APRIL 2ND TO 9TH
An armed boat expedition of sailors and Marines from the USS Fort Henry, reconnoitered Bayport, Florida. Arrived April 3rd. One launch did not operate well and the Confederates had ample time to prepare for the attack, or, as leader Acting Lt. McCauley wrote "gave the rebels leisure to make all preparations for our reception." Two Confederate sloops and two small schooners ran into a bayou and grounded to escape destruction. The sloop Helen, carrying corn, was captured and destroyed.
Union sailors engaged a battery and forced its evacuation and burned a schooner with cargo of cotton before withdrawing.
In the next week, the expedition reconnoitered the Chassahowitzka, Crystal, Homosassa, Withlacooche, Waccasssassa and Suwannee rivers as small boats carried Union sea power to areas larger ships couldn't go.
APRIL 3RD
A Union expedition destroyed Palmyra, Tennessee, in retaliation for Confederate guerrillas firing on a Union convoy April 2nd which crippled the USS St. Clair and damaging two Union Army transports.
Getting Back at Them. --Old B-R'er
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