Fleeing the Arkansas at Vicksburg

     The Union fleet above Vicksburg, Mississippi was sitting quietly at anchor when at around 8:30 on the morning of July 15, 1862, the U.S. ram Queen of the West sailed into view from the Yazoo River belching an enormous quantity of smoke. To be sure, the ram was running for her life and the confused sailors soon saw why: the much-rumored Confederate ironclad Arkansas was hot on her trail.

          “Such an excitement as there was among the fleet here would be hard to describe,” one observer noted. “Broadside after broadside was dealt out to this Rebel ram without the least apparent effect, the shot even of the 11-inch guns bounding off her casemates like hailstones on a stone pavement. She ran by twelve or fifteen ships and gunboats, mounting from 12 to 30 guns each, and seemed to laugh at the whole fleet.”

The 1,200-ton Arkansas blew through the U.S. fleet and later that morning lay anchored beneath the protecting guns of Vicksburg much to the jubilation of the residents. The vessel’s brave run through the fleet was heralded throughout the South, but the barrage of Yankee shells had killed or wounded 30 of the vessel’s crew.

The author of the following letter who signed his missives as “Ram” was serving aboard the U.S.S. Samson, one of the vessels lying at anchor in the Mississippi River when the Arkansas made her appearance. The 230-ton Samson was one of Colonel Charles Ellet’s rams, and “Ram” was overly not impressed with his posting aboard this lightly armored vessel. “The butting propensity of these rams is all right, but the resisting ability is very poor,” he confessed. “Colonel Ellet played Secretary Stanton and the Southern Confederacy a Yankee trick by getting up some shells of steamboats (that six-lb. cannon balls would sink) to run batteries and attack gunboats carrying heavy guns. Still, they have accomplished a great deal and assisted very materially in the destruction of the Rebel fleet which made a stand at Memphis. But the success of these rams was thought to be more accident than anything else.”

Ram’s account of the action near Vicksburg was originally published in the August 7, 1862, issue of the Gallipolis Journal.

 

This Harper's Weekly image shows six of Ellet's rams on the Mississippi River; the Monarch, Queen of the West, and Lioness are in front while the Switzerland, Samson, and Lancaster are in the background. "The butting propensity of these rams is all right but the resisting ability is very poor," one sailor stated. 

U.S. Steam Ram Fleet, off Vicksburg, Mississippi

July 18, 1862

 

          I suppose the telegraph has ere this announced to you the fact that the great Rebel ram and gunboat Arkansas has run the blockade above Vicksburg and now lies safely moored under the Rebel fortifications. It was a bold adventure and well done, even if the Rebels did it.

          On the morning of the 15th, the Federal gunboats Carondelet and Tyler, the former an iron clad and the latter a timberclad, accompanied by the ram Queen of the West went up the Yazoo River to attack said Rebel boat and if we do not fear to speak the truth, found her before they wanted to. Seven miles above the mouth of the Yazoo, she attacked the Tyler and few moments afterward the Carondelet came into the engagement and a warm time they had of it- mostly a running fight, but they came so close together during the engagement that several times they collided. The Federal boats got the worst of the fight, and had not the Rebel boat left them with impunity, I doubt not that she would have destroyed both of our gunboats.

The Tyler had somewhat the advantage as she could run faster than the Rebel boat. The Queen of the West skedaddled and did not attempt to get into the fight. As she came in sight fleet followed closely by the Tyler, fighting beautifully, then the Rebel ram, and afterwards the Carondelet. Such an excitement as there was among the fleet here would be hard to describe. The rams looked out for number one, except the Lancaster which received two broadsides from the Rebel ram, cutting away her mud drum and scalding from eight to ten persons, four of whom are dead but the rest I think will get well.

Confederate accounts of the July 15th engagement claim that only one Federal shell entered the Arkansas through an open gun port, but it killed ten sailors and wounded 13 more. "Several shots passed through the smokestack which is the only damage of any consequence sustained by her," reported the Memphis Daily Appeal. "A few repairs will again put the Arkansas in trim and in two or three days at farthest, she will be once more ready for other fields of service." Within a month, the Arkansas would be scuttled by its crew following the Battle of Baton Rouge.


Broadside after broadside was dealt out to this Rebel ram without the least apparent effect, the shot even of the 11-inch guns bounding off her casemates like hailstones on a stone pavement. She ran by twelve or fifteen ships and gunboats, mounting from 12 to 30 guns each, and seemed to laugh at the whole fleet. All kinds of excuses are made by the different vessels of the fleet, but the truth should be known that our chief officers were unprepared for what they positively informed would take place, and I cannot but feel that something is “rotten in Denmark.”

