Each year is divided into two halves (January through June and July through December)

Civil War Naval Chronology 1861-1865
Published 1966 by Naval History Division , Office of the Chief of Naval Operations , Navy Department , Washington D.C.

Entries in blue are information concerning submarine warfare derived from Mark Ragan's book.

1863

January - February - March - April - May - June

January 1863

“Early” January
McClintock, Watson, and Hunley decide that the steam engine they had hoped to use to power their new submarine is inadequate; they return to a manually-turned screw propeller for Pioneer II.

1 Confederate warships under Major Leon Smith, CSA, defeated Union blockading forces at Galveston in a fierce surprise attack combined with an assault ashore by Confederate troops that resulted in the capture of the Northern Army company stationed there. Smith's flotilla included the improvised cotton-clad gunboats CSS Bayou City and Neptune , with Army sharpshooting boarding parties embarked, and tenders John F. Carr and Lucy Gwin. The Union squadron under Commander William B. Renshaw, USS Harriet Lane , Owasco, Corypheus, Sachem, Clifton , and Westfield , was caught off guard. Despite the surprise, Harriet Lane, Commander Jonathan M. Wainwright, put up a gallant fight. She rammed Bayou City , but without much damage. In turn she was rammed by Neptune , which was so damaged by the resulting impact and a shot from Harriet Lane taken at the waterline that she sank in 8 feet of water. Bayou City , meanwhile, turned and rammed Harriet Lane so heavily that the two ships could not be separated. The troops from the cotton-clad clambered over the bulwarks to board Harriet Lane. Commander Wainwright was killed in the wild hand-to-hand combat and his ship was captured.

In the meantime, Westfield , Commander Renshaw, had run aground in Bolivar Channel prior to the action, could not be gotten off, and was destroyed to prevent her capture. Renshaw and a boat crew were killed when Westfield blew up prematurely. The small ships comprising the remainder of the blockading force ran through heavy Confederate fire from ashore and stood out to sea. Surprise and boldness in execution, as often in the long history of warfare, had won another victory. The tribute paid by Major General John Bankhead Magruder, CSA, was well deserved. "The alacrity with which officers and men, all of them totally unacquainted with this novel kind of service, some of whom had never seen a ship before, volunteered for an enterprise so extraordinarily and apparently desperate in its character, and the bold and dashing manner in which the plan was executed, are certainly deserving of the highest praise."

The extensive use of Confederate torpedoes in the western waters required similar ingenuity on the part of Union forces to cope with them. Colonel Charles R. Ellet proposed a plan to clear the Yazoo of torpedoes, to enable the gunboats to operate more freely. He wrote: "My plan was to attach to the bow of a swift and powerful steamboat [Lioness was chosen] a strong frame-work, consisting of two heavy spars, 65 feet in length, firmly secured by transverse and diagonal braces and extending 50 feet forward of the steamer's bow. A crosspiece 35 feet in length, was to be bolted to the forward extremities of these spars. Through each end of this crosspiece and through the center a heavy iron rod, 1 1/2 inches in diameter and 10 feet long, descended into the river, terminating in a hook. An intermediate hook was attached to each bar 3 feet from the bottom. The three bars were strengthened by a light piece of timber halfway down, through which they were passed and bolted. . . . The torpedoes are sunk in the water, but the cords by which they are fired are attached to buoys floating on the surface. My belief was that the curved hooks of the rake would catch these cords, and, driven by the powerful boat, would either explode the torpedoes or tear them to pieces and break the ropes, thus rendering them harmless to succeeding vessels.'' In fundamental principle, the method compares with the sweeping of mines in World War II and Korea .

3 USS Currituck, Acting Master Thomas J. Linnekin, captured sloop Potter between the mouths of the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers.

Confederate commerce raiding schooner Retribution, Master Thomas B. Power, chased merchant ships Gilmore Meredith and Westward back into the harbor at Havana .

4 A joint Army-Navy expedition under Rear Admiral David D. Porter and Major General W. T. Sherman got underway up the White River, Arkansas , aiming at the capture of Fort Hindman at Arkansas Post. Hindman, described by Porter as a "tough little nut," mounted 11 guns. With a small coal supply available, Porter had the gunboats towed upriver by Army transports to conserve his fuel as much as possible. The gunboats included USS Baron de Kalb , Louisville , Cincinnati , Signal, Marmora, Lexington , New Era, Romeo, Rattler , Glide, and flagship Black Hawk. This date Porter also ordered ram Monarch to join him at the mouth of the Arkansas River .

Rear Admiral Samuel F. Du Pont wrote Charles Henry Davis regarding the Confederate defenses of Charleston : ''The work on the defenses of Charleston has never ceased since the fall of Sumter, some 20 long months under successive generals; and the man who commenced it [General Beauregard] is now giving the closing touches and I believe he has exhausted his science and applied every conceivable means. He is fully confident that he can successfully defend the harbor, and the British officers who go in, and the blockade runners whom we catch smile at the idea of its being taken, representing it stronger than Sebastopol. A deserter from Morris Island confirms the above feeling of confidence, and says they expect to sink every gunboat as fast as they approach."

Referring to the proposed Union attack on Charleston, Du Pont said "I have always been of the opinion that it should be a joint operation, carefully devised-and I trust that I am not insensible to the honor of a naval capture-Though I am infinitely more alive to the absolute necessity of success than any special glory to our arm of service, or of personal distinction to myself. We cannot afford a failure in this crisis, political as well as military through which we are now passing-the more so, that desirable as the taking of Charleston is, the contest will still go on, until the rebel armies are broken and dispersed."

Major General Ulysses S. Grant wired Commander Alexander M. Pennock at Cairo , asking for gunboat support as Confederate troops began renewed attempts to regain positions in Tennessee : "Some light-draft gunboats now in Tennessee would be of great value. Forrest has got to the east bank, but there are strong signs of his recrossing in the vicinity of Savannah [ Tennessee ]. Can any be sent?" Though hampered by low water on the rivers, Pennock had foreseen the possible Southern action; he replied: "Have already ordered all available boats to ascend [the] Tennessee with the rise."

This date, Pennock received word from Army headquarters at Evansville , Indiana , that 14 steamers had departed for Nashville with essential supplies and would need convoy service from Smithland , Kentucky . The fleet captain at Cairo wired back: "Two gunboats have been waiting since yesterday at Smithland. Commanding naval officer will make such arrangements as he deems proper on arrival of the fleet at Smithland." Control over the inland waterways by the Union Navy assured the Army of continuous logistic and convoy support. As on the railroads, troops and supplies moved freely on the rivers. In addition, the powerful armament of the gun-boats swept aside opposition.

USS Quaker City, Commander James M. Frailey, captured sloop Mercury off Charleston with important Confederate dispatches on board. Rear Admiral Du Pont described "the most important of all" as a letter bearing on the ironclads building in England which urged "the absolute importance of hastening them forward as the only thing that offers succor and relief . . . We want succor or we must die."

5 Boat crews from USS Sagamore, Lieutenant Commander Earl English, seized blockade running British sloop Avenger in Jupiter Inlet , Florida , with cargo of coffee, gin, salt, and baled goods.

6 Confederate troops captured and burned steamboat Jacob MUSSelman near Memphis . The commander of the Confederate company, Captain James H. McGehee, was acting under orders to reconnoiter the area, "burning cotton in that country and annoying the enemy on the Mississippi River " wherever possible. Attacks such as this emphasized the Union 's reliance on naval control of the waterways to transport and convoy troops and supplies in areas already dominated by the North. Had this force afloat been weaker, the Confederacy might well have re-established vital positions in the west and elsewhere.

Assistant Adjutant General John A. Rawlins, writing from Holly Springs , Mississippi , informed Colonel William W. Lowe, commanding at Fort Henry , of a reported large number of "flat boats and other craft for crossing the Tennessee . You will therefore please request the gunboats, which are reported to be up the river, to use every means for their destruction, that the enemy may be prevented from crossing into West Tennessee and Kentucky . They should proceed up the river as far as the water will permit." The gunboats had constant work to do on the upper waters as well as near Vicksburg .

USS Pocahontas , Lieutenant Commander William M. Gamble, captured blockade runner Antona off Cape San Blas , Florida .

7 Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen R. Mallory  wrote Commander James D. Bulloch in Liverpool regarding urgently needed ships to be built in England : ". . . Push these ships ahead as rapidly as possible. Our difficulty lies in providing you with funds, but you may rely upon receiving cotton certificates sooner or later. You speak of having under consideration plans of armored ships of about 2300 tons and to draw 14 feet, and of certain parties who are willing to build without cash advances, and to deliver the ships armed and equipped, beyond British jurisdiction. Close with this proposition at once by all means, and give any reasonable bonus after agreeing upon the times of such delivery, for earlier delivery, together with a bonus for extra speed. . . . I am convinced that every ship may and should be used as a ram when opportunities are presented. . . Our river high-pressure boats, carrying their boilers on deck, frequently run against a sand bar or a snag, going at great speed, and bring all up standing, without deranging their boilers or engines in the least. The contact of the Virginia with the Cumberland  was not felt on board the former, and the moving vessel that runs squarely into a stationary one rarely receives injury.''

