort Pillow, which the Confederates had erected on the First
Chickasaw Bluffs, not far above the Hatchie River. Here a stand was
made awaiting the coöperation of the army. Foote, suffering from his
wound, had to be relieved. Capt. Charles H. Davis took his place on May
9th. The fleet at this time numbered seven gunboats, four of which were
stationed on the Arkansas (westerly) shore and three on the Tennessee
side. They were the _Mound City_, Capt. A. H. Kilty; _Cincinnati_,
Capt. R. N. Stembel; _St. Louis_, Capt. Henry Erben; _Cairo_, Capt.
N. C. Bryant; _Benton_ (flagship), Capt. S. L. Phelps; _Carondelet_,
Capt. Henry Walke; and _Pittsburg_, Capt. Egbert Thompson.
It was the custom while lying there to send one of the gunboats every
day to tow a mortar boat to a mooring under Craighead’s Point, where
it could throw shells into Fort Pillow, the gunboat lying handy by
meantime to protect the mortar boat from Confederate boats known to be
in the river below the fort.
The Confederate gunboats were the ordinary river boats converted into
warships by putting cotton bales and pine timber about the boilers,
and by casing the bows with iron, and in other ways adding to their
strength forward so that they became, after a fashion, rams. Each
carried at least one gun. This work was done by the pilots themselves
at New Orleans, and the old line navy officers there were not allowed
to interfere. When ready, eight of these boats had been sent up to Fort
Pillow, nominally under Capt. J. E. Montgomery, one of the pilots, but,
as a matter of fact, each captain did as he pleased, and the wonder is
that anything worth mention should have been accomplished.
[Illustration:
Confederate Batteries.
_Carondelet._
_Pittsburg._
U. S. Gunboats Capturing the Confederate Forts below Island No. 10,
April 7th.
_From a painting by Admiral Walke._]
Early on May 10th the government gunboat _Cincinnati_ towed a mortar
boat to its post, and then tied herself to a snag near by. At
5 o’clock the mortar hurled its first shell into Fort Pillow, and
thereafter continued its work until 6 o’clock, when a dense smoke
was seen rising in the air below Fort Pillow. The Confederate rams
were leaving their landing for a dash at the mortar boat and the
_Cincinnati_. The _Cincinnati_ quickly slipped her moorings, and
running out into the river, faced the Confederates--faced them
alone, although the whole Confederate flotilla was in plain sight of
the government flotilla long before they reached the _Cincinnati_.
Apparently Flag Officer Davis overslept that morning.
As the Confederates came in range the _Cincinnati_ opened fire and
stood her ground. The Confederates scattered at once, but continued
advancing. The leading Confederate boat, the _General Bragg_, hugged
the Arkansas shore, passed above the _Cincinnati_, and then turning
around, drove her bow into the unprotected quarter of the lone
government boat. The two boats were alongside each other in a moment,
and the _Cincinnati_ gave the Confederate boat a broadside that sent
her skurrying down the stream and out of the battle.
Behind the _Bragg_ came two more Confederates, the _Price_ and
the _Sumter_, firing with guns and muskets at the ports of the
_Cincinnati_, while one of them rammed her again in the place where the
_Bragg_ had struck her, and at the same moment Captain Stembel fell
with a ball through his throat that well-nigh proved mortal, and the
executive officer was mortally hurt.
Meantime Flag Officer Davis woke up, while Captain Kilty, of the _Mound
City_, without waiting for orders, started to the aid of the mobbed
_Cincinnati_. Captain Walke, with the _Carondelet_, was not far behind
him, but both were three miles away from the scene of conflict when
they started. The _Carondelet_ was the first to open fire, and the
first shot raked the fleeing _Bragg_. Another shell struck the _Price_
at the water-line, cutting a water-supply pipe and causing her to leak
so badly that she was thrown out of the fight.
[Illustration:
_Mound City._
_Carondelet._
Mortar.
_Cincinnati._
_Van Dorn._
_General Price._
_Bragg._
_Sumter._
_Little Rebel._
Battle of Fort Pillow.
