MARCH 26TH
Flag Officer Foote was worried that some of his gunboats might get caught up the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers after the spring floods fall and told them to be careful. Also, if they deemed the water getting too low, they had to inform the local Union general of their withdrawal. Cooperation between the navy and army was becoming more and more paramount.
Also, he had reports that the Rebels had thirteen gunboats finished and ready to move up the Mississippi River. There were also 4 or 5 below New Madrid and the Manassas, ram, at Memphis.
MARCH 27TH
Secretary of War Stanton instructed Engineer Charles Ellet, Jr. to go to Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and New Albany and provide steam rams to oppose enemy ironclads on western waters. Stanton described the Ellet rams as "powerful steamboats with their upper cabins removed, and bows filled in with heavy timber. It is not proposed to wait for putting on iron.
Flag Officer Du Pont reported that Confederate batteries at Skiddaway and Green Islands, Georgia, had been removed and placed closer to Savannah, giving the Union complete control over Wassaw and Ossabaw Sounds and the mouths of the Vernon and Wilmington Rivers, important approaches to the city.
MARCH 28TH
A reconnaissance up the Mississippi River to Forts Jackson and St. Philip showed that at least two of the guns at Fort St. Philip could reach as far downriver as the stronger Fort Jackson. There were also obstructions consisting of a raft of logs and eight hulks moored abreast.
At Jacksonville, Florida, a Union expedition had gone up the St. John's River and raised the yacht America which had been sunk by Confederates and "it was generally believed she was bought by the rebels for the purpose of carrying Slidell and Mason to England.
And, It Continues. --Old B-Runner
No comments:
Post a Comment