JANUARY 4TH
Admiral Du Pont wrote that Charleston Harbor's defenses had steadily strengthened since the fall of Sumter, 20 months ago. Confederate General Beauregard "is now giving the closing touches and I believe he has exhausted his science and applied every conceivable means. He is fully confident that he can successfully defend the harbor, and the British officers who go in, and the blockade runners whom we catch smile at the idea of its being taken, representing it stronger than Sebastapol."
Du Pont believes any Union attack on Charleston should be a joint operation.
Major General Grant requests gunboat support as Confederates are endeavoring to recapture portions of Tennessee.
USS Quaker State captured the sloop Mercury off Charleston with dispatches concerning Confederate ironclads being built in England.
JANUARY 6TH
Confederate troops captured and burned the steamboat Jacob Musselman near Memphis. Attacks such as this emphasized the need for Union gunboat control of the rivers
Old B-Runner
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