|
4.17.1 |
SUPPORT |
USS Powhatan (Lt D. D. Porter) covers the landing of 600 soldiers to
garrison Ft Pickens in Pensacola harbor. This quick
action denied the Confederates the use of the best harbor in the Gulf of
Mexico for the entire war. |
|
4.20.1 |
OTHER |
Federal forces abandon
Gosport Navy Yard in Norfolk, VA,
burning the facility to deny its use to the Confederates. USS Pennsylvania, Germantown, Raritan, Columbia, and Dolphin are burned to the waterline and USS Delaware, Columbus, Plymouth, and Merrimack burned and sunk. USS Cumberland, Pawnee, and
tug Yankee escape. The Yard
provided the Confederates with a drydock and a large number of
guns—which soon appeared in the batteries and fortifications along the
coast and rivers. |
|
4.20.1a |
OTHER |
USS Constitution
(Lt George Rodgers) is towed from the Naval Academy at
Annapolis, MD into Chesapeake Bay to prevent her capture by the rebels.
Four days later, carrying midshipmen from the Academy, she heads for Newport, RI. This will be the
home of the Academy throughout the war. She arrives on May 9. |
|
4.21.1 |
OTHER |
Steamers Baltimore, Mount Vernon
Philadelphia. and Powhatan
are seized off Washington, D.C. and armed for the defence of the
capital. Confederate Navy officers erect batteries across the river at Aquia Creek--terminal point of
railroad connection with Richmond. |
|
5.10.1 |
OTHER |
USS Niagara
(Capt. William W. McKean) blockades Charleston, SC. |
|
5.18.1 |
OTHER |
Confederate President
Jefferson Davis commissions schooner Savannah (Capt. Thomas H. Baker)
as the first privateer ("a private armed vessel in the service of
the Confederate States on the high seas against the United States of
America, their ships, vessels, goods, and effects, and those of their
citizens during the pendency of the war now existing”) |
|
5.19.1 |
BOMBARD |
Rebel batteries at Sewall’s Point, VA are engaged by USS Monticello (Capt. Henry Eagle) and USS Thomas Freeborn (Cdr Ward). |
|
5.24.1 |
EXPED |
Cdr Rowan (USS Pawnee)
leads an amphibious expedition from the Washington Navy Yard
and occupies Alexandria, VA
under cover of USS Thomas Freeborn,
Anacostia, and Resolute
. Navy Lt R. B. Lowry, in charge of the landing party, raised the U.S.
flag over the Customs House. This is the first landing of Federal troops
in Virginia. |
|
5.26.1 |
OTHER |
USS Brooklyn
(Cdr Charles H. Poor)
blockades New Orleans and
mouth of Mississippi River. |
|
5.26.1a |
OTHER |
USS Powhatan (Lt D. D. Porter) blockades Mobile, AL. |
|
5.27.1 |
OTHER |
USS Union
(Cdr John R. Goldsborough) blockades Savannah, GA. |
|
5.29.1 (29-1) |
BOMBARD |
The Confederate batteries at Aquia Creek engage the ships of
the new Potomac Flotilla: USS Thomas Freeborn (Cdr Ward), USS Anacostia
(Lt Napoleon Collins), and USS Resolute (Act’g Master William
Budd); They are joined on the evening of May 31 by USS Pawnee
(Cdr Rowan). |
|
6.8.1 |
OTHER |
USS Mississippi (Flag Officer Mervine) blockades Key West, FL |
|
7.7.1 |
OTHER |
USS Resolute (Act’g Master William Budd) picks up two floating
torpedoes (mines) in the Potomac
River. This is the earliest known use of torpedoes by the
Confederates—which will account for 53 Union vessels by the end of the
war. (Map approximate) |
|
7.21.1 |
SHIP2SHIP |
First ship-to-ship combat of
the war takes place in Oregon
Inlet, NC as USS Albatross (Cdr Prentiss) engages CSS Beaufort
(Lt R. C. Duvall). Albatross’s heavier guns force Beaufort
to withdraw. |
|
7.21.1a |
OTHER |
U.S. Marines commanded by
Major Reynolds take part in the First Battle of Bull Run: The
Confederates also had a naval battery at Manassas. |
|
7.24.1 |
OTHER |
The Navy supplies 400 sailors and thirty Marines, with naval cannon and howitzers, to garrison Ft Ellsworth, west of Alexandria, one of the ring of forts guarding Washington City. The seamen remain on station until November, when the need for sailors on the Western Waters becomes acute, and they are replaced by Army troops and transferred to Cairo. |
|
8.3.1 |
OTHER |
John LaMountain makes the
first ascent in a balloon from Union
ship Fanny at Hampton Roads to observe
Confederate batteries on Sewell’s Point, VA. |
|
8.18.1 |
SINKING |
Confederate privateer Jefferson
Davis (Capt. Coxetter) founders on the bar trying to enter St. Augustine, FL, ending a most
successful cruise. |
|
8.28.1 |
EXPED |
Cdr Dahlgren, Commandant of Washington Navy Yard, sends 400 seamen to Alexandria,
VA to help defend Ft Ellsworth. |
|
8.29.1 |
JOINT |
Hatteras Inlet was secured as
Forts Hatteras and Clark
surrendered unconditionally to Flag Officer Silas Stringham’s warships
and Gen’l Ben Butler’s troops. This combined amphibious
operation—the first of the war—was conducted at the behest of the
Navy to close Pamlico Sound to blockade runners and commerce raiders,
and involved USS Minnesota, Monticello, Pawnee, Susquehanna, Cumberland, Revenue Cutter Harriet Lane, US tug Fanny, and two transports carrying the 900 troops. Thus
the first Union victory of the war was a naval one—much needed after
the battlefield reverses of the previous four months. |
|
9.6.1 |
JOINT |
Gunboats USS Tyler
(Cdr J. Rodgers) and USS Lexington. (Cdr Stembel)
spearhead Gen’l Grants seizure of strategic Paducah and Smithland, KY,
at the mouths of the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. This operation prevented Confederate movement into
the state and saved Kentucky for the Union. |
|
9.10.1 |
SUPPORT |
USS Conestoga
(Lt S. L. Phelps) and USS Lexington (Cdr Stembel)
cover the advance of Federal troops at Lucas Bend, MO, silencing a
Confederate battery and damaging the rebel gunboat CSS Yankee. |
|
9.14.1 |
EXPED |
Sailors and Marines from USS Colorado row into Pensacola harbor under cover of darkness, board and burn
Confederate privateering schooner Judah, and spike guns at
Pensacola Navy Yard. |
|
9.16.1 (16-17) |
EXPED |
Fortifications and guns in a
fortification on Beacon Island
are destroyed by a landing party from USS Pawnee (Cdr Rowan),
closing Ocracoke Inlet, NC. |
|
9.17.1 |
EXPED |
Landing party from USS Massachusetts occupies Ship Island, MS after its evacuation by Confederate forces. Ship Island becomes the staging area for Union troops operating below New Orleans. |
|
10.1.1 |
CAPTURE |
Confederate naval forces
under flag Officer William F. Lynch, CSN, capture steamer Fanny
in Pamlico Sound with Union
troops on board. This was the first Southern naval victory
in the sounds, and garnered two large rifled guns as well as a large
quantity of army stores. (Map approximate) |
|
10.9.1 |
SHIP2SHIP |
First documented attempt to
sink an enemy ship with a submarine in the Civil War. The target was the
USS Minnesota in Hampton Roads.
