Two Yankee Gunboats at Our Landing! The Federal gunboat raid on Florence, Alabama in February 1862

Lieutenant Seth Ledyard Phelps of Ohio


The breathless headlines in the February 12, 1862 issue of the Florence Gazette told the tale:

Citizens Leaving!
Three steamboats burnt! Two others sunk!
Two Yankee Gunboats at Our Landing!

Following the successful Federal gunboat assault that compelled the surrender of Fort Henry on February 6, 1862, three timberclad gunboats (the Tyler, Conestoga, and Lexington) under the command of Lieutenant Seth Ledyard Phelps of Ohio ascended the Tennessee River. Their mission, as described by Phelps’ brother Alfred who was Paymaster aboard the Conestoga, was “to proceed up the river in search of Rebel steamers and gunboats and go as far as he thought discreet and proper to go. We had great difficulty in opening the draw to the splendid railroad bridge that crossed the river 25 miles above Fort Henry,” he wrote. There were three or four steamers three miles upstream and when they had passed they had, in their great haste no doubt, forgot to leave the tools to turn it with.” The squadron prompted several Southern steamboat captains to beach their ships and set them afire. “One of them contained a large amount of powder which exploded when we were within 1,000 yards with great force, the concussion being sufficient to break all the fastenings on the doors of the Conestoga,” Alfred Phelps wrote. “It felt to those on board as if it picked the vessel up and hurled it down in the water.”
 
U.S.S. Conestoga- a Florence resident described the Conestoga and Lexington as "the black, ugly things, wrapped as they were in the habiliments of death and mourning well represent the principle upon which this unholy war is waged."
Later that day, the squadron came across the Confederate gunboat Eastport under construction at Cerro Gordo and captured it. The gunboat was “undergoing the process of casemating, nearly everything being on board and at hand to complete her with the exception of her armament,” Paymaster Phelps wrote. His brother directed the Tyler to remain behind to secure this prize and continued with the other two gunboats up the river.


On the morning of February 8th, Phelps’ squadron overtook and captured two steamers (the Sallie Wood and Muscle) near the Mississippi state line and proceeded upriver towards the termination of navigable waters at Muscle Shoals. [Muscle Shoals gained its name from the large accumulation of mussels that had built up there over many years; local residents named it “Muscle” Shoals when they more properly meant to name it “Mussel Shoals,” but the name Muscle Shoals has stuck.]

Map of northern Alabama showing the "Shoals" area: Florence on the north shore connected by a railroad bridge across the Tennessee River to the strategic Memphis & Charleston Railroad which passed through Tuscumbia on the south shore. The cities of Sheffield and Muscle Shoals were incorporated long after the Civil War. 

Heavy rains swelled the Tennessee River and made passage upriver a battle for Phelps’ vessels. “We entered the state of Alabama and ascended to Florence,” wrote Lieutenant Phelps. “On coming in sight of the town, three steamers were discovered which were immediately set on fire by the Rebels.”

To the citizens of Florence, the arrival of Phelps’ squadron came as a terrible shock. “Our citizens were thrown into the utmost state of excitement by the appearance of two Yankee gunboats. The black, ugly things, wrapped as they were in the habiliments of death and mourning [a reference to their black iron sheething] well represent the principle upon which this unholy war is waged,” wrote S.G. Barr, editor of the Florence Gazette. “When it was certainly known that the gunboats were coming, a good many of our citizens took their movable goods and went to the country for safety. Some reported that 10,000 Yankees were in town, some 20,000, and claimed that they were destroying everything before them. One fellow affirmed that he saw 27 gunboats land here with his own eyes. That is the way such rumors get afloat,” Barr opined. “Suffice it to say, the gunboats lay at our wharf about three hours and then retired.”

U.S.S. Tyler missed out on the expedition to Florence- it remained at Cerro Gordo, Tennessee guarding the captured prize Confederate gunboat the Eastport. 

