Civil War Brown Water Navy (1 Viewer)

Shiloh

Staff Sergeant
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Oct 4, 2006
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I was doing some research and thought I might share it. I will admit I didn't know much about it before even thou it occured all around my home. Let's see if I can get it posted here. Picture posting on this forum has rarely worked out for me, it's one of the reasons I don't post very often.

USS Cairo (1862-1862)

USS Cairo, a 512-ton "City" class ironclad river gunboat built at Mound City, Illinois, was commissioned in January 1862 as part of the U.S. Army's Western Gunboat Flotilla. She began war operations in February, taking part in the occupations of Clarksville and Nashville, Tennessee. In April and May 1862, Cairo was involved in the campaign to capture Fort Pillow and was present during the 10 May naval action there. She was also engaged with Confederate warships during the action off Memphis, Tennessee, on 6 June 1862.

Cairo continued her operations on the Mississippi River and its tributaries and was formally transferred to the Navy in October. On 12 December 1862, while engaged in mine clearance activities on the Yazoo River, Mississippi, Cairo was sunk by a Confederate mine (or "torpedo", as mines were then known). Her wreck was recovered in 1965, but was badly damaged during the salvage efforts. It has subsequently been partially restored and is on exhibit at Vicksburg, Mississippi.

http://www.treefrogtreasures.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=296&pictureid=4507
 
Thanks for that info Shiloh,

Wouldn't it be awesome if someone made a 1/30 Ironclad, or a figures set and any of the Civil War Naval Cannons :cool:
 
I was doing some research and thought I might share it. I will admit I didn't know much about it before even thou it occured all around my home. Let's see if I can get it posted here. Picture posting on this forum has rarely worked out for me, it's one of the reasons I don't post very often.

USS Cairo (1862-1862)

USS Cairo, a 512-ton "City" class ironclad river gunboat built at Mound City, Illinois, was commissioned in January 1862 as part of the U.S. Army's Western Gunboat Flotilla. She began war operations in February, taking part in the occupations of Clarksville and Nashville, Tennessee. In April and May 1862, Cairo was involved in the campaign to capture Fort Pillow and was present during the 10 May naval action there. She was also engaged with Confederate warships during the action off Memphis, Tennessee, on 6 June 1862.

Cairo continued her operations on the Mississippi River and its tributaries and was formally transferred to the Navy in October. On 12 December 1862, while engaged in mine clearance activities on the Yazoo River, Mississippi, Cairo was sunk by a Confederate mine (or "torpedo", as mines were then known). Her wreck was recovered in 1965, but was badly damaged during the salvage efforts. It has subsequently been partially restored and is on exhibit at Vicksburg, Mississippi.

http://www.treefrogtreasures.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=296&pictureid=4507

The Cairo is a very nice and information exhibit.
 
Thanks for that info Shiloh,

Wouldn't it be awesome if someone made a 1/30 Ironclad, or a figures set and any of the Civil War Naval Cannons :cool:

Only one problem the thing would be huge. At 1/30 it would be over 48 inches. In real life they were around 140 ft long and 30 feet wide but one can dream:)
 
Id go for an iron clad of my own. I think us WBTS guys deserve some vehicles. Or is that what the cavalry is?
 
Thanks for that info Shiloh,

Wouldn't it be awesome if someone made a 1/30 Ironclad, or a figures set and any of the Civil War Naval Cannons :cool:

Although not "toy" pieces Verlinden makes a 1/32nd model of the Monitor's gun turret,an 11inch Dahlgren naval gun, a gun deck section with 32 pdr cannon, a US navy deck section with 9 inch gun and a model of the CSS Hunley submarine. They also make several 1/200 scale models of CW warships.
 
Wow - Great info there - Shiloh :)

I really want to visit NPS Vicksburg Battlefield Park one day. Wonderful Civil War Battlefields all around you out there.

Maybe a GOLF / Civil War Park Visit Trip in the Spring ... Hmmmmmmmm :D
 
Wow - Great info there - Shiloh :)

I really want to visit NPS Vicksburg Battlefield Park one day. Wonderful Civil War Battlefields all around you out there.

Maybe a GOLF / Civil War Park Visit Trip in the Spring ... Hmmmmmmmm :D


I personally recommend the area in South Alabama around Auburn for golf.
 
Wow - Great info there - Shiloh :)

I really want to visit NPS Vicksburg Battlefield Park one day. Wonderful Civil War Battlefields all around you out there.

Maybe a GOLF / Civil War Park Visit Trip in the Spring ... Hmmmmmmmm :D

Me to (except the golf) I planned a trip this spring and the camp ground got flooded. I'm talking like 8 ft of water. Neddless to say we went to east Tn. instead.
 
USS Carondelet (1862-1865)

USS Carondelet, a 512-ton Cairo class ironclad river gunboat, was built at Saint Louis, Missouri, for the U.S. Army's Western Gunboat Flotilla. Commissioned in January 1862 with Commander Henry A. Walke, USN, as her captain, Carondelet quickly entered combat, taking part in the captures of Forts Henry and Donelson, Tennessee, in February 1862. In March and April, she played an important role in the campaign to capture the Confederate fortress at Island Number Ten, on the Mississippi River. This was followed by operations against Fort Pillow and Memphis, Tennessee, during April-June 1862.