The submarine became fouled in grappling hanging from the jib boom
(which its occupants thought was the anchor cable). The vessel escaped.
A 12 October newspaper report based upon testimony from a Confederate
deserter claims the submarine employed an India rubber suction plate to
attach to its target and plant a timed bomb. |
|
10.12.1 |
SHIP2SHIP |
Confederate metal-sheathed
ram CSS Manassas (Commodore Hollins) in company with armed
steamer Ivy and James L. Day, attacks USS Richmond,
Vincennes, Water Witch, Nightingale, and Preble near Head of Passes, Mississippi River. In this offensive and spirited action by the small
Confederate force, Manassas rammed Richmond, forced her
and Vincennes aground under heavy fire before withdrawing. |
|
10.14.1 |
OTHER |
Lt A. Murray of USS Louisiana
accepts the oath of allegiance to the United States from the citizens of
Chincoteague Island, VA, who
present a petition claiming their "abhorrence of the secession
heresy." |
|
Fall 1861 |
||
|
Fall 61 |
SINKING |
William Cheney’s
submarine—either the model reported on by Mrs. Baker or a larger
version—is sunk in the James
River while attempting to attack Union vessels. Navy pickets patrolling the river spotted the
camouflaged float and sliced the rubber hose to the craft. |
|
11.4.1 |
OTHER |
Fearing further attacks by
Confederate “infernal machines,” Capt. William Smith of the USS Congress
in Hampton Roads, devises the
first anti-submarine nets of chains suspended from spars lashed in a
frame around his vessel. (Map approximate) |
|
11.7.1 |
JOINT |
After leaving Ft Monroe on 29
October, Flag Officer Du Pont’s 77-ship expedition (the largest US
fleet ever assembled to this date) captures Port Royal Sound, SC. Navy
gunners poured an accurate and withering fire into defending Fts Walker
and Beauregard, forcing the defenders to withdraw. A small Confederate
naval squadron under Commodore Tatnall could not resist the mighty
fleet, but ferried rebel troops to the mainland. Marines and sailors
landed to occupy the forts until 16,000 soldiers under Brigadier Gen’l
Thomas Sherman land. Port Royal was halfway between Charleston and
Savannah, and became a valuable supply point for Federal vessels. |
|
11.7.1 |
SUPPORT |
USS Tyler (Cdr Walke) and USS Lexington
(Cdr Stembel) hold back Confederate troops and allow the
evacuation of Union forces under Gen’l U.S. Grant following the Battle of Belmont, MO. The gunboats engaged rebel batteries and
supported the Federal army during the engagement, and covered their
retreat when rebel reinforcements arrived. |
|
11.8.1 |
OTHER |
A serious international
incident is sparked when Capt. Wilkes (USS San Jacinto) stops
British mail steamer Trent and removes Confederate Commissioners
Mason and Slidell. |
|
11.9.1 |
EXPED |
Flag Officer Du Pont's
gunboats take possession of Beaufort, SC, cutting communications along the Broad River between Charleston and
Savannah. |
|
11.12.1 |
OTHER |
Blockade runner Fingal--the first ship to run
the blockade solely on Confederate government account --enters Savannah laden with military
supplies. Fingal brought in
the supplies that allow the Confederacy to fight the Second Battle of
Shiloh in April 1862. |
|
11.24.1 |
EXPED |
Landing party sent from USS Flag
(Cdr J. Rodgers) USS Augusta, Pocahontas, Seneca, and Savannah take possession of Tybee Island in Savannah Harbor.
|
|
11.10.1 |
EXPED |
Lt James W. A. Nicholson (USS
Isaac Smith) lands and occupies abandoned Confederate Ft Drayton
on Otter Island in the
Ashpeoo River, SC. Nicholson later turned the fort over to the Army. |
|
11.12.1 |
EXPED |
USS Isaac Smith, Lt J.
W. A. Nicholson, on a reconnaissance in the Ashepoo River, SC, disperses Confederate troops with gunfire and
lands Marines to destroy their quarters. (Map approximate) |
|
11.17.1 |
OTHER |
In an attempt to bottle up Savannah
and Charleston, Federal forces collect a fleet of old whaling
ships, load them with stone, and sink them in the channels to the
harbors. Seven such vessels of the “stone fleet” are sunk off
Savannah on this date and two batches off Charleston on 20 and 26
January. The effort is not effective. |
|
11.31.1 |
EXPED |
Biloxi, MS surrendered to a
landing party of seamen and Marines covered by USS Water Witch, New London, and Henry Lewis |
|
11.31.1a (31-2) |
JOINT |
Gunboats USS Ottawa, Pembina,
and Seneca and four armed boats carrying howitzers support Union
troops in an amphibious assault on rebel positions at Port Royal Ferry and the Coosaw
River. Navy guns covered the advance inland and sailors with boat
howitzers were landed for close support. This attack disrupted
Confederate plans to isolate Federal troops on Port Royal Island. (Map
approximate) |
|
1.11.2 |
SHIP2 SHIP |
Confederate gunboats engage
in a running fight near Lucas
Bend, MO with USS Essex (Cdr W. D. Porter) and USS St.
Louis (Lt Leonard Paulding) before withdrawing under cover of the
rebel batteries at Columbus. |
|
1.16.2 |
EXPED |
A raid by USS Hatteras
(Cdr Emmons) on Cedar Keys, FL
destroys a Confederate battery, seven small vessels loaded with cotton
and turpentine ready to run the blockade, a railroad depot and wharf,
and the telegraph office, as well as capturing a small detachment of
Confederate troops. |
|
1.16.2a |
OTHER |
The seven gunboats built by
Eads—Cairo, Carondelet, Cincinnati, Louisville,
Mound City, Pittsburg, and St. Louis—are
commissioned. (Plotted on the map
at St Louis, actually built in several cities.) |
|
2.6.2 |
EXPED |
Flag Officer Foote leads the
partially ironclad gunboats USS Essex,
Carondelet, Cincinnati, St. Louis and wooden gunboats USS Tyler, Conestoga, and Lexington
in an attack on Ft Henry on
the Tennessee River. Planned as a joint expedition, Grant’s army is
delayed by two days of heavy rains and the gunboats make the assault
alone. Confederate Gen’l Tilghman surrendered to Foote after losing
all but four of his guns to the Navy guns. |
|
2.10.2 |
SHIP2SHIP |
In the wake of the capture of
Roanoke Island, a squadron under Cdr Rowan pursued Flag Officer
Lynch’s retiring Confederate naval force up the Pasquotank River,
engaging the gunboats and batteries at Elizabeth City, NC. CSS Ellis was captured and CSS Seabird
sunk; CSS Black Warrior, Fanny, and Forrest were
set on fire to avoid capture; the fort and batteries at Cobb's Point
were destroyed. |
|
2.14.2 |
JOINT BOMB |
Flag Officer Foote leads his
flotilla of gunboats (USS St.
Louis, Carondelet, Louisville, Pittsburg, Tyler, and Conestoga) in a joint Navy-Army attack against Ft Donelson on the Cumberland
River. After a renewed attack the following day, rebel defenders
surrendered to Gen’l Grant on the 16th. In the South, loss
of the fort fell heavily upon Navy Secretary Mallory, who was blamed in
the press because “we are so wretchedly helpless on the water.”
