MARCH 4TH
Union Army rapidly going down the Mississippi River, covered by Flag Officer Foote's flotilla, occupy Columbus, Kentucky, formerly a lynch pin in Confederate defenses in the west. Confederates had already evacuated the city. Left quite a bit of armament including remnants of the vaunted chain that had been stretched across the river and torpedoes..
Brig. General Cullom wrote, "Columbus, the Gibraltar of the West, is ours and Kentucky is free."
Confederate Secretary of the Navy writes to President Davis that the Navy needs 64 ships as well as more sailors. Not that he was going to get them.
MARCH 5TH
Foote reports that his ironclads could not immediately attack Island No. 10, downriver from Columbus because of damage received at Forts Henry and Donelson.
Farragut issued a general order calling for gun drill and drill to stop shot holes and extinguish fires as he expects Confederates to fire both cold and hot shots when moving against New Orleans.
MARCH 6TH
Lt. Worden reports the USS Monitor had crossed the bar at New York harbor with the USS Currituck and Sachem. To speed up trip to Hampton Roads, Va., had been taken under tow of the tug Seth Low.
Now, just three days before the Battle of the Ironclads.
Feelin' a Storm Approachin'. --Old B-Runner
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