7-9 Joint Army-Navy expedition up the Pamunkey River destroyed boats, barges and stores at West Point and White House, Virginia. USS Mahaska and Commodore Morris, under Commander Foxhall A. Parker, supported the Army movement and convoyed transport May Queen. Rear Admiral Samuel P. Lee reported: "A more extensive enterprise was projected, but want of water at the obstructions prevented its full success; as a reconnaissance it is valuable.'' Major General Erasmus D. Keyes felt that ''the success of the land part of the expedition was largely indebted to Captain Parker's admirable management of his vessels. On this and many other occasions I have noticed the zeal and good judgment of that naval officer."

8 General Grant wired Commander Pennock in Cairo :" Can I have gunboats at Memphis to convoy reinforcements to Vicksburg ? I will want them by the eleventh." The fleet captain, facing problems that had beset the gunboats since the squadron's inception, replied: 'Will send one light-draft gunboat, bullet-proof, one-fourth manned. I can do no more. Can't you place under the command of her captain soldiers enough to work her guns?" The next day, 9 January, Grant. and Pennock again exchanged telegrams relative to the Army's need for gunboats. "There is no gunboat in Tennessee River above Fort Henry ," the General wired Cairo . ''There is 10 feet water and rising." Pennock reported: "Two [gunboats] have orders to ascend Tennessee with rise."

USS Sagamore, Lieutenant Commander English, seized blockade running British sloop Julia off Jupiter Inlet with cargo of salt.

USS Tahoma, Lieutenant Commander Alexander A. Semmes, captured blockade runner Silas Henry, aground in Tampa Bay with cargo of cotton.

9 Boat crews from USS Ethan Allen, Acting Master Isaac A. Pennell, destroyed "a very large salt manufactory" south of St. Joseph 's, Florida . Pennell noted that the works were "capable of making 75 bushels of salt per day" and reported that it was "the fourth salt manufactory I have destroyed since I have been on this station."

9-11 USS Baron De Kalb, Louisville , Cincinnati , Lexington , Rattler, and Black Hawk, under Rear Admiral Porter in tug Ivy, engaged and, with the troops of Major General W. T. Sherman, forced the surrender of Fort Hindman at Arkansas Post. Ascending the Arkansas River , Porter's squadron covered the landing of the troops and shelled Confederates from their rifle pits, enabling McClernand's troops on 9 January to take command of the woods below the fort and approach unseen. Though the Army was not in a position to press the attack on 10 January, the squadron moved to within 60 yards of the staunchly defended fort to soften the works for the next day's assault. A blistering engagement ensued, the fort's 11 guns pouring a withering fire into the gunboats. USS Rattler, Lieutenant Commander Watson Smith, attempted to run past the fort to provide enfilade support, but was caught on a snag placed in the river by the Confederates, received a heavy raking fire, and was forced to return downstream.

Porter's gunboats renewed the engagement the next morning, 11 January, when the Army launched its assault, and "after a well directed fire of about two and one-half hours every gun in the fort was dismounted or disabled and the fort knocked all to pieces. . ." Ram Monarch and USS Rattler and Glide, under Lieutenant Commander W. Smith, knifed upriver to cut off any attempted escape. Brigadier General Thomas J. Churchill, CSA, surrendered the fort--including some 36 defending Confederate naval officers and men after a gallant resistance to the fearful pounding from the gunboats. Porter wrote Secretary of the Navy Welles : "No fort ever received a worse battering, and the highest compliment I can pay those engaged is to repeat what the rebels said: 'You can't expect men to stand up against the fire of those gunboats.' "

After the loss of Fort Hindman , Confederates evacuated other positions on the White and St. Charles Rivers before falling waters forced the gunboats to retire downstream. Porter wrote: 'The fight at Fort Hindman was one of the prettiest little affairs of the war, not so little either, for a very important post fell into our hands with 6,500 prisoners, and the destruction of a powerful ram at Little Rock [CSS Pontchartrain], which could have caused the Federal Navy in the West a great deal of trouble, was ensured. . . . Certain it is, the success at Arkansas Post had a most exhilarating effect on the troops, and they were a different set of men when they arrived at Milliken's Bend than they were when they left the Yazoo River ." A memorandum in the Secretary's office added: ''The importance of this victory can not be estimated. It happened at a moment when the Union arms were unsuccessful on three or four battlefields. . . "

10 Under orders from Farragut to ''reestablish the blockade as soon as you can" at Galveston , Commodore Henry H. Bell in USS Brooklyn , with other ships in company, bombarded the port. Because of the danger of grounding, Bell decided not to attempt to force an entrance. "It is with a bitter and lasting sense of grief I give it up," he wrote, "as the blockade of the port with Harriet Lane is a difficult task for so small a fleet as is in the Gulf. There will be censure, inconsiderate censure, but I can't help it. I can't overcome the difficulty of shoal water and a crooked, narrow channel without pilots, or small draft vessels to assist such [ships] as ground."

USS Octorara, Commander Napoleon Collins, captured blockade running British schooner Rising Dawn in North West Providence Channel with large cargo of salt.

CSS Retribution, Master Power, captured brig J. P. Ellicott, bound from Boston to Cienfuegos . Next day, she was retaken by her own crew from the Confederate prize crew and sailed to St. Thomas Island where she was turned over to USS Alabama, Commander Edward T. Nichols.

11 CSS Alabama , Captain Raphael Semmes, sank USS Hatteras, Lieutenant Commander Homer C. Blake, after a heated and close night engagement some thirty miles off Galveston . "My men," reported Semmes, "handled their pieces with great spirit and commendable coolness, and the action was sharp and exciting while it lasted; which, however, was not very long, for in just thirteen minutes after firing the first gun, the enemy hoisted a light, and fired an off-gun, as a signal that he had been beaten. We at once withheld our fire, and such a cheer went up from the brazen throats of my fellows, as must have astonished even a Texan, if he had heard it." Hatteras was severely punished, whereas damage to Alabama was so slight ''that there was not a shot-hole which it was necessary to plug, to enable us to continue our cruise; nor was there a rope to be spliced." Hatteras went down in 9 1/2 fathoms, Alabama saving all hands. Other Union ships in the Galveston area steamed out in vain in chase of the raider. Semmes observed: ''There was now as hurried a saddling of steeds for the pursuit as there had been in the chase of the young Lochinvar, and with as little effect, for by the time the steeds were given the spur, the Alabama was distant a hundred miles or more."

Confederate troops captured steamboat Grampus No. 2 near Memphis laden with large cargo of coal, and later burned her at Mound City , Arkansas .

USS Matthew Vassar, Acting Master Hugh H. Savage, captured schooner Florida off Little River Inlet, South Carolina, with cargo of salt.

13 Joint Army-Navy expedition from Memphis on board USS General Bragg, Lieutenant Joshua Bishop, destroyed buildings at Mound City , Arkansas , in reprisal for Confederate attacks on river steamers. Bishop reported: ''Ascertained that there was quite a force of guerrillas in the neighborhood, who intended destroying steamers; that their rendezvous was at Mound City, Marion, and Hopefield. . . . At 9 a.m. left Bradley's Landing and proceeded to Mound City , firing shells at intervals into the woods, as it was supposed there were guerrillas thereabouts. At 10 landed at Mound City and disembarked the troops. The infantry made prisoners of several citizens, who had been harboring guerrillas.

USS Currituck, Acting Master Linnekin, captured schooner Hampton at Dividing Creek , Virginia . The day before, Linnekin destroyed the salt works at Dividing Creek, works that had been "extensively engaged" in supplying Richmond with the important item.

14 Joint Army-Navy forces, including USS Kinsman, Estrella, Calhoun, and Diana, under Lieutenant Commander Thomas McK. Buchanan , attacked Confederate defenses in Bayou Teche, below Franklin , Louisiana . Vigorous prosecution of the action by the naval vessels forced withdrawal of the Southern defenders and permitted removal of the formidable obstructions sunk in an effort to halt the ships. Gunboat CSS Cotton, Lieutenant Edward W. Fuller, engaged the attacking force, but was compelled to withdraw, subsequently being set afire and destroyed by her crew to prevent capture. During the engagement, a torpedo exploded under USS Kinsman, Acting Lieutenant George Wiggin, unshipping her rudder. Lieutenant Commander Buchanan was killed by shore fire.

Joint expedition under Lieutenant Commander John G. Walker and Brigadier General Willis A. Gorman, including gunboats USS Baron De Kalb and Cincinnati with two Army transports in tow, arrived at St. Charles , Arkansas , on the White River in a move to follow up the advantage gained by the Fort Hindman victory. The commanders discovered that the Confederates had abandoned their position and withdrawn up river on board Blue Wing. While Cincinnati remained at St. Charles , Baron De KaIb proceeded up the White River in pursuit.

USS Columbia, Lieutenant Joseph P. Couthouy, ran aground on the coast of North Carolina High winds and heavy seas aborted initial attempts to get her off, and by the 17th, when the weather moderated, Columbia was in Confederate hands. She was destroyed by fire and Couthouy and some 11 other crew members were taken prisoner.