The capture of Forts Henry and Donelson made Confederate positions in
Kentucky untenable and neither that state nor Nashville could be held by
the Confederates, who fell back to Island No. 10. |
|
2.19.2 |
EXPED |
Federal forces under Flag
Officer Foote occupy Ft Defiance and take possession of Clarksville, TN as Confederates withdraw from the town. Foote
urged an immediate move on Nashville while water in the river was high. |
|
2.19.2a |
SUPPORT |
USS Delaware (Cdr Rowan) and USS Commodore
Perry (Lt Flusser) engage Confederate troops at Winton, NC on the Chowan River. On the 20th Rowan's force covers
the landing of Federal troops who destroy military stores and
Confederate troop quarters. |
|
2.25.2 |
JOINT |
Nashville, TN is occupied by
Federal troops convoyed up the Cumberland River by USS Cairo (Lt Nathaniel Bryant). A
Nashville paper, referring to Confederate reverse at Forts Henry and
Donelson, told its readers,We had nothing to fear from a land attack, but the gunboats are the
devil." |
|
3.1.2 |
JOINT |
Col. Alfred Mouton’s 18th
Louisiana and the 2nd Mississippi Cavalry engage timberclad
gunboats USS Tyler
(Lt Gwin) and Lexington (Lt Shirk) in the First
Battle of Pittsburg Landing. Sent to fortify the bluffs overlooking
the landing—and potentially able from there to cut the
river—Mouton’s men had but a single day to dig into the frozen
ground. Suspicious of activity on the hilltop, the Navy officers land a
force of fifty sailors and fifty Illinois infantry. Under fire from
almost a thousand Louisianans, this force manages to destroy what
appeared to a blockhouse atop the hill and beats a retreat under
covering fire from the ships. More importantly, this small action
alerted both sides to the importance of Pittsburg Landing and drew
forces from both sides to the site over the next month. Tyler and
Lexington patrolled the river almost daily to ensure Mouton could not
resume his fortifications. |
|
3.3.2 |
JOINT |
Flag Officer Du Pont reports
the successful occupation of Fernandina,
and St Marys, FL, as well as Cumberland Island and Sound. The
landings were unopposed as the Confederates had decided to withdraw the
heavy guns from Ft Clinch—the first fortification retaken by the
Union. Steam launches armed with boat howitzers exchange musket and
cannon fire with the last train out of Fernandina. |
|
3.8.2 |
SHIP2SHIP |
Ironclad CSS Virginia (Capt Franklin Buchanan) attacks Federal blockading fleet in Hampton Roads, VA. She rams USS Cumberland, which sank rapidly, and set USS Congress ablaze with hot shot and incendiary shells. USS Minnesota ran herself aground in
the shallows to prevent the approach of the deep-draft rebel warship.
Buchanan is wounded in the attack. After dark, USS Monitor (Lt Worden) arrived. |
|
3.9.2 |
SHIP2SHIP |
First engagement between iron
warships as USS Monitor (Lt
Worden) defends the wooden Union blockading squadron in Hampton Roads, VA against CSS Virginia (now under Lt Catesby ap
Jones). The four-hour battle is indecisive and both ships withdraw—the
blockade intact and the James River still closed. Said Capt. Dahlgren:
“Now comes the reign of iron and cased sloops are to take the place of
wooden ships.” |
|
3.9.2a |
EXPED |
USS Mohican, Pocahontas, and Potomska, under Cdr Godon, take possession of St. Simon's and Jekyl Islands and land
at Brunswick, GA--all
abandoned in the Confederate withdrawal from the seacoast. |
|
3.11.2 |
EXPED |
Landing party from USS Wabash (Cdr C. R. P. Rodgers) occupies St. Augustine, FL--evacuated by Confederate troops in the face of
the naval threat. |
|
3.12.2 |
EXPED |
Unopposed landing party from
USS Ottawa (Lt Thomas H.
Stevens) occupies Jacksonville,
FL. |
|
3.12.2a |
OTHER |
Baxter Watson and William
McClintock launch Pioneer I in
New Orleans. |
|
3.14.2 |
JOINT |
Having sailed from Hatteras
Inlet on 12 March, a joint Navy-Army force under Cdr Rowan and Gen’l
Burnside attacks rebel batteries on the Neuse River and occupies New Bern, NC. Troops, Marines, and a naval battery under Lt
Roderick S. McCook were landed on 13 March and, under cover of Navy
guns, advanced to take Fts Dixie, Ellis, Thompson, and Lane on 14 March. |
|
3.16.2 |
BOMBRD |
While Grant’s army
converges on Pittsburg Landing, TN, Flag Officer Foote’s main force of
gunboats begins the bombardment of Island No. 10—the next major
Confederate bastion on the Mississippi River. |
|
3.16.2a |
SUPPORT |
Gunboats of Flag Officer
Foote’s squadron convoy a fleet of forty Army transports to Savannah, TN, and continue on to
patrol Pittsburg Landing. Lieutenants Gwin and Shirk of USS Tyler and Lexington had maintained a careful watch over the landing since
their encounter with the 18th Louisiana on 1 March,
preventing the creation of any fortifications. |
|
3.17.2a |
OTHER |
Confederate raider CSS Nashville (Lt Pegram) runs through the
gunfire of USS Cambridge (Cdr
W. A. Parker) and USS Gemsbok
(Lt Cavendy) off Beaufort, NC
and breaks through the blockade. Assistant Secretary of the Navy
Gustavus Fox wrote Flag Officer L. M. Goldsborough: "It is a
terrible blow to our naval prestige . . . It is a Bull Run of the
Navy.'' |
|
3.22.2 |
OTHER |
Sailing as British steamer Oreto, CSS Florida (Act’g Master John Low) departs Liverpool, England,
for Nassau to rendezvous with Bahama
(which carries her four 7-inch rifled guns). Florida is the first ship built in England for the Confederacy. |
|
3.31.2 |
OTHER |
Pioneer’s inventors are granted
the first letter of marque for a submarine by the rebel government. |
|
4.1.2 |
JOINT |
On the night of 1-2 April, a
combined Navy-Army expedition under Master John V. Johnston (USS St. Louis) lands and spikes guns of Fort No. 1 on the Tennessee shore above Island No. 10, Mississippi River. |
|
4.3.2 |
EXPED |
Apalachicola, FL is captured
without resistance by armed boats from USS Mercedita (Cdr Stellwagen) and
USS Sagamore (Lt Andrew J.