About 60 men were killed and wounded in this fight, mostly on the Carondelet and Tyler both of which were badly cut up by shot and are now being repaired. Commodore Farragut has again run by the Rebel batteries with eight ships and gunboats and is now below with his whole fleet. The ram Samson was attacked about 75 miles above here near Lake Providence by a band of Rebel cavalry while lying at shore during a very severe storm. After driving the Rebels behind the levy with her sharpshooters, she put into the stream as the force was too large for her to contend with. But want of time will not allow me to write more as I am going out on picket duty to watch the actions of this Rebel ram and as my ram is fleet of foot, she won’t catch us without some fun.

 

Yours & etc.,

Ram

 

Sources:

Letter from Ram, U.S.S. Samson, Gallipolis Journal (Ohio), August 7, 1862, pg. 1

Letter from Ram, U.S.S. Samson, Gallipolis Journal (Ohio), July 3, 1862, pg. 4

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

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

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

The Wizard of Oz and the Civil War

Image
T he 1939 film The Wizard of Oz has delighted viewers for 85 years and ranks as a personal favorite, especially during the Halloween season. While watching it with the family the other night, I wondered if there were any connections between the film and the Civil War. Not surprisingly, the answer is yes and those connections touch both the blue and the gray.           Interestingly both “witches” in the film not only had Civil War ancestors but had connections with Civil War soldiers from Ohio. Margaret Hamilton, the “Wicked Witch of the West,” was born in Cleveland, Ohio on December 9, 1902, to attorney Walter Jones Hamilton and his wife Mary Jane Adams; Margaret’s grandfather was Judge Edwin Timothy Hamilton. Judge Hamilton had served as a private in Co. D of the 84 th Ohio Infantry during the summer of 1862. The 84 th Ohio, a three months’ regiment, served nearly the whole of its service attached to the Railroad District in western Maryland, performing provost duty at Cumberlan
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

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

Charging Battery Robinett: An Alabama Soldier Recalls the Vicious Fighting at Corinth

Image
W riting 30 years after the Battle of Corinth, James A. McKinstry of the 42 nd Alabama recalled his experiences storming Battery Robinett with Colonel William P. Rogers of the 2 nd Texas and expressed guilt that it was perhaps his action that brought about the colonel’s demise. “On seeing a line of Federals approaching, and before giving the situation a thought, I immediately raised my gun and fired full into the breast of a Federal sergeant, who was in front of the column, and only a short distance from us.  'Twas then that Captain George Foster shouted, "Cease firing, men! cease firing!" and waved his handkerchief, then I realized the true situation. 'Twas too late! That fatal volley had been turned on our little band from the muzzles of 1,500 muskets. I was still standing just as I was when I fired my last shot, and within a few feet of Colonel Rogers, when a Minie ball went crashing through my left hip and turned me half round; another went tearing through my
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

Cook & Brother of New Orleans

Image
    The lockplate of a New Orleans-made Cook & Brother Enfield rifle produced in 1862 shows the fine craftsmanship that became the hallmark of the maker throughout the Civil War. Note the stars and bars flag at left, an emblem used on C&B's production throughout the war and the Cook & Brother, N.O. 1862 markings. Earlier production weapons at New Orleans had the flag located just above the maker's name while later weapons produced in Athens, Georgia would have a modified flag and Athens on the plate followed by the serial number.        In the spring of 1861, two English-born businessmen, Ferdinand and Francis Cook of New Orleans, perceived the need for the South to have its own domestic production of firearms and  set out to prove "that rifles could made here as well as in Yankee land or in Europe." The brothers  elected to produce copies of the British Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield rifle as this was considered the benchmark longarm at the outset of the
Read more

Revisiting Snodgrass Hill: Memories of a 21st Ohio Officer

Image
Captain Isaac Cusac, Co. G, 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry proudly displaying his rank as captain in an image likely dating from early 1863. One of his shoulder straps was shot off in the final stages of the 21st Ohio's fight atop Snodgrass Hill on September 20, 1863. Cusac brought it back to Chickamauga 50 years later.  I n September 1913, 83-year-old Isaac Cusac, a retired Presbyterian minister from the little town of McComb, Ohio, returned to Chattanooga to attend the national G.A.R. encampment. The former captain of the 21 st Ohio returned to Snodgrass Hill on the old Chickamauga battlefield on the 50 th anniversary of the battle carrying with him a precious relic of his wartime experiences. “He carried with him there an epaulet that was shot from his shoulder at the battle,” it was reported. “The bullet clipped off the epaulet and then struck him on the left hand, injuring two fingers.”           The flood of memories as he walked the grounds must have been overwhelming. The f
Read more