15 President Lincoln conferred with Captain John A. Dahlgren  at the Washington Navy Yard regarding gunpowder development in one of his frequent trips to the yard to observe tests and weapon progress.

USS Octorara, Commander Collins, seized blockade running British sloop Brave in North West Providence Channel, Bahamas , with cargo of salt and sponge.

16 CSS Florida , Lieutenant John N. Maffitt, ran the blockade out of Mobile  in the early morning after having remained in that port for some 4 months in order to complete repairs to her equipment. Confusion in the blockading fleet enabled Florida to escape, for the Confederate commerce raider passed within 300 yards of USS R.R. Cuyler, Commander George F. Emmons. Upon her arrival at Havana on 20 January to debark prisoners from her first prize, U.S. Consul-General Robert W. Shufeldt described the raider: ''The Florida is a bark-rigged propeller, quite fast under steam and canvas; has two smoke-stacks fore and aft of each other, close together; has a battery of four 42's or 68's of a side, and two large pivot guns. Her crew consists of 135 men . . . is a wooden vessel of about 1,500 tons." Farragut was concerned by Florida 's escape: "This squadron, as Sam Barron used to say, 'is eating its dirt now'- Galveston skedaddled, the Hatteras sunk by the Alabama , and now the Oreto [ Florida ] out. . . . The Admiral's son, Loyall Farragut, completed the letter: ''Father's eyes have given out; so I will finish this letter. He has been very much worried at these things, but still tries to bear it like a philosopher. He knows he has done all in his power to avert it, with the vessels at his disposal. If the Government had only let him take Mobile when he wished to, the Oreto would never have run out."

Captain Semmes, with a keen interest in the advancement of scientific knowledge, recorded the following observation from on board CSS Alabama.' . . . the old theory of Dr. Franklin and others, was, that the Gulf Stream, which flows out of the Gulf of Mexico, between the north coast of Cuba, and the Florida Reefs and Keys, flows into the Gulf, through the channel between the west end of Cuba, and the coast of Yucatan, in which the Alabama now was. But the effectual disproof of this theory is, that we know positively, from the strength of the current, and its volume, or cross section, in the two passages, that more than twice the quantity of water flows out of the Gulf of Mexico , than flows into it through this passage. Upon Dr. Franklin's theory, the Gulf of Mexico in a very short time would become dry ground. Nor can the Mississippi River, which is the only stream worth noticing, in this connection, that flows into the' Gulf of Mexico, come to his relief, as we have seen that that river only empties into the Gulf of Mexico, about one three thousandth part as much water, as the Gulf Stream takes out. We must resort, of necessity, to an under-current from the north, passing into the Gulf of Mexico, under the Gulf Stream , rising to the surface when heated, and thus swelling the volume of the outflowing water."

USS Baron De Kalb, Lieutenant Commander J. G. Walker, arrived at Devall's Bluff, Arkansas , on the White River . A landing party went ashore and "took possession of all the public property," including guns and munitions. Walker reported: "Upon. the arrival of General Gorman's troops I drew off my men and turned everything over to the army." Next day, Baron De Kalb continued the pursuit of Confederate steamer Blue Wing, which was reported to have departed Devall's Bluff just before the Union gunboat arrived.

17 USS Baron De Kalb , Lieutenant Commander Walker, with USS Forest Rose and Romeo and an Army transport in company, proceeded up White River to Des Arc , Arkansas . "At that place," Walker reported, "I found 39 rebel soldiers in the hospital, whom I paroled. I also found and brought away 171 rounds of fixed ammunition, 72 cartridges, and 47 shot for 12-pounder rifled gun. I took possession of the post-office. . . . The troops reached Des Arc about an hour after me, and searched the town for arms and public property." Having cleared out Confederate strong points, the squadron withdrew downstream.

18 Following the operations on the White River, Rear Admiral Porter once more turned his attentions to the Southern citadel at Vicksburg . In a general order to gunboats on the Yazoo River , he directed: "All the gunboats on their way up will return down river and give convoy to the transports as far as Milliken's Bend , where they will cover them."

Porter wrote Secretary Welles concerning the unsuccessful Vicksburg operation of December 1862, then added: "The operations to come will be of a different character; it will be a tedious siege, the first step, in my opinion, toward a successful attack on Vicksburg , which has been made very strong by land and water. I have always thought the late attempt was premature, but sometimes these dashes succeed . . . The operations of the navy in the Yazoo are worthy to be ranked amongst the brightest events of the war. The officers in charge of getting up the torpedoes and clearing 8 miles of river distinguished themselves by their patient endurance and cool courage under a galling fire of musketry from well-protected and unseen riflemen, and the crews of the boats exhibited a courage and coolness seldom equaled. The navy will scarcely ever get credit for these events; they are not brilliant enough to satisfy our impatient people at the North, who know little of the difficulties . . . or how much officers and men are exposing them-selves. . . . The Department may rest assured that the navy here is never idle. The army depends on us to take entire charge of them on the water. . . . We expect to disembark the troops opposite Vicksburg in four or five days. In the meantime, I want to gather up the fleet, which are operating at different points with the army. My opinion is that Vicksburg is the main point. When that falls all subordinate posts will fall with it." The buildup was begun.

USS Wachusett, Rear Admiral Charles Wilkes, and USS Sonoma, Commander Thomas H. Stevens, seized steamer Virginia off Mugeres Island , Mexico . Virginia was sent to Key West for adjudication.

USS Zouave, Pilot John A. Phillips, captured sloop J. C. McCabe in the James River .

Confederate steamer Tropic accidentally caught fire and burned attempting to run the blockade at Charleston with cargo of cotton and turpentine.

19 CSS Florida , Lieutenant Maffitt, captured and burned brig Estelle bound from Santa Cruz to Boston with cargo of sugar, molasses, and honey. The master of Estelle wrote: "Generosity and courtesy on the part of enemies should not pass unheeded by, as the rigors of a sad and un-natural war may be somewhat mitigated by politeness and manly forbearance. I would add that Captain Maffitt returned our personal effects, but retained the chronometer and charts."

Secretary Welles wired Commander Pennock in Cairo , asking that he give all possible assistance to the Army: ''General Rosecrans desires a naval force to protect the transports in the Cumber-land. Can you not send some vessels for the purpose?" Next day, 20 January, Rosecrans tele-graphed Pennock, pressing the issue: "It is very desirable that a couple of good gunboats should go up the Cumberland and destroy means of crossing as high up as Somerset . How soon can it be done?" After receiving two more such messages on 22 January, Pennock advised the harried General on the 24th: "The Silver Lake leaves for Cumberland River to-day. Has short crew. The Lexington , with heavy guns, will also leave to-morrow evening. No more boats to send; with these there will be five in that river. . . . Will do all I can to assist you.'' Rosecrans responded that he was "greatly obliged" and would "furnish more crews if possible." This joint cooperation kept the upper rivers open to the Union and prevented the Confederates from mounting an effective counteroffensive. Secretary Welles advised Porter of President Lincoln's personal interest in the Vicksburg operation: "The President is exceedingly anxious that a canal from which practical and useful results would follow should be cut through the peninsula op-posite Vicksburg . If a canal were cut at a higher point up the river than the first one, as you some time since suggested, so as to catch the current before it has made the curve, and also avoid the bluffs below the city, it would probably be a success. The Department desires that this plan may be tried whenever you may deem it expedient and can have the cooperation of the army."
This was one of several plans to get the Army transports downstream past Vicksburg so that the Union troops could encircle the stronghold from the rear. The batteries were thought to be too powerful for a successful run past them with the big and cumbersome transports. When the "ditch" was begun, as Porter later wrote, "it was hoped that when the river rose it would cut its way through, but that wished for event did not come to pass until after the fall of Vicksburg . The enemy mounted heavy guns opposite the mouth of the canal and prevented any work upon it."

An intercepted letter from Nassau indicated the blockade's effectiveness: "There are men here who are making immense fortunes by shipping goods to Dixie . . . . Salt, for example, is one of the most paying things to send in. Here in Nassau it is only worth 60 cents a bushel, but in Charleston brings at auction from $80 to $100 in Confederate money, but as Confederate money is no good out of the Confederacy they send back cotton or turpentine, which, if it reaches here, is worth proportionally as much here as the salt is there. . . . It is a speculation by which one makes either 600 to 800 per cent or loses all.''

20 CSS Florida , Lieutenant Maffitt, entered Havana . A correspondent for the New York Herald noted that: "Captain Maffitt is no ordinary character. He is vigorous, energetic, bold, quick and dashing, and the sooner he is caught and hung the better it will be for the interest of our commercial community. He is decidedly popular here, and you can scarcely imagine the anxiety evinced to get a glance at him. . Nobody, unless informed, would have imagined the small, black-eyed, poetic-looking gentleman, with his romantic appearance, to be a second Semmes, probably in time to be a more celebrated and more dangerous pirate."

