A Sad But Exciting Time for Me and Fort Fisher: The Old Visitors Center Is Demolished

From the June 25 WECT, Wilmington, N.C., News.

It is the end of an era for a museum showcasing the history of our area.

Crews are working as of Tuesday, June 25, to tear down the old Fort Fisher Visitor Center.

This comes as the new Visitors Center nears completion and is set to open later this summer.

If you've been down to Fort Fisher recently. you will have seen the new building being built right next to the old one.

The demolition of the old building should take a couple days.

(Sadly, it should be down now.)

Sad to see the old one go.  Excited about the new one.

----Old B-Sorrow

CSS City of Vicksburg-- Part 3: Afterwards

The Confederates removed the machinery from the Vicksburg and she remained at Vicksburg as a wharf boat,

On 29 March 1863, Federal units were sent to quarters just after midnight as a steamer was reporting coming down the river.  The weather was squally and the Vicksburg had gotten adrift.  She passed by them and it was plain to see she was nothing more than "a harmless hulk."

She was set afire by three men seen chasing her along the shore.

The Federals sent a party to inspect the ship and found no machinery aboard.

But in December 1863 Secretary of War E.M. Stanton gave intelligence of "a very formidable vessel" being finished near Mobile.  The report said, "This vessel is said to contain the machinery of the steamer  Vicksburg, which was taken overland from Vicksburg to Mobile.  These engines were constructed partially under my superintendence at New Albany, when the steamer Vicksburg  was constructed, and I know the engine to be as powerful as any now on the Mississippi River.

I wonder if this new Confederate vessel was the CSS Tennessee?

--Old B-R'er

CSS City of Vicksburg-- Part 2: Fighting the Queen of the West

In early February 1863, the Vicksburg was tied up by landing of the City of Vicksburg and Union Admiral David Porter ordered one of his ships, the Queen of the West, to run past Vicksburg's strong defenses and attack the Vicksburg.

The ship's commander, Charles Rivers Ellet, did so and on early morning of February 2, came in sight of Vicksburg.  Its batteries opened on the Queen of the West, which was partially turned to take advantage of deflecting projectiles.  This caused the ship's way to be lost and she drifted down river.

Ellet had his guns shotted with incendiary shells and opened on the Vicksburg and rammed her.

Afterwards, Ellet reported:  "The Vicksburg was the largest and strongest steamer on the river, and I think they were preparing to use her against our transports, being very fleet."

Deserters reported a large hole in the side of the Vicksburg from the ramming.  She was also on fire and only held afloat by being buoyed up by her coal barges.

--Old B-Runner

CSS City of Vicksburg-- Part 1

Another ship involved with the saga of the USS Queen of the West was the Confederate ship named the CSS City of Vicksburg and also referred to as the CSS Vicksburg.

From Wikipedia.

It was built in 1857 at New Albany, Indiana, and was home ported at New Orleans.  With the coming of the war, she was seized and converted for military operations of the Mississippi River. By 19 February, she was reported to have carried cannons upriver to forts above Memphis.

In May 1862, she was carrying troops to defend Natchez, Mississippi, only to find five Union ships before the city, but was warned just in time and managed to escape.  One shop, the USS Oneida, pursued her upriver, but the Vicksburg got away.

Later in 1862, she was spotted on the Black River probably carrying Confederate troops and supplies.

--Old B-R'er

Era No.5

From Military Wiki.

One of the ships I mentioned in the talk given on the Queen of the West and Indianola.

Shallow draft steamer built in 1860 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Was chartered by the Confederates early in 1863 to transport corn from the Red River to Camden, Arkansas.

As the steamer, laden with 4,500 bushels of corn, proceeded to her destination on 14 February 1863, she rounded a sharp bend 15 miles from the mouth of the Black River, came upon and was captured by the USS Queen of the West.

After the loss of the Queen of the West the same day, her crew fled to Union positions in the Era No. 5.

The Era No. 5 was then assigned to  Colonel Charles Rivers Ellet's river fleet, fitted out with protective cotton baling and used by the Union ships as a dispatch boat and transport on the Mississippi River.

--Old B-Runner

USS Indianola Epilogue

From Wikipedia.

The USS Indianola was built in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1862 and commissioned September 27, 1862.  It was a 174 or 175 foot casemate ironclad mounting 2 eleven-inch Dahlgren smoothbores and 2 nine-inch Dahlgren smoothbores. 

After the Black Terror frightened off the CSS Queen of the West, the Confederates aboard the Indianola trying to raise it might have been intoxicated and threw the nine-inch guns into the river and pointed the eleven-inch ones at each other muzzle-to-muzzle and fired them and then burned the rest of the ship to the waterline.

The remains of the Indianola were raised  on January 5, 1865, and she was towed to Mound City, Illinois, where the remains were sold on January 17.

--Old B-R'er

Queen of the West Epilogue

From Wikipedia.

After the CSS Queen of the West and CSS Webb forced the surrender of the USS Indianola on the Mississippi River below Vicksburg on February 24, 1863, her Confederate career did not end.

