APRIL 12TH
Porter writes Welles about proposed move to below Vicksburg. They plan to take Grand Gulf and use it as a base after Porter passes Vicksburg.
He also wrote about the shortage of men in his Mississippi Squadron which he has been getting soldiers from the Army. Grant has sent him 800 men. He is also using contrabands in place of some of the discharged men. Has a big need for "experienced men" and petty officers.
APRIL 14TH
Two days of heavy fighting around Suffolk, Va. closed. There was considerable damage to Union ships, but the Navy prevented Confederates from crossing the river and surrounding the Union garrison. Union ships commanded by Cushing.
The USS Estrella, Arizona, Calhoun engaged and destroyed the CSS Queen of the West. The CSS Diana and Hart were destroyed April 18th to prevent capture.
Commander Charles Spotswood wrote from the CSS Georgia on the Savannah Station that he would like a transfer: "...anything that floats will suit me....for being shut up in an Iron Box (for she is not a vessel) is horrible, and with no steam power to move her, in fact she is made fast here to a pile pier.... She is not a fit command for a Sargent of Marines...."
The CSS Missouri was launched at Shreveport, Louisiana. It mounted six guns but never saw action, remaining above the obstructions in the Red River until the end of the war.
Old B-Runner
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