21 CSS Josiah Bell and Uncle Ben, under Major Oscar M. Watkins, CSA, attacked and captured the small blockaders USS Morning Light, Acting Master John Dillingham, and Velocity, Acting Master Nathan W. Hammond, at Sabine   Pass. The two Confederate cottonclads came down into the Pass the preceding evening, and in the morning stood out to meet the Union blockaders. Watkins reported: "When within 1,000 yards of the enemy Captain [Matthew] Nolan's sharpshooters [on Josiah Bell] opened a terrific fire, which swept their decks [on Morning Light] and soon caused their commanding officer to strike his flag. . . . In the meantime the Ben bore down gallantly on the schooner [Velocity], receiving her fire and the broadside from the sloop of war at short range . . . The schooner was surrendered unconditionally, and, putting Captain [Charles] Fowler in charge of the sloop, we started for Sabine Pass." Two days later the Confederates burned Morning Light because she could not be brought over the bar at Sabine Pass. As Watkins later observed: "The captured vessels would be worse than useless in battle, for I could not spare seamen enough to maneuver them, nor were there among my excellent artillerists any who were skillful in the use of guns mounted on ship carriages."

The ceaseless, if not always dramatic, operations of the Potomac Flotilla, Commodore Andrew A. Harwood, were continually evidenced by the maintenance of the blockade in the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers area, where Confederates repeatedly attempted to smuggle goods from shore to shore. Union barges J.C. Davis and Liberty broke loose from their anchorage at Cornfield Harbor, Maryland, and drifted to Coan River, Virginia, where they were boarded this date and captured. Upon hearing of the incident, Acting Master Benjamin C. Dean, USS Dan Smith, ordered a cutter into Coan River ''to rescue the crews and recapture or destroy the boats." This was accomplished under Acting Ensign Francis L. Harris--an unnoticed act that typified the constant pressure that kept the South always on the defensive.

USS Ottawa, Lieutenant Commander William D. Whiting, captured schooner Etiwan off Charles-ton with cargo of cotton.

USS Chocura, Lieutenant Commander William T. Truxtun, seized blockade running British schooner Pride at sea east of Cape Romain, South Carolina, with cargo of salt.

USS Daylight, Acting Master Joshua D. Warren, forced a blockade running schooner (name unknown) aground off New Topsail Inlet, North Carolina, and destroyed her.

22 USS Commodore Morris, Lieutenant Commander James H. Gillis, keeping a constant vigil for contraband goods being carried on the river, seized oyster sloop John C. Calhoun, schooner Harriet, and sloop Music near Chuckatuck Creek, Virginia.

The chronic shortage of iron, as well as other critical materials, plagued the Confederacy throughout the conflict. The Secretary of War appointed a committee to determine what rail-road tracks could best be "dispensed with" in order to provide iron "for the completion of public vessels.''

CSS Florida, Lieutenant Maffitt, captured and burned brigs Windward and Corris Ann near Cuba.

23 USS Cambridge, Commander William A. Parker, captured schooner Time off Cape Fear, North Carolina, with cargo of salt, matches, and shoes.

24 Rear Admiral Porter reported his arrival at the mouth of the Yazoo River to Secretary Welles and noted the progress at Vicksburg: "The army is landing on the neck of land opposite Vicksburg. What they expect to do I don't know, but presume it is a temporary arrangement. I am covering their landing and guarding the Yazoo River. The front of Vicksburg is heavily fortified, and unless we can get troops in the rear of the city I see no chance of taking it at present, though we cut off all their supplies from Texas and Louisiana." Observing that his gunboats had trapped 11 Confederate steamers up the Yazoo obtaining provisions for Port Hudson, Porter wrote: "This will render the reduction of that place [Port Hudson] an easier task than it otherwise would have been, as there are no steamers on the river except two that will he kept at Vicksburg.''

With reference to the projected attack on Charleston, Rear Admiral Du Pont wrote Welles: "The Department is aware that I have never shrunk from assuming any responsibilities which circum-stances called for nor desired to place any failure of mine on others. But the interests involved in the success or failure of this undertaking strikes me as so momentous to the nation at home and abroad at this particular period that I am confident it will require no urging from me to induce the Department to put at my disposal every means in its power to insure success especially by sending additional ironclads, if possible, to those mentioned in your dispatch."

Secretary Mallory wrote President Davis rejecting a request that an Army officer be named to command Harriet Lane, captured at Galveston on 1 January, "over the heads of nine-tenths of the naval officers . . . even could it be done legally, which it cannot.

25 USS Currituck, Acting Master Linnekin, captured sloop Queen of the Fleet at Tapp's Creek, Virginia. On 30 January Commodore Harwood, commanding the Potomac Flotilla, advised Secretary Wells of the recent activity of Currituck. ''I enclose for the information of the Department," he reported, "a certificate of capture of a sloop and nine canoes, with thirteen prisoners and a quan-tity of contraband goods, by the Currituck. I have this day placed them in the hands of the civil authorities. All the captures have been made between the mouths of the Potomac and the Piankatank rivers. . . . These canoes were full of freight, which has been brought to the [Washington Navy] yard."

26 CSS Alabama, Captain Semmes, captured and burned bark Golden Rule off Haiti in the Caribbean Sea. Semmes noted in his log: "This vessel had on board masts, spars, and a complete set of rigging for the U.S. brig Bainbridge, lately obliged to cut away her masts in a gale at Aspinwall [Panama]." He later added: "I had tied up for a while longer, one of the enemy's gun-brigs, for want of an outfit. It must have been some months before the Bainbridge put to sea."

27 ironclad USS Montauk, Commander John L. Worden, and USS Seneca, Wissahickon, Dawn, and mortar schooner C. P. Williams engaged Confederate batteries at Fort McAllister, Georgia, on the Ogeechee River. Worden was acting under orders from Rear Admiral Du Pont to test the new ironclads; though McAllister was an important objective itself, Du Pont was primarily readying his forces for the spring assault on Charleston-for the success of which the Department relied greatly on the monitor class vessels. Worden, unable to proceed within close range of the fort because of formidable sunken obstructions which "from appearances" were "protected by torpedoes," engaged for four hours before withdrawing. Worden reported that the Confederate fire was "very fine, striking us quite a number of times, doing us no damage."

Du Pont wrote to Benjamin Gerhard: "The monitor was struck some thirteen or fourteen times, which would have sunk a gunboat easily, but did no injury whatever to the Montauk-speaking well for the impenetrability of those vessels though the distance was greater than what could constitute a fair test. But the slow firing, the inaccuracy of aim, for you can't see to aim properly from the turret . . . give no corresponding powers of aggression. . . . I asked myself this morning while quietly dressing, if one ironclad cannot take eight guns– how are five to take 147 guns in Charleston harbor."

CSS Alabama, Captain Semmes, captured and burned brig Chastelaine off Alta Vela in the Caribbean Sea. Chastelaine was en route to Cienfuegos, Cuba, to take on sugar and rum for delivery in Boston.

USS Hope, Master John E. Rockwell, seized blockade running British schooner Emma Tuttle off Charleston.

28 Secretary Welles noted that the official report of the 1 January Confederate attack at Galveston had not yet come in, but added: "Farragut has prompt, energetic, excellent qualities, but no fondness for written details or self-laudation; does but one thing at a time, but does that strong and well; is better fitted to lead an expedition through danger and difficulty than to command an extensive blockade; is a good officer in a great emergency, will more willingly take great risks in order to obtain great results than any officer in high position in either Navy or Army, and unlike most of them, prefers that others should tell the story of his well-doing rather than relate it himself."

USS Sagamore, Lieutenant Commander English, captured and destroyed blockade running British sloop Elizabeth at the mouth of Jupiter inlet, Florida.

29 USS Lexington, Lieutenant Commander Samuel L. Phelps, and other gunboats on the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers continued to convoy Army transports and maintain supply lines. During one expedition between Cairo and Nashville, Phelps reported: "Meeting with a transport that had been fired upon by artillery 20 miles above Clarksville, I at once went to that point and, landing, burned a storehouse used by the rebels as a resort and cover. On leaving there to descend to Clarksville, where I had passed a fleet of thirty-one steamers with numerous barges in tow, convoyed by three light-draft gunboats under Lieutenant Commander [LeRoy] Fitch, Lexington was fired upon by the enemy, who had two Parrott guns, and struck three times, but the rebels were quickly dislodged and dispersed. I then returned to Clarksville and, agreeable to the arrangement already made by Lieutenant Commander Fitch, left that place at midnight with the whole fleet of boats, and reached Nashville the following night [30 January] without so much as a musket shot having been fired upon a single vessel of the fleet. Doubtless the lesson of the previous day had effected this result."

Rear Admiral Du Pont continued to experiment with the ironclads in hopes of improving their efficiency. The smokestack of USS New Ironsides, Captain Thomas Turner, was cut to within 4 feet of the deck to leave the line of sight ahead entirely clear, rather than partially obstructed. The problems created were greater than those solved. Turner reported that". . . the alteration can not be made without seriously impairing the efficiency of this ship in action . . .I am inclined to believe that under any circumstances, enduring for several hours with the smokestack down the whole ship would be so filled with gas as to create much suffering and partially to disable the crew, and that it might hazard the chances of a successful expedition." Du Pont ordered the smokestack restored. "So," he wrote, "we will have to go it blind . . . If we don't run ashore going in, it will be because God is with us.