The crews of the two steamboats docked in Florence immediately set fire to their ships upon seeing Phelps’ timberclads round the bend. “The torch was applied to the combustible material and soon one of the most sublime scenes that has ever been witnessed by our citizens was exhibited. The steamers were now wrapped in curling flames,” wrote Barr. Across the river, the steamer Julia H. Smith was set afire and with her engines churning, set adrift down the Tennessee, narrowly missing one of the gunboats. “The Kirkman and Time were nearly consumed when the Federals landed below them [in Florence] and all three steamers floated down the river,” Barr stated. The Time had over $100,000 of government stores on board and would have made a rich prize, indeed.

Phelps docked his two vessels and, as Barr wrote, “the soil of north Alabama was desecrated by the tread of our invading foe.” Phelps directed his men to search nearby warehouses and seize any government property discovered. “Considerable quantities of supplies marked Fort Henry were secured from the burning wrecks. Some had been landed and stored. These I seized, putting such as we could bring away on board our vessels and destroying the remainder,” Lieutenant Phelps wrote. Barr agreed: “Private property was respected.” Paymaster Phelps reported that the expedition seized “five hogsheads of sugar and a large amount of salt beef.”
 
U.S.S. Lexington
A deputation of Florence citizens began a parley with Lieutenant Phelps. “A courteous interview took place,” Barr wrote. This courtesy perhaps came as yet another surprise to the citizenry as, it was reported by Paymaster Phelps, the fleeing Rebels “told horrible stories of the violence, rapine, murder, and ravishing that the Yankees were perpetuating wherever they came.”

Phelps continued: “A deputation of citizens of Florence waited upon me, first desiring that they might be made able to quiet the fears of their wives and daughters with assurances from me that they would not be molested; and, secondly, praying that I would not destroy their railroad bridge. As for the first I told them we were neither ruffians nor savages, and that we were there to protect them from violence and to enforce the law; and with reference to the second, that if the bridge were away, we could ascend no higher, and as it could possess (so far as I saw) no military importance, as it simply connected Florence itself with the railroad on the south bank of the river. (This was the strategic Memphis & Charleston Railroad that passed through Tuscumbia on the south side of the Tennessee River).  

“Soon after the sable shades of night were drawn over this sad spectacle, the cables were loosed and the demons of an abused power went steaming down the river,” wrote Barr, obviously relieved at the removal of the odious presence of the Yankee gunboats. “We hope the noble example of the masters and owners of the burnt steamers will be followed by our planters and rather than a bale of cotton should fall into the hands of the foe, that they themselves will apply the torch to the last bale of cotton in the Tennessee Valley.”

The Civil War had come to the Tennessee Valley, and would arrive in considerably more force in the days to come. Florence itself would change hands more than 40 times during the Civil War, with the first Federal troops arriving in April 1862.

Sources:
Letter from Paymaster Alfred Phelps, The Jeffersonian Democrat (Chardon, Ohio), February 28, 1862, pg. 1
“Great Excitement in Florence,” Florence (Alabama) Gazette, February 12, 1862, pg. 2
Jones, Robert C. Alabama and the Civil War. Charleston: The History Press, 2017, pgs. 80-82

Comments

Post a Comment

Most Popular Posts

Arming the Buckeyes: Longarms of the Ohio Infantry Regiments

Image
     A common question that comes up in conversation about Civil War Buckeye regiments is "What were they armed with?" We are fortunate in that the state of Ohio kept good records of how the regiments were armed when they went into service, this being especially true for those regiments which went into service in 1861 and 1862. The state adjutant general's reports for 1861 and 1862 have been heavily drawn upon to construct this article, as well as consultation with Phil Spaugy who has done extensive research on how Ohio's troops were armed during the war.      Buckeyes carried a fairly wide variety of weapons into the field, and the below article breaks this down into weapons of both domestic manufacture and imported arms. The early days of the war found the state of Ohio practically bereft of longarms; as an example, when the 1st and 2nd Ohio Volunteer Militia left the state in late April 1861, they left unarmed, being armed at Lancaster, Pennsylvania on their way to
Read more