Drake). |
|
4.4.2a |
SHIP2 |
USS J. P. Jackson, New London,
and Hatteras along with troops
aboard steamer Lewis engage
Confederate gunboats CSS Carondelet (Lt Washington Gwathmey), CSS Pamlico and CSS Oregon
in a successful landing at Pass
Christian, MS that resulted in the destruction of a rebel camp
there. |
|
4.6.2 |
SUPPORT |
USS Tyler (Lt Gwin) and USS Lexington
(Lt Shirk) save Gen’l Grant’s army from annihilation at
the Second Battle of Pittsburg
Landing (Shiloh). After
surprising the Union forces in the morning, Confederates under Albert
Sidney Johnson had steadily forced the Yankees back towards the landing,
hoping to gain the river bank and cut them off from their transports and
supplies. The Navy timberclads arrived at 12m, but were unable to open
direct fire until 6pm. At that time, as the Federal left flank withdrew
towards the river, gunners aboard the warships could sight along Dill
Branch at the advancing rebel infantry. The ensuing barrage stopped the
Confederate advance and allowed Grant to dig in for the night. Until
dawn, the Navy officers kept up a steady and random barrage of the
Southern lines that denied the exhausted rebels much-needed sleep. In
the morning the graybacks faced, not a similarly worn out enemy, but a
fresh army brought over the Tennessee during the night. Grant was able
to easily complete the Southern defeat. Both he and Confederate Gen’l
Beauregard ended their official reports in almost identical language by
crediting the gunboats for the outcome of the battle. When news of the
disaster reached New Orleans, the Daily Delta wrote what may pass for
the epitaph of the entire Southern war effort: “[The battle at Shiloh]
has taught us that we have nothing to fear from a land invasion of the
enemy if he is unsupported by his naval armaments. It has taught us that
the right arm of his power in this war is in his gunboats on our
seacoast; and that our only assurance of saving the Mississippi from his
grasp is to paralyze that arm upon its waters.” |
|
4.7.2 |
EXPED |
Naval forces under Flag
Officer Foote accept the surrender of Island No. 10, described as
“the key to the Mississippi.” This opened the river to Union traffic
south to Fort Pillow. |
|
4.7.2a |
CAPTURE |
Following the surrender of Island No. 10, USS Mound City (Cdr Augustus H. Kiley) captures CSS Red Rover. Taken to
Cairo, Red Rover is converted to the Navy’s first hospital ship. Sisters of
the Holy Cross volunteered as her first nurses. |
|
4.11.2 |
CAPTURE |
Under the protection of CSS Virginia (Flag Officer Tattnall),
CSS Jamestown (Lt Barney) and
CSS Raleigh (Lt Cdr Joseph W.
Alexander) capture three Union transports in the James River. |
|
4.11.2a |
SUPPORT |
Following an intense two-day
bombardment, Ft Pulaski, GA
surrenders to Federal forces. One battery in the Union lines was manned
by sailors from USS Wabash
under Cdr C. R. P. Rodgers.
|
|
4.13.2 |
JOINT |
Joint Navy-Army expedition to
Chickasaw, AL involving USS Tyler, (Lt Gwin) and USS Lexington (Lt Shirk) destroys the
Memphis & Charleston Railroad bridge over Bear Creek—the object of
the 1 March attempt by the same vessels. |
|
4.14.2 |
BOMBRD |
Flag Officer Foote's mortar
boats open bombardment of Ft
Pillow, TN. |
|
4.18.2 |
BOMBRD |
Cdr David D. Porter’s
mortar boats open a six day bombardment of Ft Jackson at Head of Passes on
the Mississippi River. Hidden by intervening woods, the mortars lobbed
shells weighing up to 285 pounds into the fort. |
|
4.19.2 |
SINKING |
The defenders of Ft Jackson did not take
Porter’s bombardment lying down. On this date, Confederate guns sank
mortar schooner USS Maria J.
Canton (Act’g Master Charles E. Jack). |
|
4.24.2 |
SHIP2 |
Steaming through a breach in
the obstructions opened by USS Pinola
and Itasca, Flag Officer
Farragut’s fleet fights its way past Forts Jackson and Phillips at Head of Passes on the Mississippi River. Farragut loses USS Varuna, which was rammed by two
Confederate ships and sunk. The rebels lose CSS Warrior, Stonewall Jackson, General Lovell, and Breckinridge, tender Phoenix, steamers Star and Belle Algerine, and Louisiana gunboat General Quitman as well as the armored ram CSS Manassas; CSS Landis and
W. Burton surrender and Resolute and Governor Moore are destroyed to prevent
capture. The forts hold out until 28 April, at which time the last three
Confederate ships (CSS Louisiana,
Defiance, and McRae) are destroyed and the forts surrender. |
|
4.25.2 |
EXPED |
Captain Theophilus Bailey,
leading Farragut’s gunboats the Mississippi
River in USS Cayuga
(Commodore George H. Perkins), discovers Confederate infantry of the
Chalmette Regiment on the nearby right bank as the sun comes up. Perkins
orders them “to come on board and deliver up their arms, or we would
blow them all to pieces. It seemed rather odd for a regiment on shore to
be surrendering to a ship!” |
|
4.25.2a |
EXPED |
Steaming up the Mississippi
after passing the forts at Head of Passes in the night, Flag Officer
Farragut’s ships train their guns on New Orleans and demand its
surrender. Having been advised by the military that the city is
indefensible, the Common Council “declare[s] that no resistance will
be made to the forces of the United States." With New Orleans went
the Leeds Iron Foundry—one of only two modern foundries in Dixie (the
other being Tredegar in Richmond). |
|
4.25.2a |
SINKING |
Lacking a propeller shaft
still under construction at the Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, CSS Mississippi--described by
Confederate naval officers as “the strongest . . . most formidable war
vessel that had ever been built”--is destroyed at New Orleans to prevent her
capture. Submarine Pioneer is also scuttled, and its inventors, Watson and
McClintock, flee the city in company with Horace Hunley. |
|
4.25.2b |
SUPPORT |
Gloucester and Yorktown, VA are shelled by USS Maratanza (Cdr George H. Scott)
in support of Gen’l McClellan's Peninsular Campaign. |
|
4.26.2 |
JOINT |
USS Daylight, State of Georgia, Chippewa, and Gemsbok bombard Ft Macon,
NC, which surrenders to the combined Navy-Army force under Cdr
Lockwood and Brigadier Gen’l John Parke. |
|
4.27.2 |
EXPED |
Ft Livingston, Bastian Bay, LA surrenders to a
landing party from USS Kittatinny. |
|
4.29.2 |
EXPED |
Expedition under Lt Alexander
C. Rhind in USS E. B. Hale
lands and destroys a Confederate battery at Grimball's, Dawhoo River, SC. |
|
5.2.2 |
OTHER |
Brutus Villeroi’s submarine
is launched in Philadelphia.
The vessel is 40’ long, 6’ high, and 4’6” wide. |
|
5.5.2 |
OTHER |
For five days, President
Lincoln acts as Commander-in-Chief in the field, personally directing
operations from USS Miami in
an attempt to get the stalled Peninsular
Campaign moving. At his orders, gunboats USS Monitor, Dacotah, Naugatuck, Seminole, and Susquehanna shelled
Confederate batteries at Sewell's Point, VA on 8 May to test the
Southern defenses. Rumors of the evacuation of Norfolk were confirmed
when a tug deserted the city and brought word to the Federals, but the
works at Sewall’s Point, while reduced, remained considerable. On 9
May, after discussion with pilots and studying charts, Lincoln himself
selected an unfortified landing site at Willoughby’s Point, where Army
units landed the following morning. The President ordered USS Monitor to reconnoiter the
battery at Sewall’s point and, after discovering they had been
abandoned, instructed Gen’l Wool to move on Norfolk. On the afternoon
of 10 May. |
|
5.7.2 |
SUPPORT |
USS Wachusett (Cdr W. Smith), USS Chocura, and Sebago escort Army transports up
the York River, support the landing at West Point, VA
and counter a Confederate attack with accurate gunfire. |
|
5.8.2a |
EXPED |
Landing party from USS Iroquois (Cdr James S. Palmer)
takes possession of Baton Rouge,
LA. |
|
5.10.2 |
JOINT |
Navy and Army elements
reoccupy Pensacola, FL in the
wake of its abandonment by Confederate forces the day before. The
retreating rebels destroyed the Navy Yard, Forts Barrancas and McRee,
CSS Fulton, and an ironclad under construction on the Escambia River.