With the upper Mississippi now under Union control, Carondelet spent much of the following year in the long campaign against Vicksburg, Mississippi. On 15 July 1862, while in the Yazoo River, she was badly damaged in an engagement with the Confederate ironclad Arkansas. Along with the other units of the Army's Western Rivers "navy", she was formally transferred to the U.S. Navy in October 1862. In April 1863, Carondelet was a member of the ironclad force that ran past Vicksburg and later bombarded Grand Gulf, Mississippi. In May, she participated in extensive bombardments of Vicksburg, part of the combined Army-Navy operations that led to that fortified city's surrender on 4 July 1863. Thereafter, she was involved with a variety of expeditions and patrol operations, among them the March-May 1864 Red River expedition. Decommissioned in June 1865, USS Carondelet was sold in November of that year. Her hull was subsequently used as a civilian wharfboat, while her engines were installed in another river steamer.
http://www.treefrogtreasures.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=296&pictureid=4514
 
These links may be of interest. The river and inland naval warfare in the CW/WBTS lends itself to toy figures of Union and Confederate sailors and marines in small craft.

"Lieutenant William B. Cushing's daring attack on the Confederate ironclad CSS Albemarle."

http://www.bendermaritime.com/artwork/originals/pages/DavidGoliath_lg.html

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/pers-us/uspers-c/w-cushg2.htm

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/h79000/h79932.jpg

A replica of the CSS Albemarle anchored at Plymouth, NC

http://www.carolinalegion.com/images/css1_0hsv.jpg

Port Columbus Civil War Naval Center, Columbus, GA photo tour.....

http://www.homepages.dsu.edu/jankej/civilwar/Columbus.htm


Cottage Industry Ltd. Civil War & Other Historical Period Scale Model Kits

Cast in resin and made in USA.

Lt. W.B. Cushings' Steam Launch ("Pickett Boat #1") 1/96th scale resin model kit

http://www.milminwh.com/cottage_ind_main.htm
 
Action at Island No. 10

THE CARONDELET RUNS THE GAUNTLET

Finally, Halleck intervened and convinced Foote to ask for a volunteer to run the batteries. A meeting was held abroad the flagship of the ironclad captains, and Henry Walke of the Carondelet volunteered his city-class gunboat for the attempt.
Walke set to work preparing his craft for the run. All available chains and howzwers in the fleet were gathered up and used to beef up the armor. Although plunging fire was not a great concern because of the flat terrain, the hurricane deck was given an extra layer of timber. Cordwood was stacked around the boilers and a small barge was lashed to the side and loaded with hay to add further protection. The crew was armed with cutlasses, boarding pikes and axes and Walke was instructed to burn his ship rather than have it captured. The plan was for Walke to wait for a dark night and attempt to sneak past the batteries, so the steam pipes were rerouted to muffle the sound. The Carondelet weighed anchor as a thunderstorm approached on the night of April 4th, the moon well concealed. All went well until she approached the Confederate batteries when the flue caught fire and the Rebel sentries sounded the alarm. Walke shouted to his pilot, William Hoel, for "full speed." Hoel was an experienced pilot on this stretch of the river, and with the help of a boatswain's mate stationed on the forecastle, steered the craft past the Island. Despite heavy cannonading, the Confederate gunners were unable to train their guns on the ship, allowing it to pass by unharmed. Carondelet arrived at New Madrid the following morning before dawn, greeted by cheers from Pope's army.


UNITED STATES FLAG-STEAMER BENTON,
Off Island No. 10, April 4, 1862.

Maj. Gen. JOHN POPE,
Commanding Army at New Madrid, Mo.:

GENERAL: The gunboat Carondelet, Commander Walke, left her anchorage this evening at 10 o'clock in a heavy thunder-storm, for the purpose of running the fire of the batteries on Island No. 10 and those lining the Tennessee shore, to join your forces at New Madrid: By a previous concerted signal of three minute-guns twice fired at intervals of five minutes, which have since been heard as far as the heavy thunder would enable us to ascertain, leads me to hope that the blockade has been run successfully, although the batteries opened on her with forty-seven guns while passing. I am therefore so exceedingly anxious to hear the fate of the noble officers and men who so readily were disposed to attempt the hazardous service, that I beg you will immediately inform me by bearer if Commander Walke has arrived with his vessel and the condition in which you find her and her officers and men.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
A. H. FOOTE,
Flag-Officer.

http://www.treefrogtreasures.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=296&pictureid=4522
 
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USS Tyler (1861-1865)

USS Tyler, a 575-ton "timberclad" gunboat, was converted from the commercial side-wheel steamship A.O. Tyler, which had been built in 1857 at Cincinnati, Ohio. Acquired in June 1861 for the Army's Western Gunboat Flotilla, she was commissioned in September with officers provided by the Navy. One of the first Federal warships on the Western Rivers, Tyler saw extensive action on the Mississippi and its tributaries throughout the Civil War, beginning in early September 1861 when she engaged CSS Jackson near Hickman, Kentucky. During 1861 and early 1862, she participated in operations on the Ohio, Upper Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers, firing her guns at Confederate forces on several occasions and participating in the capture of a number of enemy vessels and strategic positions.