_From a painting by Admiral Walke._]
But while aid was coming the _Cincinnati_ was run into shoal water,
and there she sank. The _Mound City_ had meantime been firing at the
Confederates, and the _Van Dorn_ turned to ram her. She avoided the
full strength of the blow by a skilful use of the helm, but she was
cut into, nevertheless, and had to be run ashore on the Arkansas side
to keep her from sinking. The _Pittsburg_ had been obliged to go to
the assistance of the _Cincinnati_ to get her into shoal water, and
the _Cairo_ rendered the same service to the _Mound City_. This left
only the flagship _Benton_, the _Carondelet_, and the _St. Louis_ to
continue the battle with the six remaining Confederate gunboats,
though it must be said that the guns of both the _Pittsburg_ and the
_Cairo_ were still firing at the Confederates. But the Confederates
retreated as soon as the belated _Benton_ and _St. Louis_ got fairly
into the fight. Flag Officer Montgomery said he retreated because the
government boats all went into water too shoal for his rams, while
their guns were far heavier as well as much more numerous than his. As
to the guns, he had only thirty-two-pounders, but it is certain that
neither the _Benton_, the _Carondelet_, or the _St. Louis_ went into
shoal water. In fact, the _Benton_ drew more water than any of the
Confederate “River Defence Squadron,” as it was called, and the other
two government boats quite as much as any.
The fact is, Montgomery’s force was a lot of militia afloat. They made
a most brilliant dash at the government forces, sank two gunboats, and
then, militia fashion, got out of it when they were really just ready
to begin to fight. Not one of their boats was seriously hurt. The
_Bragg_ had lost her tiller ropes, and the _Price_ was aleak, but both
might have continued the fight after a few minutes devoted to repairs.
The whole force was, so far as hurts were concerned, “ready for action
at Memphis a month later.” As to the government force, it may be said
that Stembel, on the _Cincinnati_, made a brilliant defence, and
Walke and Kilty, of the _Carondelet_ and _Mound City_, seemed to fully
appreciate what was required under the circumstances. The unprotected
mortar boat, Acting Master Gregory, kept up a steady fire on the
Confederates throughout the conflict, and Gregory was promoted for his
bravery.
Soon after this fight the government flotilla was reinforced by seven
river steamers that had been converted into rams along the Ohio River
by Col. Charles Ellet, Jr. Part of them were stern-wheelers and part
side-wheelers. They were strengthened with fore-and-aft bulkheads, and
the boilers were protected with two feet of oak. Ellet had independent
charge of them, with instructions to coöperate with the gunboats under
Flag Officer Davis.
Meantime the advance of the government army in Tennessee had made
it impossible for the Confederates to hold Fort Pillow, and it was
evacuated on June 4, 1862. On the evening of the 5th the government
flotilla came to anchor just above Memphis, that was yet in Confederate
control. The Confederate fleet was seen at the levee next morning, but
they soon cast off and took a position where the Union fleet could not
fire on them without danger of throwing shells into the city. It was to
be the last battle between the two flotillas, and a great throng of
citizens gathered on the bluffs.
[Illustration:
_Lovell._
_Bragg._
_Sumter._
_Carondelet._
_Mound City._
_Benton._
_St. Louis._
_Pittsburg._
The Battle of Fort Pillow.
_From a painting by Admiral Walke._]
The government gunboats started at 4.20 o’clock and dropped slowly
down, stern first, until the Confederates opened fire, when they turned
about and returned the fire with vigor. The Union rams under Ellet
had, until this time, kept in the rear, but when the firing began two
of them--the _Queen of the West_ and the _Monarch_, swift vessels for
their day--took advantage of the smoke, dashed through the government
line, and boldly headed for the Confederate boats.