USS Brooklyn, Commodore H. H. Bell, with gunboats USS Sciota, Owasco, and Katahdin, tested Confederate batteries under construction at Galveston. He learned that two of the fort's guns were capable of firing past the squadron-more than 2 1/2 miles.

USS Unadilla, Lieutenant Commander Stephen P. Quackenbush, seized British blockade runner Princess Royal attempting to run into Charleston with cargo of arms, ammunition, and two steam engines for ironclads. ''The P[rincess] R[oyal]," Du Pont wrote, ''we have had on our list, traced her through consular reports from the Thames to Halifax, etc. She has a valuable cargo.

30 USS Isaac Smith, Acting Lieutenant Francis S. Conover, conducted an expedition up the Stono River, South Carolina. Above Legareville, on her return, she was caught in a heavy cross fire, forced aground, and captured by the Confederates. USS Commodore McDonough, Lieutenant Commander George Bacon, attempted without success to prevent the capture.

USS Commodore Perry, Lieutenant Commander Charles W. FlUSSer, on a joint expedition with Army troops, landed at Hertford, North Carolina, and destroyed two bridges over the Perquimans River. As a result of the successful mission, FlUSSer reported: ''There are now no bridges remaining on the Perquimans, so that the goods sent from Norfolk to the enemy on the south side of the Chowan (by whom they are conveyed to Richmond) have to be passed over a ford, and the roads leading from that ford can be guarded by the troops at Winfield." Three days later (2 February), Commodore Perry anchored at the mouth of the Yeopim River; two boats were sent into the river and succeeded in capturing three Confederate small boats. Two of the captures contained cargoes including salt. The constant harassment and interruption of supply lines through the Union Navy's control of the waterways hurt the Confederacy sorely.

Grant informed Porter of a plan to cut a canal through Lake Providence, Louisiana, to effect the passage of troops to the rear of Vicksburg. "By enquiry," he wrote, "I learn that Lake Providence, which connects with Red River through Tensas Bayou, Washita [Ouachita] and Black rivers, is a wide and navigable way through. As some advantage may be gained by opening this, I have ordered a brigade of troops to be detailed for the purpose, and to he embarked as soon as possible. I would respectfully request that one of your light-draft gunboats accompany this expedition." Porter immediately ordered USS Linden, Acting Master Thomas E. Smith, to cooperate with General Grant. The Admiral later noted of this operation: "Several transports were taken in, but there were miles of forest to work through and trees to be cut down. The swift current drove the steamers against the trees and injured them so much that this plan had to be abandoned."

31 Under Flag Officer Duncan N. Ingraham, rams CSS Chicora, Commander John R. Tucker, and CSS Palmetto State, Lieutenant John Rutledge, attacked the Union blockading fleet off Charleston early in the morning in a fog. Palmetto State rammed USS Mercedita, Captain Stellwagen, and fired into her, forcing the gunboat to strike her colors in a "sinking and perfectly defenseless condition." Chicora engaged USS Keystone State, Commander William E. LeRoy, severely crippling her before USS Memphis, Captain Pendleton G. Watmough, took her in tow "in a sinking condition." Commander LeRoy reported: "Our steam chimneys being destroyed, our motive power was lost and our situation became critical. There were 2 feet of water in the ship and leaking badly, water rising rapidly, the forehold on fire. . . . I regret to report our casualties as very large, some 20 killed and 20 wounded." USS Quaker City was damaged by a shell "which,'' Commander Frailey reported, ''entered this vessel amidships about 7 feet above the water line, cutting away a portion of the guard beam and a guard brace, and thence on its course through the ship's side, exploding in the engine room, carrying away there the starboard entablature brace, air-pump dome, and air-pump guide rod, and making sad havoc with the bulk-heads." USS Augusta, Commander Enoch G. Parrort, took a shot "in the port side, passing a little above our boiler.'' USS Housatonic, Captain William R. Taylor, engaged the two rams before they withdrew toward Charleston harbor. General P. G. T. Beauregard, who claimed in vain that the blockade had been broken, wrote Flag Officer Ingraham: "Permit me to congratulate you and the gallant officers and men under your command for your brilliant achievement of last night, which will be classed hereafter with those of the Merrimack  and Arkansas."

Major General Horatio G. Wright wrote Commander Pennock in Cairo and noted "the importance to the army service of keeping the line of the Cumberland River between its mouth and Nashville constantly open to the use of our steam transports, and requested that he ''assign to that portion of the river an ironclad gunboat, plated with sufficiently heavy iron to resist field artillery, to assist in the above object." Recognizing the Army's dependence on the gunboats, Pennock and the gunboat commanders had complied with the request before it was made. Lexington had been added to the naval forces in the River, and, the same date that Wright was making his request of Pennock, Lieutenant Commander Fitch was advising from Smithland, Kentucky, that: "The Robb joined me yesterday at this place. Nothing very serious up Tennessee River. Have sent the Robb and St. Clair to Paducah to bring up our coal barge. . . Have another large convoy to take to Nashville and one to bring down. No danger of either being blockaded by the rebels."

CSS Retribution, Master Power, captured schooner Hanover, in West Indian waters.

“Late” January
Pioneer II is launched in Mobile Bay with a five-man crew.

February 1863

1 Ironclad USS Montauk, Commander Worden, with USS Seneca, Wissahickon, Dawn, and mortar schooner C. P. Williams, again tested the defenses of Fort McAllister described by Rear Admiral Du Pont as "rather a thorn in my flesh." On the 28th of January, Worden had learned, through "a contraband," the position of the obstructions and torpedoes which bad effectively blocked his way in the assault of 27 January. "This information," Worden reported," with the aid of the contraband, whom I took on board, enabled me to take up a position nearer the fort in the next attack. . . "

Ammunition supplies replenished, Montauk moved to within 600 yards of McAllister in the early morning; the gunboats took a position one and three-quarters miles below the fort. Worden opened fire at 7:45 a.m., and reported at ''7:53 a.m. our turret was hit for the first time during this action at which time the enemy were working their guns with rapidity and precision. The Confederate fire was concentrated on the ironclad, which took some 48 hits in the 4-hour engagement.

Colonel Robert H. Anderson, commanding Fort McAllister, paid tribute to the accuracy of the naval gunfire: ''The enemy fired steadily and with remarkable precision. Their fire was terrible. Their mortar fire was unusually fine, a large number of their shells bursting directly over the battery. The ironclad's fire was principally directed at the VIII- inch columbiad, and the parapet in front of this gun was so badly breached as to leave the gun entirely exposed."

General Beauregard added: ''For hours the most formidable vessel of her class hurled missiles of the heaviest caliber ever used in modern warfare at the weak parapet of the battery, which was almost demolished; but, standing at their guns, as became men fighting for homes, for honor, and for independence'. the garrison replied with such effect as to cripple and beat back their adversary, clad though in impenetrable armor and armed with XV and XI inch guns, supported by mortar boats whose practice was of uncommon precision.

Rear Admiral Porter wrote Secretary Welles : "I have the honor to report that, hearing that there was a lot of cotton at Point Chicot, on the Mississippi, belonging to the so-called Confederate Government, and that the agents were moving it back into the country or about to burn it, I sent up the ram Monarch, Colonel Ellet, and the Juliet, Acting Lieutenant [Edward] Shaw, and seized 250 bales, which I now have and am using to protect the boilers of those vessels that are vulnerable. There are now altogether 300 bales in the squadron, which I recommend should be sold when no longer needed and the proceeds placed in the Treasury. All cotton on the river

belongs to the rebel Government, and on that they depended to carry on the war. I recommend that it be all seized and sold for the benefit of the Government. There is authority enough on record to justify me in taking cotton under certain circumstances, but not enough to take it in all cases. Eight thousand bales will pay the expenses of the squadron per year, and I think there will be no difficulty in obtaining that amount when Colonel Ellet gets his brigade ready and we can penetrate some 6 or 8 miles into the interior, where it is all stowed away.''

Captain Percival Drayton reconnoitered the Wilmington  River, Georgia, with USS Passaic and Marblehead. He reported to Du Pont: ". . . I went within sight of Wassaw or Thunder-bolt, and two and a quarter miles distant when I was stopped by shallow water. . . . The Batteries were very extensive, and large bodies of troops drawn up on the shore. I was not fired on although quite within range; a battery which is about a mile nearer than ones I saw, was covered by the wood and I was not high enough to open it. I saw two small steamers but nothing that looked like the Fingal.'' Du Pont's ships were constantly active, enabling the Union forces to prevent the Confederates from launching a decisive counteroffensive along the South Atlantic coast.

USS Two Sisters, Acting Master William A. Arthur, seized sloop Richards from Havana off Boca Grande, Mexico.