Confederate commander Col. Thomas M. Jones, stripped of his heavy guns
and ammunition for use against Farragut on the Mississippi, felt he
could no longer adequately defend Pensacola. |
|
5.10.2a |
SHIP2 |
Capt. James E. Montgomery
leads the Confederate River Defense Fleet (CSS General Bragg, General Sumter, General Sterling Price, General Earl Van Dorn, General M. Jeff Thompson, General Lovell, General Beauregard, and Little Rebel) in an attack on Union gunboats and mortar boats at Plum Point Bend, TN just above
Ft Pillow. USS Cincinnati and Mound City were rammed and sank in the
shallows, but the deep draft of the rebel ships prevented them from
closing with the Yankee ships, which were soon raised and repaired. |
|
5.10.2b |
OTHER |
Ironclad steamer USS New Ironsides is launched at Philadelphia. |
|
5.11.2 |
SINKING |
Flag Officer Tattnall orders
CSS Virginia destroyed by her
crew off Craney Island to
avoid capture. The fall of Norfolk denied Virginia her base and the
ironclad drew too much water to escape up the James. Destruction of Virginia opened the river to the
Union fleet up to Drewry’s Bluff and removed a major threat to
McClellan’s Peninsular Campaign. |
|
5.12.2 |
OTHER |
Following the destruction of
CSS Virginia the day before,
its officers and crew are ordered to establish a battery below Drewry’s Bluff to prevent the
passage of Union gunboats. Lt Catesby ap R. Jones, CSN, would command the
battery. |
|
5.13.2 |
CAPTURE |
Robert Smalls and an
all-Negro crew run Confederate steamer Planter out of Charleston harbor while its
captain was ashore, and deliver it to the Federal blockading squadron.
The press hailed Smalls as a national hero for bringing this prize out
of Charleston. |
|
5.13.2a |
EXPED |
USS Iroquois (Cdr Palmer) and USS Oneida (Cdr S. P. Lee) occupy Natchez, MS, as the Union fleet
moves toward Vicksburg. |
|
5.13.2b |
CAPTURE |
Boat crew from USS Calhoun (Lt DeHaven) captures
gunboat CSS Cory in Bayou Bonfouca, LA. |
|
5.13.2c |
OTHER |
William Cheney takes delivery
of a submarine at the Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, VA. The
craft has a “false bow”—perhaps an airlock for a diver—several
view ports, and may have used an electrically detonated torpedo. |
|
5.15.2 |
BOMBARD |
Cdr John Rodgers leads the
James River Flotilla (USS Monitor,
Galena, Aroostook, Port Royal, and Naugatuck) in an attack on Confederate defenses at Drewry’s Bluff on the James
River, but is stopped by obstructions planted in the river. The
defending batteries are manned in part by Confederate sailors and
marines. Corporal John B. Mackie of Galena is awarded the first Medal
of Honor authorized a member of the Marine Corps for his part in the
action. The Navy had penetrated to within eight miles of Richmond. |
|
5.20.2 |
EXPED |
Union gunboats under Cdr
Marchand (USS Unadilla, Pembina, and Ottawa) steam up the Stono River and destroy Confederate
fortifications across from Legareville,
SC, thus securing the river for future operations against
Charleston. |
|
6.2.2 (2-3) |
SUPPORT |
Union forces land on James Island, SC under cover of gunfire from USS Unadilla (Lt Collins), USS Pembrine, E.B. Hale, Ellen, and Henry Andrew. (Due south and adjacent to Charleston; no separate dot on map) |
|
6.4.2 |
BOMBARD |
After prolonged bombardment
by Navy gunboats and mortars, the Confederate evacuate Ft Pillow, TN, during the night of 4-5 June. The following day, 5
June, Capt. Davis moves his fleet downstream to within two miles of
Memphis. |
|
6.6.2 |
SHIP2SHIP |
USS Benton, Louisville, Carondelet, St Louis, and Cairo under Capt. Davis and rams Queen of the West and Monarch under Col. Charles Ellet,
Jr., destroy the Confederate River Defense Fleet (CSS Earl Van Dorn, General Beauregard, General M. Jeff Thompson, General Bragg, General Sumter, General Sterling Price, and Little Rebel) under
Capt. Montgomery in the Battle of
Memphis. Only Van Dorn
escapes, and Memphis surrenders to the Union ships. |
|
6.7.2 (7-10) |
BOMBRD |
Confederate batteries at Grand Gulf, MS are attacked by
USS Wissahickon (Cdr John
DeCamp) and USS Itasca (Lt
Caldwell); three days later they are joined by USS Iroquois and Katahdin. |
|
6.9.2 |
JOINT |
Lt Charles Flusser leads USS Commodore Perry, Shawsheen, and Ceres in
a joint expedition up the Roanoke to Hamilton, NC, where they capture
the steamer Wilson. |
|
6.15.2 |
EXPED |
USS Tahoma (Lt John C. Howell) and USS Somerset (Lt English) raid a Confederate fort near the lighthouse at
the mouth of St Marks River, FL.
The rebel artillery company withdraws and the sailors destroyed the fort
and barracks. |
|
6.17.2 |
JOINT |
To open communications on the
White River, Cdr Kilty in USS Mound
City leads USS St Louis, Lexington, and Conestoga against Confederate batteries at St. Charles, AR. Under cover of the gunboats, which engage the
rebel guns at close range, Union troops land and take the earthworks.. |
|
6.21.2 |
JOINT |
USS Crusader and Planter
ascend the Wadmelaw River to Simmons
Bluff, SC in a joint operation led by Navy Lt Rhind, who lands with
the troops and destroys a Confederate camp. |
|
6.24.2 |
OTHER |
The first time in history
that opposing naval forces had functioning submarines operating in the
same theater of war: Cheney’s submarine and Alligator, which is towed up the James River on this date. |
|
6.26.2 |
EXPED |
The majority of the Union’s
James River flotilla under Cdr John Rodgers (USS Galena, Maratanza,
Aroostook, Monitor, Port Royal, Satellite,
Jacob Bell, Island Belle, Southfield,
Mahaska, Delaware, and Stepping Stones)
attempts to make an attack on the railroad bridge over Swift Creek, a
tributary of Appomattox Creek, and a feint attack on Petersburg. Shoal
water stops the expedition and results in the loss of Island Belle,
which the Yankees burned to prevent her capture after grounding. |
|
6.28.2 (28-29) |
SUPPORT |
USS Marblehead (Lt S. Nicholson) and USS Chocura (Lt Thomas H. Patterson) cover the withdrawal of Federal
troops from White House, VA
on the Pamunkey River. Other Navy gunboats escort transports on the James and Chickahominy
Rivers in support of the Army. |
|
7.1.2 |
SUPPORT |
Gunboats of Cdr John
Rodgers’ James River Flotilla provide critical supporting fire that
drives back Robert E. Lee’s Confederates advancing against Union
positions atop Malvern Hill, VA.
