About the Transport Nebraska at Eunice, Arkansas-- Part 1: USS Nebraska (Monitor)

I found this ship, the Nebraska listed as a Union gunboat in Wikipedia and a transport in the Civil War Chronology.  I tried to look it up, but couldn't find anything under army transport Nebraska.  I looked up USS Nebraska as well.  I had never heard of a USS Nebraska before.

There was a USS Nebraska, though.  It was the never-commissioned Kalamazoo-class monitor Shakamaxon given that name in 1869.  The Kalamazoo-class  were ocean-going monitors and consisted of four ships.

Construction on the ships began in 1863 through April 1964.

They were 345 feet long, 56.8 foot beam and were the largest of all monitors with two turrets mounting muzzle-loading 15-inch Dahlgren guns.

--Old B-Runner

The End of Eunice, Arkansas, Part 2: "Not a Single Vestige Remains"

Continued from September 2, 2017.

On June 14, 1863, Confederates at Eunice, Arkansas, fired artillery on the USS Marmora.  A fight ensued and the Marmora anchored off Eunice.  The next morning, the USS Nebraska was fired on as it approached Eunice.

Both ships bombarded the town and then sent a party ashore.  They set fire to stores, houses and the railroad depot, and completely destroyed the town,  The Marmora's captain remarked in his report. "not a single vestige of the town of Eunice remains."

I could not find anything about a USS Nebraska.

Of interest, no Confederates were found in the town.

Today, Yellow Bend Port, a modern industrial port is located where the town of Eunice once stood.  Nothing else of Eunice remains.

--Old B-R'er

The End of Eunice, Arkansas-- Part 1: A Railroad Town

From Wikipedia.

Eunice was also called Eunice Landing and Railroad Township.  It is a ghost town on the Mississippi River in Chicot County, Arkansas.

It was completely destroyed by the Union Army in the Civil War (well, the Navy, actually).

It was the eastern terminus of the Mississippi, Ouachita and Red River Railroad (MO&RR)  Construction on it began in 1852 and by the start of the war, they had seven miles of track completed west of Eunice.

The railroad was completed after the Civil War, but abandoned in 1875 after Mississippi River flooding.  Today Arkansas Highway 208 between Eunice and Halley is built on top of the abandoned railroad.

--Old B-Runner

Since We're On the Subject, the End of Eunice, Arkansas, in 1863

From the Civil War Naval Chronology.

JUNE 13-15, 1863.

Confederate guerrillas fired on the USS Marmora, Acting Lt. Robert Getty, near Eunice, Arkansas, and on the morning of the 14th, fired upon the transport Nebraska.

In retaliation, Getty sent a landing party ashore and destroyed the town, "including the railroad depot, with locomotive and car inside, also the large warehouse ...."

The next day, 15 June, landing parties from the Marmora and USS Prairie Bird, Acting Lt. Edward E. Brennand, destroyed the town of Gaines Landing in retaliation for a guerrilla attempt to burn the Union coal barge there and for firing on the Marmora.

Moral of This Story, Don't Shoot At the Union Ships, or Else.  --Old B-Runner

The Eunice (Arkansas) Expedition-- Part 4: Captured the Wharf Boat

At around noon on August 30, the small fleet reached Eunice, Arkansas.  The wharf boat was captured and prepared for towing to Helena.

(A wharf boat is a boat moored and used for a wharf at a bank of a river or in a like situation where the height of the water is so variable that a fixed wharf in impracticable.  One source here said that the one at Eunice was being used as a hotel.)

A man named Mason, who was suspected of being a guerrilla was arrested as was the river watchman, John McDonald.

Military supplies left by Confederates were gathered and the Union force returned to Helena, arriving September 3.

The Little-Big Engagement at Eurnice.  --Old B-R'er

The Eunice Expedition, Aug. 28-Sep. 3, 1863-- Part 3:

On August 29, 1862, the USS Pittsburg shelled the shoreline ans 175 soldiers disembarked and marched about 2 miles inland.  The Confederates had already evacuated most of the supplies and after a volley from the Union troops, fled  the area.

Another Union force of 50 soldiers under Captain Manning of Co. A, engaged a Confederate guerrilla force, killing one, wounding one and capturing another.

The Union troops reboarded their transports and disembarked again at Montgomery Point on the Arkansas side of the Mississippi River where they were expecting to find two Confederate cannons, but none were found.

Army-Navy Cooperation.  --Old B-Runner

The Eunice (Arkansas) Expedition-- Part 2: To "Annoy" the Enemy

In August 1862, General Samuel Curtis, commander of the Army of the Southwest, dispatched a Navy-Army force from Helena to Eunice with the purpose of capturing a wharf boat, gather information on Confederates in the Eunice area and to "annoy" the enemy.

On August 28, 1862, 200 men of the 56th Ohio and two pieces of artillery from the 1st Iowa Battery boarded the steamers White Cloud and Iatan.  They were commanded by Colonel William H. Raynor.  The ironclad USS Pittsburg (correct spelling of this ship, so no "h") escorted the two steamships.  The destination was Eunice.

At Carson's Landing they received information from a contraband that there were 200-300 Confederates encamped nearby.  Because of night, no action was taken and the ships anchored.

--Old B-Runner

Eunice Expedition, August 28-September 3-- Part 1: 56th Ohio and 1st Iowa Battery

From the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture.

It was led by Lt. Col. William H. Raynor and Col. Starke and consisted of the 56th Regiment, Ohio Volunteers and the 1st Iowa Battery of Colonel Starke's brigade.

They fought an unidentified Confederate guerrilla band.

Casualties:  U.S.--  none
Confederate--  1 killed, 1 wounded, 1 captured.

Two steamboats, the White Cloud and Iatan, carried the troops and were escorted by the USS Pittsburg.

It was a Union victory.

August 29, 1862: Expedition to Eunice, Arkansas

AUGUST 29TH, 1862:  The USS Pittsburg, Lt. Thompson, escorted steamers  White Cloud and Iatan with Army troops on board to Eunice, Arkansas.  The gunboat shelled and dispersed Confederate forces from a camp above Carson's Landing on the Mississippi shore.

Landing the troops under cover of the Pittsburg's guns for reconnaissance missions en route, Lt. Thompson at Eunice seized a large wharf boat, fitted out as a floating hotel.

This type of persistent patrolling of the Mississippi River and its tributaries by the Union Navy in support if Army operations was instrumental in preventing the Confederates from establishing firm positions.

--Old B-Runner