This attack was wholly unexpected, and the crowds of Memphis citizens
on the heights groaned aloud. The officers of the Confederate ships
were startled, too. Some of their vessels swerved about under the
nervous handling of their tiller wheels, and that gave the gallant
Ellet the opportunity he hoped for. With the _Queen of the West_ he
crashed fairly into the broadside of the Confederate ship _Lovell_,
and she sank out of sight immediately. But as the _Queen of the
West_ hauled clear, the quick-witted pilot of the Confederate ram
_Beauregard_ rammed her, and she was headed for the Arkansas shore,
where she grounded. The government ram _Monarch_ was close behind the
_Queen of the West_, and the Confederate rams _Beauregard_ and _Price_
made a dash at her from opposite sides. She cleverly eluded them, and
they crashed together, the _Beauregard_ making a hole in the _Price_
that sent her to the Arkansas shore.
That mishap very naturally confused the pilot of the _Beauregard_,
and while he was recovering his wits the _Monarch_ turned on him and
rammed. Just then a shot from the _Benton_ pierced the _Beauregard’s_
boiler, and with the steam and scalding water pouring over her crew,
she surrendered. The _Monarch_ took charge of her and towed her over
toward the Arkansas shore, where she sank and quelled the agonies of
the dying by burying them under the river.
And then, to add to the disasters of the Confederates, a shot pierced
the steam-chest of the _Little Rebel_, sending her also to the morgue
on the Arkansas shore.
The remainder of the Confederate squadron now turned and fled for
safety, but the shells from the government flotilla were too swift
for them. The _Thompson_ was sunk, and the _Bragg_ and _Sumter_
surrendered. Only the _Van Dorn_ escaped.
On the whole, this was the most interesting day in the history of the
flotilla. The fight was soon over (Memphis was in the hands of the
flotilla at 11 o’clock), but the Confederates fought with the greatest
gallantry until four of their ships were destroyed. The chief
feature of the fight, from a naval point of view, was the destructive
work of the rams, for therein one may find a foreshadowing of what
shall come to pass if ever two modern squadrons are arrayed in battle.
Three ships were rammed out of the conflict within fifteen or twenty
minutes; the actual time does not appear. It was the first fight of
steam rams in the history of the world.
[Illustration:
_Carondelet._
_Benton._
_St. Louis._
_Lovell._
_Cairo._
_Bragg._
_Louisville._
_Van Dorn._
The Battle of Memphis--First Position.
_From a painting by Admiral Walke._]
[Illustration:
_Sumter._
_Beauregard._
_Louisville._
_Benton._
_St. Louis._
_Carondelet._
_Cairo._
After the Battle of Memphis.
_From a painting by Admiral Walke._]
While the flagship remained at Memphis until June 29th, the river was
practically opened as far as Vicksburg by this fight. An expedition
to coöperate with the army was sent up the White River in Arkansas,
where, at Charles City, a combined attack was made by the gunboats and
an Indiana regiment under Colonel Fitch, on the Confederate works. The
_Mound City_ was leading the gunboats, and had arrived within 600 yards
of the Confederate fort, when a shell entered her casemate, killing
three men and bursting her boiler. Of 175 officers and men on board,
but three officers and twenty-two men escaped unhurt from the frightful
blast. Eighty-two died of wounds and the scalding, and forty-three were
drowned or shot in the water when they jumped overboard to escape the
steam, for the Confederates continued firing at her crew when they were
swimming away from her.
The other gunboats continued battle until Fitch was ready to make an
assault from the rear, when they ceased firing, and Fitch carried the
works by storm. The Confederate commander was Capt. Joseph Fry, who was
captured and executed by the Spaniards in the _Virginius_ expedition,
of which he was the leader.
On June 29th Flag Officer Davis steamed down the river from Memphis,
and early on the morning of July 1, 1862, came upon a government fleet
lying just above Vicksburg, under the command of Admiral Farragut.
The story of Farragut’s journey from the Gulf of Mexico to this point
will be told in the next chapter.
[Illustration:
_Van Dorn._
_Jeff. Thompson._
_Bragg._
_Sumter._
_Louisville._
_Cairo._
_Carondelet._
Battle of Memphis--The Confederates Retreating.
_From a painting by Admiral Walke._]