On April 11, 1863,  she was attacked on the Atchafalaya River in Louisiana by the Union ships USS Estrella, USS Calhoun and USS Arizona.

A shell from the Calhoun set fire to the Queen of the West's cotton and her burning wreck drifted down the river for several hours before she grounded and exploded.

Ninety members of the Confederate crew were captured and 26 killed.

--Old B-R'er

Charles Rivers Ellet Epilogue

Charles Rivers Ellet (and I love his middle name considering his service) was not finished after his Queen of the West was lost.

On March 26, he ran his ram Switzerland past Vicksburg again.  The ram Lancaster was with him, commanded by his cousin, John A. Ellet.  Both ships received heavy fire from the Vicksburg batteries and the Lancaster was run aground and sunk to prevent capture by Confederate forces.

The Switzerland was damaged, but repaired and continued duty on the Mississippi River until the fall of Vicksburg and Port Hudson.  Ellet also went on to command the Marine Brigade.

He died very young at the age of 21 on October 29, 1863.

--Old B-Runner

Charles Rivers Ellet, the Queen of the West and USS Indianola-- Part 5: The Black Terror Causes USS Indianola to Be Destroyed

The chase was on.  The Indianola was moving up the Mississippi River, but slowly.  Even worse, the ship stopped to take cotton on board which cost her time she did not have.  The Confederate pursuit ships were commanded by Joseph L. Brent of the Confederate Army.

The Confederate ships caught up with the Indianola near Palmyra Island, about 30 miles south of Vicksburg.  After being rammed six times in the space of an hour and with the Queen of the West upriver and bearing down hard (along with the current) for a final ramming, the USS Indianola surrendered after also running aground.

The loss of both the Queen of the West and the Indianola derailed the supply line on the railroad.

With the Confederates working rapidly to raise the Indianola, it was decided to make a fake ironclad and send it down river from the Union position north of Vicksburg, so the Black Terror was built.  An old coal barge was lengthened and had a casemate built along with Quaker guns and two smokestacks made out of pork barrels.

The Black Terror was sent downriver on February 27 and frightened Confederates destroyed the Indianola.

--Old B-R'er

Charles Rivers Ellet & the Queen of the West-- Part 4: Going After the Indianola

Ellet and his men escaped to the DeSoto and Era No. 5 by floating downriver on cotton bales.  The Confederates took over the Queen of the West and immediately began repairing it.  Four days later, the Queen was underway with a new crew.  

Of interest, this crew was mostly composed of soldiers who learned their nautical ropes on the way down the Red River.

In the meantime, Admiral Porter ordered the ironclad USS Indianola to steam downriver past Vicksburg and aide Ellet.  Two barges of coal were strapped to the ship on the far side from the Confederate batteries.

Once past Vicksburg, the Indianola blocked the mouth of the Red River until she found out that the Confederates intended to attack her.  This began The Great Chase.  The Indianola started heading up the Mississppi River toward Vicksburg with the Queen of the West, ram CSS William H. Webb and two other vessels full of Confederate troops in hot pursuit.  All of the ships were under the command of Joseph Lancaster Brent, Confederate Army.

--Old Secesh

Charles Rivers Ellet & the Queen of the West-- Part 3

A major reason for the Queen of the West to run past the Vicksburg batteries was to disrupt trade going on between Port Hudson and Vicksburg via supplies coming down the Red River.

The Berwick hay gad to be destroyed however.

SECOND MISSION  February 8, 1863

The Queen of the West rendezvoused with the DeSoto and on February 12, both ships went down the Atchafalaya River and destroyed Confederate material.

On February 12, the two ships went up the Red River and captured the Era No. 5.  Then, the Queen of the West went further upstream and came under fire from Fort DeRussy and grounded thanks to a misdirected order to its pilot, who turned the ship instead of backing back down the river as ordered.  The Queen was getting hit often and finally Charles Rivers Ellet had to order the ship to be abandoned.

Ellet and the crew floated down the river on cotton bales until rescued by the DeSoto.  The ship was not burned because of concern for the first mate  who was wounded and could not be moved.

The Queen  was captured, repaired and entered service in the Confederate Navy as the CSS Queen of the West.

--Old B-R'er

Charles Rivers Ellet and the Queen of the West-- Part 2: Running Past Vicksburg

On February 2, 1863, Charles Rivers Ellet was ordered by Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter to make a run down the Mississippi River in the Queen of the West past the batteries of Vicksburg to support Admiral Farragut south of the city.

This was done in daylight and for fifty straight minutes the Queen of the West was under fire.  The ship took twelve hits but sustained just minimal damage.  Once past the batteries, Ellet found the CSS City of Vicksburg (also called the CSS Vicksburg) docked.  Ellet rammed her and set her on fire.

Enemy fire, however, forced the Queen of the West to disengage.  Damage to the Vicksburg ended her days as a fighting ship and she ended up as just a wharf ship after machinery was removed.

