From Civil War Naval Chronology
JANUARY 5TH
Flag Officer Goldsborough writes to his army counterpart General Burnside to hurry up and start his forces for Roanoke Island expedition because bad weather would have a negative impact.
JANUARY 6TH
Out west, Flag officer Foote is getting a lot of Eads' ironclad gunboats and finds that he is having problems manning them. The Navy department sets a draft for 500 sailors. the rest to be recruited or detailed from the Army. The Army not eager to give up the men.
JANUARY 7TH
Lt. S. L. Phelps in USS Conestoga in an expedition to assess Confederate defenses at Forts Henry and Donelson on the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers. Fort Donelson has obstructions in the river. Union gunboats would be at a disadvantage in firing guns up at Confederate batteries. It will take a major Union fleet to undertake an attack on either fort.
Foote went down the Mississippi River to near Columbus where he found a submarine battery.
Catching Up. --Old B-R'er
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