Said Lee after the battle, “The great obstacle to operations here is
the presence of the enemy’s gunboats . . .” Equally strong opinions
prevail on the Union side; said one captain, “Without the gunboats,
McClellan’s Army would have been annihilated.” |
|
7.1.2a |
OTHER |
The Western Flotilla of Flag
Officer Davis meets the deepwater fleet of Flag Officer Farragut above Vicksburg. Farragut wrote: Said
Farragut, “We have made the circuit (since we met at Port Royal)
around half the United States and met on the Mississippi.” Although of great psychological value to the North, the river would
not be truly under Federal control as long as the defenses of Vicksburg
remained in rebel hands. |
|
7.4.2 |
CAPTURE |
USS Maratanza (Lt Stevens) engages and captures CSS Teaser (Lt Davidson) at Haxall's
Landing on the James River. A shot from Maratanza exploded Teaser’s
boiler and forced abandonment of the ship. Teaser had been used as a minelayer and carried a balloon with
which the Confederates had planned an aerial reconnaissance of
McClellan’s lines. The capture of Teaser made up for the recent
loss of Island Belle during the failed Union attempt to destroy the railroad
bridge over Swift Creek. |
|
7.9.2 |
JOINT |
USS Commodore Pen (Lt Flusser), USS Shawsheen (Act’g Master Woodward), and USS Ceres (Act’g Master John MacDiarmid) land a field piece and
force of soldiers and sailors at Hamilton,
NC on the Roanoke River and
capture steamer Wilson. |
|
7.15.2 |
SHIP2 |
CSS Arkansas (Lt Isaac N.
Brown) sorties from the Yazoo
River, surprising and setting to flight USS Carondelet (Cdr Walke) USS Tyler (Lt Gwin), and ram Queen
of the West. Arkansas
partially disabled Carondelet
and Tyler and, entering the
Mississippi, ran through fire of the Union fleet to safety under the
batteries at Vicksburg.
Farragut's fleet chased the rebel ironclad, but lost her in the
gathering darkness. |
|
7.17.2 (17-18) |
EXPED |
First Lt George W. Collier
leads USS Potomac, New London and Grey Cloud up the Pascagoula
River, MS, capturing three ships and destroying telegraph lines
between Pascagoula and Mobile. |
|
7.21.2 |
SINKING |
Naval transport USS Sallie Woods is destroyed by
Confederate artillery at Argyle
Landing on the Mississippi. |
|
7.22.2 |
SHIP2 |
USS Essex (Cdr W. D. Porter) and ram Queen of the West (Lt Col. Ellet) attack CSS Arkansas (Cdr I. N. Brown) at anchor with a disabled engine at Vicksburg. Despite a crew
reduced by injury and illness by the action of 15 July, Brown fought off
the two Yankee ships. Both tried to ram Arkansas, but failed, and
retreated through a barrage of projectiles from Confederate batteries on
the bluffs. To show she was still in the fight, Brown defiantly steamed Arkansas up and down the river in
front of the city on the following day. |
|
8.6.2 |
SHIP2SHIP |
Against the orders of the
wounded Cdr Brown, Lt Henry Stevens advances CSS Arkansas in support of Gen’l Van Dorn’s attack on Union-held Baton Rouge. Recognizing the
need for critical repairs, Brown had instructed Stevens not to move the
ship away from Vicksburg until his return. Van Dorn ordered the
ironclad’s participation to ensure the success of his assault. Arkansas became unmanageable when
her engines failed, and fell prey to USS Essex (Cdr W. D. Porter). Knowing
his ship to be helpless, Lt Stevens ordered her scuttled to prevent her
capture. (Map approximate) |
|
8.6.2 |
SUPPORT |
USS Sumter, Cayuga, Kineo, and Katahdin help repel Confederate
attack on Baton Rouge. |
|
8.10.2 |
REPRISAL |
Rebel partisans under
Phillippe Landry continue to use Donaldsonville,
LA as a spot from which to ambush Union vessels on the Mississippi.
On this date, Rear Adm Farragut reported to Secretary Welles
that he had partially destroyed the town in reprisal for the
firing. Farragut had ''sent a message to the inhabitants that if they
did not discontinue this practice, I would destroy their town.” After
warning the citizens to evacuate their women and children, the Adm
burned down hotels, wharf facilities, and private buildings belonging to
Landry. |
|
8.15.2 |
SUPPORT |
USS Galena (Cdr J. Rodgers), USS Port
Royal, and USS Satellite cover the withdrawal of the left wing of Gen’l
McClellan's army from Harrison's
Landing on the James River. |
|
8.16.2 |
JOINT |
A combined force of Navy
gunboats (USS Mound City, Benton, and Gen’l)
under Lt Cdr S. L. Phelps, Army rams under Col. Ellet, and troops led by
Col. Charles R. Woods raids Confederate positions from Helena, AR up the Yazoo
River, landing at various points and dispersing rebel encampments,
capturing a steamer above Vicksburg, and destroying a battery twenty
miles up the Yazoo. |
|
8.16.2a (16-18) |
EXPED |
USS Sachem, Reindeer, Belle Italia, and yacht Corypheus
bombard Corpus Christi, TX.
Under cover of the ships’ guns, a landing party from Belle Italia tries to capture a rebel battery on the 18th,
but is repulsed. |
|
8.17.2 |
EXPED |
Landing party from USS Ellis (Master Benjamin H. Porter)
and Army boats destroy Confederate salt works, battery, and barracks
near Swansboro, NC. |
|
8.29.2 |
SUPPORT |
USS Pittsburg (Lt Thompson) escorts steamers White Cloud and Iatan with Army troops embarked
to Eunice, AR. The gunboat
shelled Confederate forces above Carson's Landing and covered the troops
as they landed ashore. |
|
9.3.2 |
BOMBARD |
A landing party from USS Essex (Commodore W. D. Porter) is
fired on at Natchez, MS (evacuated by Federal forces on 25 July) The mayor
surrendered the town after an hour’s bombardment by Essex. |
|
9.6.2 |
SUPPORT |
USS Louisiana (Act’g Lt Richard T. Renshaw) helps repel a
Confederate attack on Washington, NC. |
|
9.8.2 |
EXPED |
Landing party from USS Kingfisher destroys a 200 bushel
per day salt works at St.
Joseph's Bay, FL. |
|
9.11.2a |
EXPED |
Landing party from USS Sagamore destroys saltworks at St. Andrew’s Bay, FL. |
|
9.25.2 |
BOMBARD |
USS Kensington (Act’g Master Crocker), USS Rachel Seaman (Act’g Master Hooper), and mortar schooner Henry
James (Act’g Master Lewis Pennington) bombarded Confederate
batteries at Sabine Pass, TX, forcing the surrender of Sabine City the
following day. Landing parties burned the railroad bridge to Taylor’s
Bayou, but the area could not be occupied for lack of troops. |
|
10.1.2 |
CAPTURE |
While patrolling the lower
Mississippi River north to Baton Rouge, a squadron of Union gunboats
under Commander George Marcellus Ransom (USS Kineo) and including USS Katahdin (Lt Cdr Francis Roe), Sciota (Lt Cdr Reigart Lowry),
and Itasca (Charles Caldwell),
comes upon a large drove of 1500 cattle on the eastern bank of the river
several miles above Donaldsonville.
A check of the drovers’ papers convinces Ransom that the herd is
headed for Camp Moore, a, large rebel training facility in northern LA.
Rather than destroy such a valuable source of food, Ransom sends Katahdin to New Orleans to secure
army transports to bring the cattle within Union lines. By 4 October,
all but 200 “very wild” Texas longhorns are loaded. Ransom decides
to drive the reduced herd along the river and bring in all 1500 head. Katahdin and her landing parties
begin driving the herd as the other gunboats and transports steamed
south. A savage ambush at Pt Houma—involving up to 1500 rebels with
masked batteries—results in several deaths and much damage aboard the
ships, but is beaten off with great loss among the Confederates. Fearing
for the slower-moving Katahdin’s safety, Ransom sends Itasca back to accompany her through the guerilla-infested area;
when he himself has safely brought the transports within Army lines, he
returns in Kineo as well.