Union forces supplied the Queen of the West with 20,000 bushels of coal by floating an unmanned coal barge past Vicksburg.

On February 3 the Queen of the West captured three Confederate transport ships:  CSS A.W. Baker, CSS Moro, and CSS Berwick Bay.  Two of them were loaded with supplies for Vicksburg.

--Old B-R'er

MCCWRT May Meeting: Charles Rivers Elett, the Queen of the West and the Sinking of the Indianola-- Part 1

The McHenry County Civil War Round Table met on May14, 2024, and Ed Urban gave a talk on this oft overlooked aspect of the Civil War involving situations around Vicksburg as the Union Army and Navy attempted to subdue the Confederate stronghold and open the Mississippi River.

The Union forces launched four attempts at capturing Vicksburg.  The first was in May 1862, then June 1862, November 1862 and Sherman's attack on Chickasaw Bluffs.  The May attack was bungles, the June was derailed by the CSS Arkansas and November by the Confederate attack on Holly Springs.

Confederates still maintained control of the Mississippi River between Vicksburg southward to Port Hudson.

The Mississippi Ram fleet was the brainchild of Charles River Ellet.  Even though this involved ships, it was not a part of the Navy because Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles turned him down, but Secretary of War Stanton didn't.  As such, the Ram Fleet was technically a part of the Army.

(I have always been somewhat confused on this point.)

--Old B-Runner

James Crosby Long, CSN-- Part 3

From Tennessee History Quarterly "Tennessee's Confederate Marines:  Memphis Detachment" by David M. Sullivan.

James Long was at the famed Battle of Hampton Roads for both days, including of course, the historic battle between the CSS Virginia and USS Monitor.  Not only was he there, but he was also on the Virginia.

Inside the Virginia's iron walls were 14 Tennesseans, including Acting Midshipmen Robert Chester Foute and James Crosby Long.  Also, there were 12 enlisted men of the Confederate States Marine Corps.  The Marines had been recruited from rivermen, dock workers and roustabouts who had been recruited in Memphis in the summer of 1861.

The book says that Long became an officer on the CSS Virginia on March 1, 1862, right before the battle.  Foute arrived just two weeks earlier on February 12, 1862.

Old B-Runner

James Crosby Long, CSN-- Part 2: Service

Served on:

C.S.R.S.  (Confederate States Receiving Ship) United States 11861

CSS Curlew 1861-62

CSS Virginia; participated in the Battle of Hampton Roads, Va., March 8-9, 1862

Drewry's Bluff, Va. 1862

CSS Steamers Richmond and Patrick Henry, James River Squadron 1862-63

CSS Savannah, Savannah Squadron, 1863-64

CSS Albemarle, 1864

Blockade Runner Owl, 1865

Old B-R'er

James Crosby Long, CSN-- Part 1

A few posts ago, I also mentioned this person as being involved in the attack on the mailboat Fawn.

From Register of Confederate Navy Officers.

The source I was using listed his name a s James H. Long, but it was actually James C. Long.

Born and appointed from Tennessee.

Resigned as acting midshipman from U.S. Navy, May 15, 1861.  Acting Midshipman July 3, 1861.  Passed Midshipman January 8, 1864.  Master in line for promotion, Provisional Navy, June 2, 1864.

--Old B-R'er

Henry Discher, CSN

A couple posts ago I wrote that Henry Discher had gotten excited and accidentally fired his revolver alerting the Union crew on the mailboat Fawn that something was afoot.

Here's his service record according to the Register of Confederate Navy Officers:

HENRY DISCHER

Appointed from Missouri.  Third Assistant Engineer Provisional  Navy, June 2, 1864.

Serve on:

CSS Richmond, James River Squadron, 1864

CSS Albemarle, 1864

Confederate steamers Virginia No. 2 and Torpedo, James River Squadron, 1865.

Paroled April 23, 1865, Burkesville, Virginia.

--Old B-Runner

The Attack on the Mailboat Fawn-- Part 3: Alas, Poor Major Burnham

"If there was a paymaster's mail on board the 'Fawn,' it was the first thing to be destroyed, for when we boarded her we had found that the crew had thrown a number of mail and other bags into the furnace.

"Among those captured, to my great astonishment,  I found Major John H. Burnham, of the 16th Connecticut, whom I had assisted in capturing at Plymouth.  This brave officer had been exchanged and had reported to Norfolk for duty.

"On account of bad health he had been given a furlough, but before leaving for home he decided to go to Roanoke Island on the 'Fawn,' and see his old  comrades who were now on duty at that place, but, unfortunately for him, the boat was captured as set forth in the foregoing.

"Just here came a struggle between duty to country and sympathy for the unfortunate soldier, broken in health caused by confinement in prison, who had been looking forward to a speedy reunion with loved ones whom he had not seen for over two years.

"I would have gladly liberated him, but duty forbade, and poor Burnham was again an inmate of a Confederate prison."

Alas, Poor Burnham.  --Old B-R'er