Dressing the Rebels: How to Dye Butternut Jeans Cloth

Image
     In the early days of the Civil War,  the Southern states found themselves with an abundance of cotton but a shortage of cloth with which to make army uniforms. The trade in cloth prior to the war had largely been to send raw cotton or wool north to New England (or Great Britain) where it was converted into usable cloth; but now that trade was broken and the Southern states were thrown upon their own resources in their efforts to properly clothe the Confederate army.  This collection of Confederate enlisted men's frock coats and shell jackets gives some indication of the variety of shades of butternut worn during the war. All of them are shades of yellow brown, some heavier on the yellow and some heavier on the brown. The blue used around the collar or as rank insignia indicates that the soldier was in the infantry. Surviving Confederate uniforms are considered rather rare and command quite a healthy price in the collecting market. For an in-depth study of how Confederate jacke
Read more

Bullets for the Union: Manufacturing Small Arms Ammunition During the Civil War

Image
       Civil War bullets are perhaps the most common item collected from the era; the two armies expended bullets by the millions during the four years’ conflict and spent or deformed bullets of all shapes and sizes have made fascinating and affordable collectibles since the guns went silent in 1865.       I recently acquired a display piece featuring 35 different types of small arms ammunition used during the Civil War, including everything from a small .28 caliber ball up to a .69 caliber three-ring Minie and it triggered some questions: how did the Federal army obtain its small arms ammunition during the war? Where did the lead come from to make the bullets, and where and how was the ammunition manufactured? This post seeks to answer those questions. A typical .58 caliber 3-ring Minie bullet   “Whenever the blasts of war blow in the ears of men who trade in the implements of destruction, they are apt to experience more joy than the true warrior, for then comes the harvest of gain.
Read more

The Cannons are Now Silent: The Field of Death of Tupelo

Image
       The smoke of battle had drifted away from the battlefield at Tupelo, Mississippi on the hot afternoon of July 14, 1864, but the carnage of war lay spread across the open fields. “Scattered at intervals over the field of a few yards are dull gray blotches half shaded by grass,” an officer from the 7 th Minnesota Infantry recorded. “These are the Rebel dead. They have fought their last battle and lie generally in attitudes of rest; some of them look as if they had welcomed death. On the faces of two is imprinted a smile. One is a boy of 16 with delicate features, almost girlish in their beauty. His last gaze seems to have been directed toward his hand on the forefinger of which was a ring. A circle of purer white indicates its place; the ring was carried off as a trophy of the field.” The following account of the Battles of Tupelo and Old Town Creek was written by an unknown officer of the 7 th Minnesota Infantry, his account appearing in the August 5 th 1864 edition of the
Read more

The Vaunted Enfield Rifle Musket

Image
     The English-made Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield Rifle Musket was widely regarded as the best infantry arm in the world at the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861. Favorable international press describing its efficiency in the Crimean War and in suppressing the Indian rebellion led to the widespread desire of American infantrymen (both Federal and Confederate) to be armed with these accurate and well-made arms. The lock plate of this well-worn P1853 Enfield rifle musket produced in 1862 shows the typical markings of a British-made weapon that made it through the Federal blockade.  ( Army of Tennessee Relics ) Enfield-pattern weapons were imported into the states by the tens and hundreds of thousands during the war years; one estimate stated that the Federal government purchased 500,000 while the Confederates purchased another 400,000. The Confederate government dispatched Captain Caleb Huse to Europe in April 1861 to purchase weapons and Huse focused on securing all the Enfi
Read more