USS Tahoma, Lieutenant Commander A. A. Semmes, and USS Hendrick Hudson, Lieutenant David Cate, captured blockade running British schooner Margaret off St. Petersburg.

2 Ram USS Queen of the West, Colonel C. R. Ellet, attacked Confederate steamer City of Vicksburg, which lay under the batteries of that citadel. Ellet had hoped to get underway to make the attack before daybreak, but the necessity of readjusting the wheel put the engagement off until it was fully light and "any advantage which would have resulted from the darkness was lost to us." The Confederates opened a heavy fire on Queen of the West as she approached the city, but succeeded in hitting her only three times before she reached the steamer. Ellet reported: ''Her position was such that if we had run obliquely into her as we came down the bow of the Queen would inevitably have glanced. We were compelled to partially round to in order to strike. The consequence was that at the very moment of collision the current, very strong and rapid at this point, caught the stern of my boat, and, acting on her bow as a pivot, swung her around so rapidly that nearly all her momentum was lost."

Having anticipated this eventuality, Ellet had ordered the starboard gun shotted with incendiary shell, which now set City of Vicksburg aflame, though this was rapidly extinguished by the Confederates. City of Vicksburg fired into Queen of the West, which had bulwarks of cotton built up around her sides and one shell set the ram afire near the starboard wheel; meanwhile, the discharge of her own gun set Queen in flames in the bow. "The flames spread rapidly and the dense smoke rolling into the engine room suffocated the engineers. I saw that if I attempted to run into the City of Vicksburg again that my boat would certainly be burned. . . . After much exertion, we finally put the fire out by cutting the burning bales loose." Queen of the West then steamed downstream under orders to destroy all Confederate vessels encountered.

Unable to ascend the Big Black River because of the narrowness of the stream, Ellet continued down the Mississippi. On 3 February, below the mouth of the Red River, he met Confederate steamer A. W. Baker coming up river. Baker, "not liking the Queen's looks," ran ashore but was captured. She had just delivered her cargo to Port Hudson and was returning for another. Ellet had placed a guard on board when another steamer, Moro, was seen coming down stream. "A shot across her bows," Ellet reported, "brought her to laden with 110,000 pounds of pork, nearly 500 hogs, and a large quantity of salt, destined for the rebel army at Port Hudson."

Running short of coal, Ellet turned back upriver, destroying 25,000 pounds of meal awaiting transportation to Port Hudson. Stopping at the mouth of the Red River to release the civilians captured on Baker and Moro, he also seized steamer Berwick Bay. She, too, carried a large cargo for Port Hudson: 200 barrels of molasses, 10 hogsheads of sugar, 30,000 pounds of flour, and 40 bales of cotton. Ellet ordered his prizes destroyed and returned to his position below Vicksburg. Some $200,000 worth of property had been destroyed by Queen of the West.

Of the intrepid Ellet, Porter remarked: "I can not speak too highly of this gallant and daring officer. The only trouble I have is to hold him in and keep him out of danger. He will under-take anything I wish him to without asking questions, and these are the kind of men I like to command." This was one of a series of important operations that seriously disrupted Confederate supply channels and built up to the eventual fall of Vicksburg in mid-summer.

CSS Alabama experienced a fire on board which was rapidly extinguished but which prompted Captain Semmes to write: ''The fire-bell in the night is sufficiently alarming to the landsman, but the cry of fire at sea imports a matter of life and death--especially in a ship of war, whose boats are always insufficient to carry off her crew, and whose magazine and shell-rooms are filled with powder, and the loaded missiles of death."

USS Mount Vernon , Lieutenant James Trathen, drove blockade running schooner Industry aground off New Topsail Inlet, North Carolina, and burned her.

3 The long, tortuous Army-Navy operation against Fort Pemberton at Greenwood, Mississippi, was begun with the opening of the levee at Yazoo Pass to gain access to the Yazoo River above Haynes' Bluff and reach Vicksburg from the rear. The next day Acting Master G. W. Brown, of USS Forest Rose, which was standing by to enter the opening, reported that "the water is gushing through at a terrible rate. . . . After cutting two ditches through and ready for the water, we placed a can of powder (so pounds) under the dam, which I touched off by means of three mortar fuzes joined together. It blew up immense quantities of earth, opening a passage for the water, and loosened the bottom so that the water washed it out very fast. We then sunk three more shafts, one in the entrance of the other ditch, and the other two on each side of the mound between the two ditches, and set them off simultaneously, completely shattering the mound and opening a passage through the ditch. . . . [creating] a channel 70 or 75 yards wide. It is thought that it will be at least four or five days before we can enter.'' The plan of attack called for gunboats and Army transports to go through the Pass into Moon Lake, down the Coldwater and Tallahatchie Rivers to the Yazoo, take Pemberton, effect the capture of Yazoo City, and proceed down to assault Vicksburg on its less strongly defended rear flanks.

USS Lexington, Fairplay, St. Clair, Brilliant, Robb, and Silver Lake, under Lieutenant Commander Fitch, supported Army troops at Fort Donelson and repulsed a Confederate attack at that point. Proceeding up the Cumberland  River on convoy duty from Smithfield, Kentucky, Fitch's squadron met steamer Wild Cat coming down river some 24 miles below Dover, Tennessee, bearing a message from Colonel Abner C. Harding, commanding at Donelson, which reported that he was being assaulted in force by Confederate troops. Fitch pushed his squadron "on up with all possible speed" and arrived in the evening to find the defending troops "out of ammunition and entirely surrounded by the rebels in overwhelming numbers, but still holding them in check." Not expecting the presence of the gunboats, the Confederates had taken a position which enabled the mobile force afloat to rake them effectively with a telling fire from the guns. "The rebels were so much taken by surprise," Fitch reported, "that they did not even fire a shot, but immediately commenced retreating. So well directed was our fire on them that they could not even carry off a caisson that they had captured from our forces, but were compelled to abandon it, after two fruitless attempts to destroy it by fire.'' Fitch then stationed his vessels to prevent the return of the Southern forces.

CSS Alabama, Captain Semmes, captured and burned at sea schooner Palmetto, bound from New York to San Juan, Puerto Rico, with cargo of provisions. Of the chase of Palmetto, Semmes said: "It was beautiful to see how the Alabama performed her task, working up into the wind's eye, and overhauling her enemy, with the ease of a trained courser coming up with a saddle-nag."

USS Sinoma, Commander Stevens, captured blockade running British bark Springbok off the Bahamas.

3-8 USS Tyler, Lieutenant Commander James M. Prichett, patrolled the Yazoo River and confiscated 113 bales of cotton. This was in keeping with Porter's plan to seize all Confederate cotton for the dual purpose of preventing its being shipped out through the blockade and to protect the vessels of his Mississippi Squadron. Porter advised Secretary Welles: ''Three hundred more bales are in my possession, captured from rebel parties, but I am using it at present for protecting the boilers of the different boats. When no longer needed, I will forward it to Cairo."

4 Rear Admiral Du Pont wrote Major General David Hunter: ''Among the defects in matters of detail on the ironclads is the absence of all means of making the navy signals. . . . It has been suggested to me, however, that the army code, which we have on various occasions found so useful, might be employed at times on these vessels from the side not engaged or exposed at the moment. In order to effect this, I propose, if agreeable to you, that several of the young officers of the squadron should be instructed in the code, and will be greatly obliged if you will issue the necessary orders, with such restrictions as may be required." Du Pont added, ''I learn the code now forms part of the instruction at the Naval Academy." Hunter replied in the usual spirit of cooperation: "It will afford me sincere pleasure to comply with your request in regard to the army signal code, orders having been already issued to the chief signal officer of this Department to furnish all requisite facilities and instruction to such of your officers as you may assign to this service."

USS New Era, temporarily under Acting Ensign William C. Hanford, captured steamer W. A. Knapp with cargo of cloth at Island No. 10.

6 Rear Admiral Porter ordered Lieutenant Commander W. Smith to command the expedition through Yazoo Pass aimed at the capture of Yazoo City as part of the planned move on Vicksburg: "You will proceed with the Rattler  and Romeo to Delta, near Helena, where you will find the Forest Rose engaged in trying to enter the Yazoo Pass. You will order the Signal, now at White River, to accompany you; and if the Cricket comes down while you are at Delta, detain her also, or the Linden. . . . Do not engage batteries with the light vessels. The Chillicothe will do the fighting." To this force was later added USS Baron De Kalb and Marmora and towboat S. Bayard in lieu of Cricket and Linden. "If this duty is performed as I expect it to be," Porter wrote, ''we will strike a terrible blow at the enemy, who do not anticipate an attack from such a quarter.