Amazingly, no attack was ever made upon the herding vessels, and the
remaining herd arrived in New Orleans on 7 October. |
|
10.3.2 |
EXPED |
In response to an Army
request for support in a planned attack on Confederate forces gathering
at Franklin, VA, USS Commodore Perry, Hunchback, and Whitehead
under Lt Cdr Flusser engage rebel troops on the Blackwater River for six
hours. Obstructions planted in the river kept the squadron from reaching
Franklin and Flusser ordered the gunboats to return downstream when
Confederates began felling trees to block the channel behind them. |
|
10.3.2a |
JOINT |
A joint expedition under Cdr
Steedman occupies Jacksonville, FL. |
|
10.3.2b |
EXPED |
Cdr William B. Renshaw leads
USS Westfield, Harriet Lane, Owasco, Clifton, and mortar schooner Henry James in
the bombardment and capture of the defenses of the harbor and city of Galveston, which surrendered on 9 October. |
|
10.4.2 |
EXPED |
A landing party from USS Somerset (Lt Cdr English) and USS Tahoma (Cdr John C. Howell),
destroy Confederate salt works at Depot Key, FL. (Due south of and same dot as Cedar
Key, FL) |
|
10.4.2a |
EXPED |
USS Thomas Freeborn (Lt Cdr Magaw) raids Dumfries, VA, destroying the telegraph office and wires. |
|
10.15.2 |
EXPED |
Boat crews from USS Rachel Seaman, and USS Kensington destroy Confederate
railroad bridge by fire at Taylor's Bayou, TX, preventing the
transportation of heavy artillery to Sabine Pass, and burned schooners Stonewall and Lone Star and barracks. |
|
10.21.2 |
REPRISAL |
Lt Cdr Meade (USS Louisville) escorts steamer Meteor, from which Army troops
land at and burn Bledsoe’s Landing and Hamblin's
Landing, AR in reprisal for attacks by Confederate guerrillas on
mail steamer Gladiator on 19 October. |
|
10.22.2 |
JOINT |
A naval battery consisting of
three 12 pounder boat howitzers from USS Wabash provide artillery support for Union infantry troops at the
battle of Pocotaligo, SC. |
|
10.24.2 |
EXPED |
USS Baron De KaIb (Capt. Winslow) deploys a landing party at Hopefield, AR to engage a small
Confederate scouting party. When the rebels fled, the sailors
“impressed” horses and engaged in a nine-mile running fight that
ended with the capture of the Confederates. (Uses Mound City dot) |
|
10.29.2 |
EXPED |
Landing party from USS Ellis (Lt Cushing) destroys large
Confederate salt works at New
Topsail Inlet, NC. |
|
10.29.2a |
EXPED |
USS Dan shelled Confederate troops near Sabine Pass, TX. On 30 October a landing party burns a mill and
several buildings. |
|
10.31.2 |
EXPED |
Confederate gun positions on Wormley’s Creek and at West Point, VA are attacked by a
landing party from USS Mahaska
(Cdr Foxhall A. Parker). The sailors returned on 11 November to complete
the destruction. |
|
10.31.2a (31-7) |
JOINT |
Cdr Davenport leads USS Hetzel, Commodore Perry, Hunchback,
Valley City, and Army gunboat Videttee on an expedition up the Roanoke
River. The ships fired on Confederate troops at Plymouth, NC,
forcing them to withdraw and steamed upriver to a point several miles
above Hamilton, which was occupied by Union troops. When the
Federal Army proved unable to reach Tarboro, they reembarked and the
force returned to Williamston. |
|
11.2.2 |
OTHER |
Col Ellet’s ram fleet is
officially transferred to the Navy at the request of Rear Adm David D.
Porter and by order of the President. Porter had insisted that he would
not permit “any naval organization on the river besides the Mississippi Squadron.” |
|
11.3.2 |
SHIP2SHIP |
CSS Cotton (Lt Edward W. Fuller) and shore batteries engage USS Calhoun, Kinsman, Estrella, and Diana in Berwick Bay, LA,
causing considerable damage to the Union squadron until exhaustion of cartridges forced Cotton
to retire. (Map approximate) |
|
11.7.2 |
JOINT |
USS Potomska (Act’g Lt W. Budd) escorts Army transport Darlington up the Sapelo River, GA on a raid that destroys salt works at Fairhope and engages rebel
troops at Spaulding’s. |
|
11.9.2 |
JOINT |
Second Assistant Engineer J.
L. Lay of USS Louisiana leads
a joint Navy-Army landing party that captures Greenville, NC. |
|
11.22.2 (22-24) |
JOINT |
Joint Navy-Army expedition to
vicinity of Mathews Court House, VA, under Lt Farquhar and
Act’g Master's Mate Nathan W. Black of USS Mahaska destroys numerous salt
works together with hundreds of bushels of salt, as well as a number of
boats. |
|
11.23.2 |
EXPED |
Landing party from USS Ellis (Lt Cushing) captures arms, mail, and two schooners at Jacksonville,
NC. On 24 November, while under attack from Confederate artillery, Ellis
grounds and is fired by her crew to prevent capture. |
|
11.24.2 |
EXPED |
USS Monticello (Lt Cdr Braine) destroys two Confederate salt works
near Little River Inlet, NC. |
|
12.10.2 |
SUPPORT |
USS Southfield (Lt Charles F. W. Behm) is disabled in action while
providing close fire support to troops under attack by Confederate
forces at Plymouth, NC. |
|
12.12.2 |
SINKING |
Confederate torpedoes claims
their first victim of the war when one explodes under USS Cairo (Lt Cdr Thomas O.
Selfridge) on an expedition up the Yazoo River--to destroy
torpedoes. |
|
12.27.2 |
SUPPORT |
Porter's gunboats engage Ft Drumgould on the Yazoo as USS
Benton (Lt Cdr Gwin) continues
Cairo’s work of removing torpedoes in the river. Benton was much cut up in the
heavy exchange of fire, and Gwin fatally wounded. Porter was able to
report that the river was now clear of mines to within a half mile of
the battery. |
|
12.28.2 (28-30) |
SUPPORT |
Rear Adm D. D. Porter's
gunboats provide fire support for Gen’l Sherman's attempt to capture
Confederate-held Chickasaw Bluffs.
Heavy rains and the arrival of Confederate reinforcements force the
Federals to withdraw. |
|
12.31.2 |
SINKING |
USS Monitor (Cdr Bankhead) founders in a storm off Cape Hatteras en route from
Hampton Roads to Beaufort, NC and is lost. |
|
1.1.3 |
SHIP2SHIP |
Confederate Major Leon Smith,
CSA, launches a fierce surprise attack on the Union troops and ships
defending Galveston, TX. The
improvised cotton-clad gunboats CSS Bayou City and Neptune, with Army sharpshooting
boarding parties, and tenders John F. Carr and Lucy Gwin take USS Harriet Lane by boarding and force the Yankees to destroy USS Westfield after she ran aground.
