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
No comments:
Post a Comment