DECEMBER 12TH
The USS Cairo, under command of the sinker of ships especially if they began with the letter "C", Lt.-Cmdr. Thomas O. Selfridge, on an expedition up the Yazoo River to destroy torpedoes, was sunk by one of the "infernal machines" and Selfridge reported: "The Cairo was sunk in about twelve minutes after the explosion, going totally out of sight, except the top her her chimneys (shouldn't that have been smokestacks?), in six fathoms of water."
This was another part of the Union efforts to capture Vicksburg, Mississippi, the South's last bastion on the Mississippi River.
The Cairo was the first of some 40 Union vessels to be sunk by torpedoes during the war. We would call these torpedoes mines today.
The one that destroyed the Cairo was a large demijohn of powder fired with a friction primer by a trigger line from torpedo pits on the river bank. So, a Confederate by the river bank set it off.
Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter wrote to rake away blame from Selfridge, "It was an accident liable to occur to any gallant officer whose zeal carries him to the post of danger and who is loath to let others do what he thinks he ought to do himself."
Despite the loss, Porter ordered his fleet to hold the Yazoo River at all costs. "We may lose three or four vessels (hey, just let Selfridge command them), but will succeed in carrying out the plan for the capture of Vicksburg."
Evidently, Selfridge was a favorite of Porter.
Losing the Cairo was fortunate for us today, as the ship was not sold or scrapped after the war as most were. It was raised and its remains can now be seen at the Vicksburg Military Park.
Old B-Runner
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