In April 1862, Tyler played an important role in the Battle of Shiloh. In June, she joined other Union gunboats in operations on the Yazoo River, where she had a running battle with the Confederate ironclad Arkansas on 15 July 1862. Over the following year, Tyler was further employed on the Yazoo and in support of Army campaigns in Arkansas. She was formally transferred from the Army to the Navy in October 1862. From mid-1863 to the end of the Civil War she was mainly active in the Arkansas area and engaged an enemy shore battery at Clarendon, Arkansas, on 24 June 1864. Tyler was placed out of service soon after the end of the great conflict and was sold in August 1865.
http://www.treefrogtreasures.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=296&pictureid=4543
 
USS Lexington (1861-1865)

USS Lexington, a 448-ton side-wheel steamer, was built in 1860 at Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania, for commercial use. She was acquired for the Army's Western Gunboat Flotilla in June 1861 and converted to a "timberclad" river gunboat, with officers to be provided by the Navy. Assigned to duty on the Mississippi River and its tributaries, Lexington took part in several actions with Confederate vessels and land forces during the last four months of 1861 and early 1862. In February 1862, she took part in the capture of Fort Henry and in other operations on the Tennessee River. During the next few months, she continued her activities in that area, participating in the great Battle of Shiloh in early April.

In June 1862, Lexington went up the White River and helped to bombard enemy positions at Saint Charles, Arkansas. She operated on the Mississippi during much of the rest of 1862 and was formally transferred to the Navy in October. November and December found her on the Yazoo, clearing "torpedoes" and bombarding the Confederates. Lexington was active in Arkansas and Tennessee in 1863, participating in the Capture of Fort Hindman, Arkansas, in January, the defense of Fort Donelson, Tennessee, in February, and the burning of Palmyra, Tennessee, in March. In March-May 1864, she took part in expeditions up the Black, Ouachita, and Red rivers in Louisiana, and helped defeat an attack on White River Station, Arkansas, in June. Following the end of the Civil War, USS Lexington was decommissioned in July 1865 and sold the following month.

http://www.treefrogtreasures.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=296&pictureid=4544
 
Battle of Shiloh description by the generals of Gunboats part in the battle

[Grant] After nightfall, when firing had entirely ceased on land, the commander of the fleet informed himself, approximately, of the position of our troops and suggested the idea of dropping a shell within the lines of the enemy every fifteen minutes during the night. This was done with effect, as is proved by the Confederate reports.


[Beauregard] During the night the rain fell in torrents, adding to the discomforts and harassed condition of the men. The enemy, moreover, had broken their rest by a discharge at measured intervals of heavy shells thrown from the gunboats; therefore on the following morning the troops under my command were not in condition to cope with an equal force of fresh troops, armed and equipped like our adversary, in the immediate possession of his depots and sheltered by such an auxiliary as the enemy's gunboats.

Following the battle, Leonard Swett, friend and intimate of Abraham Lincoln, spent three days riding the field. His letter to the president stated:

From all I could learn I believe the gunboats Lexington and Tyler , commanded by Lieutenants Gwin and Shirk, saved our army from defeat. At least it is within bounds to say they rendered us invaluable services.

The vital contribution of the gunboats was well recognized in the South. On 18 April 1862 the New Orleans Daily Delta hit upon the key to Union victory—and 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.”

After the capture of Prentiss an attempt was made to reorganize the Confederate forces for an attack upon the Union line in position near the Landing. Generals Chalmers and Jackson and Colonel Trabue moved their commands to the right down the ridge south of Dill Branch until they came under fire of the Union batteries and gunboats, which silenced Gage's battery, the only one with the command. Trabue sheltered his command on the south side of the ridge, while Chalmers and Jackson moved into the valley of Dill Branch and pressed skirmishers forward to the brow of the hill on the north side of the valley, but their exhausted men, many of them without ammunition, could not be urged to a charge upon the batteries before them. Colonel Deas, commanding a remnant of Gladden's brigade, formed at the head of the ravine on Jackson's left, and Anderson formed at the head of the ravine, where he remained ten or fifteen minutes, then he retired beyond range of the floating guns. Colonel Lindsay, First Mississippi Cavalry, charged upon and captured Ross's battery, as it was withdrawing from position near Hurlbut's headquarters, and then with 30 or 40 men crossed the head of Dill Branch and attempted to charge another battery, but finding himself in the presence of an infantry force "managed to get back under the hill without damage." This cavalry and the skirmishers from Chalmers' and Jackson's brigades were the only Confederate troops that came under musketry fire after the Prentiss and Wallace surrender.
 

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