The remainder of the blockading force stood out to sea. |
|
1.9.3 |
EXPED |
Boat crews from USS Ethan Allen (Act’g Master Isaac
A. Pennell) destroyed a very large salt manufactory south of St. Joseph's, FL. |
|
1.9.3a (9-11) |
JOINT |
USS Baron de Kalb, Louisville,
Cincinnati, Lexington, Rattler, and Black Hawk, under Rear Adm Porter
in tug Ivy, covers the landing
of troops under Major Gen’l W. T. Sherman in the assault on Ft Hindman at Arkansas Post,
forcing the rebels from their trenches and allowing the soldiers to
occupy the woods below the fort. Until the Army was ready to make its
attack on 10 January, Porter’s gunboats closed to within 60 yards of
the fort and blasted away at its walls. Renewed bombardment on 11
January succeeded in dismounting or disabling all of the fort’s guns,
and the bastion was taken by the Army troops. Among the 6500 rebel
prisoners were 36 Confederate naval officers and sailors. Porter
recorded one prisoner as saying, “You can't expect men to stand up
against the fire of those gunboats.” After the loss of Ft Hindman,
Confederates evacuated other positions on the White and St. Charles
Rivers. |
|
1.10.3 |
BOMBRD |
Lacking shallow-draft
gunboats and pilots—and therefore unable to cross the bar and navigate
the crooked, narrow channel, Commodore Henry H. Bell is forced to limit
the reestablishment of the blockade of Galveston to a bombardment. |
|
1.13.3 |
REPRISAL |
Joint Navy-Army expedition
from Memphis on board USS General
Bragg (Lt Joshua Bishop)
destroys buildings at Mound City,
AR, in reprisal for Confederate attacks on river steamers. |
|
1.12.3 |
EXPED |
USS Currituck (Act’g Master Linnekin) destroys the salt works at Dividing Creek, VA which had been "extensively engaged" in supplying
Richmond with salt |
|
1.14.3 |
JOINT |
USS Kinsman, Estrella, Calhoun, and Diana, under Lt Cdr Thomas Buchanan, engage Confederate defenses in Bayou
Teche, below Franklin, LA,
in a combined Navy-Army expedition. Naval gunfire forces the rebels to
withdraw and allows removal of the formidable obstructions sunk in the
river. Gunboat CSS Cotton (Lt
Edward W. Fuller) attacks the Union ships, but is forced to withdraw and
is later burned to prevent capture. Kinsman’s rudder is unshipped
by a torpedo and Lt Cdr Buchanan is killed by shore fire. |
|
1.16.3 |
EXPED |
Lt Cdr J. G. Walker aboard
USS Baron de Kalb lands a
party at Devall's Bluff, AR,
on the White River and takes possession of all government property,
including guns and ammunition. Walker withdrew his men when Federal
troops arrived. |
|
1.17.3 |
EXPED |
USS Baron de Kalb (Lt Cdr Walker) with USS Forest Rose and Romeo
arrive off Des Arc, AR, where
they find a quantity of artillery ammunition and occupied the post
office. Walker withdrew his men when Army troops arrived an hour later. |
|
1.21.3 |
SHIP2 |
Major Oscar M. Watkins, CSA,
leads CSS Josiah Bell and Uncle Ben, in an attack on
blockaders off Sabine Pass,
capturing USS Morning Light
(Act’g Master John Dillingham) and Velocity (Act’g Master Nathan
W. Hammond). They burn Morning
Light two days later because she cannot be got over the bar. |
|
1.27.3 |
BOMBARD |
To test the endurance of
ironclad USS Montauk, Cdr John
L. Worden takes her up the Ogeechee River with USS Seneca, Wissahickon, Dawn, and mortar schooner C. P. Williams and engages
Confederate batteries at Ft McAllister, GA, in preparation for an
attack on Charleston. Montauk was struck fourteen times with no
damage. |
|
1.30.3 |
CAPTURE |
USS Isaac Smith (Act’g Lt Francis S. Conover) is caught in a heavy
cross fire while conducting an expedition up the Stono River above Legareville,
SC, forced aground, and captured. |
|
1.30.3a |
EXPED |
Lt Cdr Charles W. Flusser
lands men from USS Commodore Perry
to accompany soldiers on an expedition to Hertford, NC which
destroys two bridges over the Perquimans River, interdicting the flow of
supplies from the Chowan River region to Richmond. |
|
1.31.3 |
SHIP2 |
Under cover of the morning
fog, Flag Officer Duncan N. Ingraham leads rams CSS Chicora (Cdr John R. Tucker) and CSS Palmetto State (Lt John Rutledge) in an attack on the Union
blockading squadron off Charleston
harbor. Before withdrawing back into the harbor, the rams inflict
significant damage on the Yankee ships: USS Mercedita (Capt Stellwagen) stuck her colors after being rammed by
Palmetto State; USS Keystone State (Cdr William E. LeRoy), attacked by Chicora, lost all motive power after shellfire destroyed her
stacks and had to be towed away by USS Memphis (Capt Pendelton G.
Watmough); USS Quaker City
took a hit that tore up her engine room; and USS Augusta narrowly missed disaster
when a shell passed within feet of her boiler. The Confederate Navy rams
retired relatively unscathed. |
|
2.2.3 |
SHIP2 |
Ram USS Queen of the West (Col. C. R. Ellet) attacks Confederate steamer City of Vicksburg, at anchor
under cover of the batteries at Vicksburg.
Although successful in setting the rebel ship aflame (the fire was
quickly put out), Queen broke
off the action when she herself caught fire. After extinguishing the
blaze, Queen headed won the
Mississippi under orders to destroy all Confederate vessels encountered.
|
|
2.3.3 |
JOINT |
Act’g Master G. W. Brown
(USS Forest Rose) opens the
combined Navy-Army operation against Ft Pemberton in Greenwood, MS by
lighting the fuse to a 50 pound can of black powder placed under the
levee at Yazoo Pass. This
created a channel 70-75 yards wide that allows the gunboats and Army
transports to steam “overland” to enter Moon Lake and, according to
the plan, from there proceed down the Coldwater and Tallahatchie rivers
to the Yazoo, capture Ft Pemberton and Yazoo City, and then assault
Vicksburg on its weaker flanks. In reality, it will be February 25
before the gunboats can actually enter Yazoo Pass due to the need to
clear obstructions in the channel. |
|
2.3.3 |
SUPPORT |
While on convoy duty in the
Cumberland River with USS Lexington, Fairplay, St. Clair, Brilliant, Robb, and Silver Lake, Lt Cdr Fitch
receives word from Col. Abner C. Harding, commanding at Ft Donelson, reporting an assault by Confederate forces and
requesting assistance. Fitch pushed his ships ahead and arrived that
evening to find the Federal forces “out of ammunition and entirely
surrounded by the rebels in overwhelming numbers.” The gunboats opened
fire on the rebels, who were so taken by surprise that they did not
pause to return fire, but immediately withdrew. |
|
2.7.3 |
SINKING |
Pioneer II is lost in Mobile Bay during trials. |
|
2.12.3 |
REPRISAL |
Having run below Vicksburg
under orders to disrupt Confederate trade in the Red River area, USS Queen of the West (Col. C. R.
Ellet) steams up Red and Atchafalaya rivers. The ship is fired upon near
Simmesport, LA. On the
following day, Ellet destroys all of the buildings on three plantations
next to the town in retaliation. |
|
2.14.3 |
CAPTURE |
While patrolling the Red River in search of reported
Confederate vessels at Gordon’s
Landing, USS Queen of the West
(Col. C. R. Ellet) runs aground as she attempts to back down the river
away from the heavy fire of a rebel battery. When her chief engineer
reported that the steam pipe had been shot away, Ellet orders the ship
abandoned. The formidable Queen
becomes a rebel warship. |
|
2.23.3 |
SINKING |
|