Lieutenant Commander Thomas O. Selfridge, USS Conestoga, reported intelligence gathered from a reconnaissance mission one of many which the Navy conducted to facilitate precise planning and preparation for future operations. From the information gathered by Lieutenant [Cyrenius] Dominy, of the Signal, I should judge the rebels have no heavy guns in the river up to Little Rock. A passenger told him that after the capture of the post [Arkansas Post] the gunboats were daily expected, but the idea was now generally given up. The [Confederate] ram Pontchartrain has not had steam up for some time. Some men are still at work upon her. She requires a good deal of pumping to keep her free. She has as yet no guns. She has no officers of consequence. . . She is represented as being casemated with 20 inches of wood and railroad iron to abaft her wheels. [Thomas C.] Hindman is represented with 16,000 troops at Little Rock, [James] McCullough with 6,000 at Pine Bluff fortifying, [John S.] Marmaduke with 3,000 cavalry at Dardanelle. These numbers are greatly overestimated as effective troops, as Little Rock is represented as full of sick soldiers.'' Selfridge also proposed an immediate attack on Little Rock and the destruction of the ram. Though his plan was not followed, both his aims were achieved during the year; Little Rock was occupied on 10 September and Pontchartrain was de-stroyed by the Confederates to prevent her capture. The Union's ability to move on the river highways in Arkansas, as elsewhere, pinned down Confederate strength and caused constant loss.

7 Rear Admiral Porter reported to Secretary Welles: " Vicksburg was by nature the strongest place on the river, but art has made it impregnable against floating batteries-not that the number of guns is formidable, but the rebels have placed them out of our reach, and can shift them from place to place in case we should happen to annoy them (the most we can do) in their earthworks. . . . The people in Vicksburg are the only ones who have as yet hit upon the method of defending themselves against our gunboats, viz, not erecting water batteries, and placing the guns some distance back from the water, where they can throw a plunging shot, which none of our ironclads could stand. I mention these facts to show the Department that there is no possible hope of any success against Vicksburg by a gunboat attack or without an investment in the rear of the city by a large army. We can, perhaps, destroy the city and public buildings, but that would bring us no nearer the desired point (the opening of the Mississippi) than we are now. . . . The fall of Vicksburg came only after a long combined land and water siege and attack as Porter indicated.

USS Forest Rose, Acting Master G. 'V. Brown, succeeded in entering Yazoo Pass and proceeded into Moon Lake as far as the mouth of the Old Pass. Brown learned that Confederates were obstructing Coldwater River by felling trees across it. He reported another difficulty to Porter: ''We cannot enter the pass with this boat until the trees are trimmed and some of the overhanging trees cut down." The density of the woods would slow the vessels greatly and damage the smokestacks and upper works severely.

In a letter to Secretary Mallory , a daring plan for a raiding expedition on the Great Lakes was proposed by Lieutenant William H. Murdaugh, CSN. Four naval officers would make their way to Canada and purchase a small steamer, man her with Canadians, and reveal the object of the cruise only when underway'. The crew was to be armed with revolvers and cutlasses. The steamer was to carry torpedoes, explosives, and incendiary materials.

At Erie, Pennsylvania, Murdaugh planned to carry USS Michigan by boarding, and then advance on Lake Ontario through the Welland Canal to destroy locks and shipping. The scheme was to pass through Lake Huron into Lake Michigan, "and make for the great city of Chicago. At Chicago burn the shipping and destroy the locks of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, connecting Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River. Then turn northward, and, touching at Milwaukee and other places, Pass again into Lake Huron, go through the Sault St. Marie, and destroy the lock of the Canal of that name. Then the vessel could be run into Georgian Bay, at the bottom of which is a railway connecting with the main Canadian lines, and be run ashore and destroyed." The bold venture was approved by the Navy Department, but, as Lieutenant Murdaugh wrote, President Davis believed that ''it would raise such a storm about the violation of the neutrality laws that England would be forced to stop the building of some ironclads and take rigid action against us everywhere. So the thing fell through and with it my great chance."

Commander Ebenezer Farrand, CSN, reported to Governor John G. Shorter of Alabama the successful launching of ironclads CSS Tuscaloosa  and Huntsville at Selma, ''amid enthusiastic cheering.'' Both warships were taken to Mobile .

USS Glide, Acting Ensign Charles B. Dahlgren , was destroyed accidentally by fire at Cairo, Illinois.

8 USS Commodore McDonough, Lieutenant Commander Bacon, and an Army transport reconnoitered the Stono and Folly Rivers, South Carolina, at the request of Major General John G. Foster and "discovered that the enemy had not taken advantage of our absence to erect any new batteries."

9 Illustrative of the continuing, vital importance of the inland rivers was the report of Lieutenant Commander Fitch, commanding USS Fairplay, from Smithfield, Kentucky: "I have the honor to report my return from Nashville, having landed in safety at that place with some 45 steamers. This makes 73 steamers and 16 barges we have convoyed safely to Nashville since the river has been navigable for our boats."

Rear Admiral Du Pont wrote Secretary Welles of the difficulties in obtaining logistical support for his blockading squadron a major problem for all naval commanders: "Our requisitions for general stores, I have reason to believe, are immediately attended to by the bureaus in the Department but there seem to be unaccountable obstacles to our receiving them. . . We have been out of oil for machinery. Coal is not more essential . . . We were purchasing from transports or wherever it could be found, two or three barrels at a time. Finally the Union came with some, but it was stored under her cargo and the captain wished to defer its delivery until his return from the Gulf, which, however, I would not allow. The vessel was to have brought important parts of the ration, such as sugar, coffee, flour, butter, beans and dried fruit with clothing but she did not. The articles named are exhausted on the store ships of this squadron. My commanding officers complain that their wants are not supplied, and I have been so tried by the increasing demands for articles which I could not supply that I can defer no longer addressing the Department on the subject."

USS Couer de Lion, Acting Master Charles H. Brown, captured blockade running schooner Emily Murray off Machodoc Creek, Virginia, with cargo of lumber, sugar, and whiskey.

10 Confederate troops disabled ram Dick Fulton at Cypress Bend, Arkansas, by gunfire.

11 Rear Admiral Porter was continually concerned with supply problems. He wrote Commander Pennock at Cairo: ''As circumstances occur I have to change the quantity of coal required here and find it impossible to hit upon any particular quantity. It is likely that we shall want a large amount, and I want a stack of 160,000 bushels sent to the Yazoo River, besides the monthly allowance already required, viz, 70,000 bushels here, 40,000 at White River and 20,000 at Memphis." Stressing the need to have logistic support rapidly available for his mobile forces, Porter added: "You will also have the Abraham filled up with three months' provisions and stores for the squadron, or as much as she can carry, and keep her ready at all times with her machinery in order and in condition to move at a moment's notice to such point as I may designate. Circumstances may occur when it will be necessary to move the wharf boat, and you will arrange for the most expeditious plan to do so. . . . You will see from what I have written the importance of carrying out my order to the letter, for much depends on my being in such a position with the squadron that I can not be hampered, and can be in a condition to move where I please."

In the North, the Permanent Commission is founded to evaluate all plans and inventions submitted to the Navy Department

12 As on the East Coast and on the western waters at and above Vicksburg, great demands were placed on Farragut's fleet in the lower Mississippi and along the Gulf coast. Farragut observed: ''Everyone is calling on me to send them vessels, which reminds me of the remark of the musician, 'It is very easy to say blow! blow! but where the devil is the wind to come from?'

Starting to visit his blockading units at Ship Island, Mobile, and Pensacola, Farragut was called back to New Orleans by conditions at Vicksburg. He wrote Secretary Welles:'' . . . I have the same appeal made to me from all quarters, viz, for more force. The ships are all out of coal, and the enemy threatens to attack us. The Susquehanna has kept on the blockade, to my astonishment. I had hoped that the Colorado would have been here to relieve her before this. My force in this river is reduced to the fixed force of the Pensacola and Portsmouth and the Hartford, Richmond, Essex, and three gunboats, viz, Kineo, Albatross, and Winona. This is a very small force to give protection to the river commerce and be ready to pass or attack the batteries on the river. Commodore H. H. Bell does not think it prudent to leave Galveston without a ship, and Commodore [Robert B.] Hitchcock does not think it proper to leave Mobile without a ship, as the enemy have doubtless a much stronger force inside than we have outside. Still, they would not come out except on a very calm day. The moment that I can withdraw a ship from the river I will do so, as the gunboats will be all-sufficient when Port Hudson and Vicksburg are taken and the other high points on the river occupied to prevent the enemy from fortifying them."

USS Queen of the West, Colonel C. R. Ellet, steamed up Red River and ascended Atchafalaya River where a landing party destroyed twelve Confederate Army wagons. That night, Queen of the West was fired on near Simmesport, Louisiana, Next day, Ellet returned to the scene of the attack and destroyed all the buildings on three adjoining plantations in reprisal. The vessel had previously run below Vicksburg to disrupt Confederate trade in the Red River area.

Lincoln conferred with Assistant Secretary Fox on the projected naval assault on Charleston . Two days later, the President discUSSed ammunition for the ironclads to be used against that port with Captain Dahlgren. Lincoln was reported to be "restless about Charleston."

CSS Florida, Lieutenant Maffitt, captured ship Jacob Bell in West Indian waters, bound from Foo-Chow, China, to New York with cargo of tea, firecrackers, matting, and camphor valued at more than $2,000,000. Jacob Bell was burned on the following day.

USS Conestoga, Lieutenant Commander Selfridge, seized steamers Rose Hambleton and Evansville off White River, Arkansas.

