JANUARY 1ST
The Confederates used their torpedoes (today's mines) extensively in their western waters (and along the coasts). Union leaders used similar ingenuity to overcome them.
The noted Col. Charles R. Ellet proposed a plan to get rid of those pesky infernal machines in the Yazoo River (the ones that Cmdr. Selfridge didn't clear out) involving the swift and powerful steamboat Lioness.
Twin 65-foot spars were to be placed at the bow connected by a 35-foot crosspiece with hooks going into the river to cut the wires by which they are fired. A similar method was used in World War II and the Korean War.
Unless, of course, you had Thomas O. Selfridge who removed the torpedoes by ramming them with his ship.
JANUARY 4TH
A joint Army-Navy expedition got underway up the White River, Arkansas, with the goal of capturing Fort Hindman at Arkansas Post. Porter was lacking adequate coal and had his gunboats towed upriver by Army transports. His flagship was the Black Hawk and his flotilla included ironclads USS Baron de Kalb, Louisville and Cincinnati.
Old B-R'er
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