Straw Already Threshed: Sherman on Shiloh

Image
  W illiam Tecumseh Sherman was enjoying retired life in New York City when just before Christmas in 1889 he was presented with an article written by John Cockerill, a former drummer boy in the 24 th Ohio who was visiting his father Colonel Joseph Cockerill of the 70 th Ohio of Sherman’s division when the Battle of Shiloh began. Cockerill’s article, originally published in the New York Journalist and later featured in the January 1893 issue of Blue & Gray Magazine, Sherman later pronounced as “the best war story ever written” and the truest account of Shiloh.           On New Year’s Day 1890, General Sherman composed the following letter to his friend Marshall P. Wilder thanking him for sending along Cockerill’s article and giving his own explanation of Shiloh. “This to me is straw already threshed for we have fought this battle on paper several times, a much more agreeable task than to fight with bullets,” he concluded. “When in England some years ago I was gratified to liste
Read more

Federal Arms in the Stones River Campaign

Image
  T he following list, constructed after many years of research, lists unit by unit which type of weapons were carried by the Army of the Cumberland during the Stones River campaign. A number of sources were consulted including state ordnance reports, Federal quarterly ordnance reports (thank you Research Arsenal ), Ken Baumann’s Arming the Suckers, regimental histories and memoirs, captured ordnance reports, and consultation with knowledgeable experts in the field of firearms. Some of this information has been shared on the blog before in “ Rosy’s Heavy Metal: Artillery of the Army of the Cumberland ” or “ Shoulder Arms: How Sheridan’s and Davis’s Divisions Were Armed at Stones River ” but this is the first time the army as a whole has been presented. The overall conclusion I drew from looking at this data is that the Army of the Cumberland in December 1862 was an organization in the midst of transformation as far as arms. Many of the regiments still retained their original issue
Read more

Federal Arms in the Chickamauga Campaign

Image
T he ordnance returns of the Army of the Cumberland at the end of September 1863 show the results of a transformational year in weaponry. Since taking command of the army at the end of October 1862, General William S. Rosecrans had repeatedly pestered the War Department to supply his regiments with better firearms both to improve the command’s efficiency as well as expand its striking power. The results speak for themselves: for the infantrymen at the end of September 1863, 90% of them now carried Class I long arms (36,058 out of 39,959), 8.3% carried Class II arms, and a mere 1.5% carried Class III weapons. Most of the foreign-made weapons (except Enfields) were gone, and by and large the army had settled on a single common .58 caliber ammunition, although a few .54 caliber and .69 caliber weapons remained within the ranks. The English-made Enfield rifle musket was by far the most common arm, carried by 56% of the men while the second-most common arm was the .58 caliber M1861 Spring
Read more

Sergeant Major John H. Wilson of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteers

Image
A long the northern bank of the Maumee River in a quiet cemetery rests the remains of one of the heroes of the Civil War, Sergeant Major John H. Wilson of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Sergeant Major John H. Wilson had this photo made in June 1864, proudly displaying both his newly won sergeant major stripes upon his shoulders and the brass regimental number "54" on his kepi.      John H. Wilson was born a free man February 1, 1840 in Cincinnati, Ohio. By the time of the Civil War, he was working aboard Ohio River steamboats as a painter. No doubt he witnessed the arrival of dozens of vessels carrying wounded back from the Southern battlefields of Shiloh and Stones River during his time on the river. Learning in the spring of 1863 that Massachusetts was raising a regiment of Negro soldiers, Wilson traveled east and enlisted in Company G, 54 th Massachusetts on April 16, 1863 at Readville, Massachusetts. The company descriptive book lists him as 5' 8”
Read more

In front of Atlanta with the 68th Ohio

Image
  The arrow corps badge of the 17th Army Corps was worn by many members of the 68th Ohio in the latter days of the war.       Private Edward A. Bigelow of Co. F of the 68th Ohio Volunteer Infantry wrote this brief account of the Battle of Atlanta just two days afterwards to his father back home in Henry County, Ohio. The regiment formed a part of Colonel Robert K. Scott's three regiment all-Ohio brigade consisting of the 20th, 68th, and 78th regiments, being designated the Second Brigade of the Third Division of Frank Blair's 17th Army Corps. Bigelow's letter originally appeared in the Napoleon Press newspaper and was copied in the Toledo Daily Commercial which was providential as no known copies exist today of the wartime Napoleon Press.  
Read more