13 USS Indianola, Lieutenant Commander George Brown, ran past the batteries at Vicksburg to join USS Queen of the West in blockading the Red River. Rear Admiral Porter's instructions to Brown added: "Go to Jeff Davis' plantation load up with all the cotton you can find and the best single male Negroes." Towing two barges filled with coal, Indianola steamed slowly past the upper batteries undetected. Abreast the point, Indianola was sighted and a heavy fire opened upon her without effect.

Lieutenant Commander W. Smith, commanding the light draft expedition into Yazoo Pass, arrived at 'Helena, Arkansas. Porter ordered USS Baron De Kalb Lieutenant Commander J. G. Walker, to join the forces. Unable to enter the pass with his vessels, Smith observed: "A heavy army force is clearing this, which in places at turns, may not admit of our vessels getting through. Our force takes the trees from the stream while the rebels on the other end cut them from both sides to fall across. The army is expected to be through with this pass in one week."

Commander A. Ludlow Case, USS Iroquois, reported the steady strengthening of Confederate positions in the Wilmington area. Noting that they were "working like beavers," Case wrote: "From their apparent great energy I am induced to believe that in the event of our capture of Charleston this is to be the point for the blockade runners. . . . They now have four casemated batteries west of Fort Fisher completed and a fifth nearly so, each mounting two or three guns, built of heavy framework, and covered deeply with sand and sodded. . . . The defenses are much more formidable and much more judiciously arranged, on account of detached batteries, than those at the South Bar, Fort Caswell, etc. . . . If a vessel now gets inside of the blockaders she can soon run under cover of the batteries and anchor until the tide serves for crossing the bar. A few months ago this would have been impossible, the defenses at that time being such as to make an immediate crossing of the bar absolutely necessary.'' Wilmington did, in fact, become the primary port for blockade runners in the last half of the Civil War for precisely this reason.

Commander James H. North, CSN, wrote from Glasgow to Secretary Mallory: "I can see no prospect of recognition from this country [Great Britain]. . . If they will let us get our ships out when they are ready, we shall feel ourselves most fortunate. It is now almost impossible to make the slightest move or do the smallest thing, that the Lincoln spies do not know of it.'

USS New Era, Acting Ensign Hanford, captured steamer White Cloud, carrying Confederate mail, and steamer Rowena, carrying drugs, on the Mississippi River near Island No. 10.

14 USS Queen of the West, Colonel C. R. Ellet, patrolling the Red River, seized steamer Era No. 3 with a cargo of corn some 15 miles above the mouth of Black River. Ellet continued up river to investigate reports of the presence of three Confederate vessels at Gordon's Landing. Queen of the West was taken under heavy fire by shore batteries. Attempting to back down river, the pilot ran her aground, directly under the Confederate guns. "The position," Ellet wrote, "at once became a very hot one; 60 yards below we would have been in no danger. As it was, the enemy's shot struck us nearly every time.'' Queen of the West's chief engineer reported that the escape pipe had been shot away; the steam pipe was severed. Ellet ordered the ship abandoned. A formidable vessel was now in Confederate hands.

Though efforts steadily increased to maintain the tight blockade of the Southern coast, daring Confederates stirred by patriotism and the lure of profit continued to elude the Union warships. Captain Sands, USS Dacotah, off Cape Fear River, North Carolina, reported a typical example: ''I had a picket boat from this vessel inside the bar, and one from the Monticello was anchored on the bar in 13-feet of water. The latter saw nothing of the blockade runner [Giraffe], but my picket boat, in charge of Acting Master W[illiam] Earle, saw her pass between him and the shore, and came near being run over by her soon after discovering her. The boat was anchored in 12-feet of water on the western side of the channel, with the fort [Fort Fisher] bearing N.N.E., and the steamer passed between her and the beach, evidently having tracked the beach along, where, under cover of the dark land, she could not be seen a quarter of a mile off in the obscurity of the hour before daylight. . . . The Chocura was stationed at the Western Bar, the Monticello farther west, near the shore, and the Dacotah guarding the approaches to the bar. Yet neither vessel, with all their accustomed watchfulness, saw anything of the blockade runner, and it is with much chagrin that I am obliged thus to report a rebel success.

USS Forest Rose, Acting Master G. W. Brown, captured stern-wheel steamer Chippewa Valley with cargo of cotton at Island No. 63.

Commander Clary, USS Tioga, reported the capture of blockade running British schooner Avon with cargo including liquor near the Bahamas.

15 Rear Admiral Porter ordered Acting Lieutenant Robert Getty, USS Marmora: ''Proceed to Delta, the old Yazoo Pass, and report to Lieutenant Commander Watson Smith as part of his expedition. . . . If you meet any vessel taking in cotton below White River, seize vessel, cotton, and all, and leave her at White River. . . By this time, as Brigadier General Gorman remarked, secrecy was "out of the question," and it had become necessary to prepare for a more extended expedition than had been originally anticipated.

USS Sonoma, Commander Stevens, captured brig Atlantic, bound from Havana to Matamoras.

16 President Lincoln, greatly interested in the naval assault on Charleston, reviewed plans for the attack with Assistant Secretary of the Navy Fox.

17 Rear Admiral Porter wrote Secretary Welles: "I have reason to believe that the enemy's troops at Port Hudson are in a strait for want of provisions, and if pushed by General [Nathan P.] Banks' troops that fort will fall into our hands. It is situated in a swampy, muddy region 60 miles from any railroad, and the rains, which have exceeded anything I ever saw in my life, have rendered hauling by wagon impossible. Our vessels above them cut off all hope of supply or aid of any kind from Red River and they must, in a short time, make a retreat. . ." Porter's estimate was overly optimistic. Loss of Queen of the West and other events to follow would re-open the Red River supply line so that Port Hudson sustained its position into the summer of 1863.

Confederate troops captured and burned U.S. tug Hercules opposite Memphis. The Confederates attempted to seize seven coal barges at the same place, but were unable to "run them off,'' according to Captain McGehee, commanding the Southern force, "owing to the terrific fire from the gunboats which were lying at the Memphis wharf."

18 USS Victoria, Acting Lieutenant Edward Hooker, captured brig Minna near Shallotte Inlet, North Carolina, with cargo of salt and drugs.

Cutter from USS Somerset, Lieutenant Commander Alexander F. Crosman, captured blockade runner Hortense, bound from Havana to Mobile.

19 The Confederate Navy Department made a decision to mount an expedition to attempt to destroy the Union monitors at Charleston. Secretary Mallory sent the following orders to Lieutenant William A. Webb, CSN, for a strike against the Northern forces: ''Should it be deemed advisable to attack the enemy's fleet by boarding, the following suggestions are recommended for your consideration: . . . First-Row-boats and barges, of which Charleston can furnish a large number. Second-Small steamers, two or three to attack each vessel. Third-the hull of a single-decked vessel without spars, divided into several watertight compartments by cross bulk-heads, and with decks and hatches tight, may have a deckload of compressed cotton so placed on either side, and forward and aft, so as to leave a space fore and aft in the centre. A light scaffold to extend from the upper tier of cotton ten or fifteen feet over the side, and leading to the enemy's turret when alongside the ironclad, and over which it can be boarded, at the same time that boarding would be done from forward and aft. This could be made permanent or to lower at will. The boarding force to be divided into parties of tens and twenties, each under a leader. One of these parties to be prepared with iron wedges, to wedge between the turret and the deck; a second party to cover the pilot house with wet blankets; a third party of twenty to throw powder down the smoke-stack or to cover it; another party of twenty provided with turpentine or camphine in glass vessels to smash over the turret, and with an inextinguishable liquid fire to follow it; another party of twenty to watch every opening in the turret or deck, provided with sulphuretted cartridges, etc., to smoke the enemy out. Light ladders, weighing a few pounds only, could be provided to reach the top of the turret."

Rear Admiral Du Pont wrote of the blockade: ''No vessel has ever attempted to tun the blockade except by stealth at night which fully established internationally the effectiveness of the blockade-but it is not sufficient for our purpose, to keep out arms and keep in cotton-unfortunately our people have considered a total exclusion possible and the government at one time seemed to think so. A cordon of ships covering the are from Bulls Bay to Stono, some twenty-one miles moored together head and stern-would do it easy but that we have not the means to accomplish. I have forty ships of all classes, sometimes more never reaching fifty-a considerable number are incapable of keeping at sea or at outside anchorage-the wear and tear and ceaseless breaking of American machinery compared with English or even French now, keep a portion of the above always in here [Port Royal] repairing. If I had not induced the Department to establish a floating machine shop, which I had seen the French have in China, the blockade would have been a total failure. . . . Steam however is the new element in the history of blockades, which no one at first understands, as both sides have it-but it is all in favor of the runner-he chooses his time, makes his bound and rushes through, his only danger a chance shot-while the watcher has banked fires, has chains to slip, has guns to point and requires certainly fifteen minutes to get full way on his ship. It is wonderful how many we catch, how many are wrecked, there is another on the beach now with the sea breaking over her. . . "