Navy Medal of Honor Recipient Henry Schutes-- Part 2: Battle of New Orleans

While performing his duties aboard the USS Wissahickon during the Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip in April 1862, some Union ships managed to break through a barrier in the Mississippi River on April 23.  The Wissahickon was one of them.  Fire rafts were sent down to destroy them.

Schutes received his Medal of Honor here.  His citation reads: "his seamanlike qualities as gunner's mate were outstanding," and that he performed his duties with skill and courage.

The ships made it past the Confederate defenses and New Orleans surrendered.

But this wasn't Schutes' only Medal of Honor.  He received a second one nearly a year later.

--Old B-R'er

USS Montgomery-- Part 19: USS Portsmouth

Under John Montgomery's command, sailors from the USS Portsmouth entered the Spanish town of Yerba Bueno and raised the American flag.  Today, this town is known as San Francisco.  It blockaded Mexico's west coast during the Mexican War.

Between the two wars, the Portsmouth was involved with suppressing the West African slave trade and the Pacific Coast.

In December 1861, she joined the Gulf Coast Blockading Squadron and took part in the fight with Forts Jackson and St, Philip that led to the fall of New Orleans.  After that, she served as station ship for New Orleans until the end of the war.

After the war, she served primarily as a training ship  until 1915, making her one long-serving Navy ship.

San Francisco's Bank of America uses  her on an old logo because of her role in the city's history.  The ship's helm was on display in the headquarters reception area in 1995.

--Old B-Runner

John Collins, Acting Master, USN-- Part 3: Enter John M. Richard(son)

I came across an article in the 2014  Quarterly Bulletin of the Boulder Genealogical Society about the naval service of John Marshall Richard(son), who also served on the USS George Mangham for part of the war.

He was appointed Acting Master's Mate and ordered to David D. Porter's mortar flotolla for the attacks on Forts Jackson and St. Philip.

On December 31, 1861, he was ordered to join the crew of the USS George Mangham.

This was while the ship was under the command of John Collins, Jr., but, on April 8, 1862, Lt. Commander Walter W. Queen of the schooner USS T. A. Ward and told that he was relieved of command of the Mangham and was to turn over all papers relating therefor to the executive officer of the ship, John M. Richards.

In the last post I said it was my belief that Collins had remained in command of the USS George Mangham for the whole war.

Shows what I know and don't.

--Olf Clueless

USS George Mangham-- Part 2: Battle of New Orleans

The USS George Mangham was with the Mortar Fleet's Second Division anchored in the east bank of the Mississippi River.  As the swift current slackened on 24 April, 1862,  Farragut's fleet steamed boldly through a break in the obstructions and engaged and passed Forts Jackson and St. Philip.  They then engaged and captured the Confederate squadron resisting their advance up the river.

Meanwhile, the mortar boats continued their bombardment of the forts.  The Mangham received a shot through her hull in the engagement.

Having passed the forts, there was no defense against Farragut for the Confederates.  He went upriver to New Orleans and easily captured it 25 April.

This opened the way for the Union fleet to sweep northward up the river.  The Mangham and the mortar boats stayed below the forts, which surrendered  28 August.

Old B-Runner

USS George Mangham: Took Part in the Attacks on Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip Guarding New Orleans

On August 5 I started to write about this ship which was involved in the destruction of the blockade runner Dan.  I figured I should finish up on it a month later.

From Wikipedia.

The USS George Mangham was commissioned  at the Philadelphia Navy Yard 11 January 1862, Acting Master John Collins, Jr. in command.  It departed two days later, headed for the Mortar Flotilla of Commander David Dixon Porter as part of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron.

She arrived in Key West 13 February and from there sailed with the rest of the ships  to the mouth of the Mississippi River to prepare for the assault on Forts Jackson and St. Philip which guarded the approach to New Orleans.

The Mangham crossed the  bar into the river on 18 March.

After Farragut's meticulous preparations were complete, the Mortar Flotilla, including the Mangham began the bombardment of Fort Jackson 18 April.  The fort came under a sustained fierce cannonade for five days.

Better Late Than Never.  --Old B-Runner

Shipwreck of the CSS Louisiana-- Part 2: Blown Up By Her Crew

Mechanics worked day and night on the east bank of the Mississippi River trying to get the vessel's machinery to work.

Trapped after the Union fleet passed by in April 24, 1862.  Hit by several shells while moored to the riverbank.  Was set afire near Fort St. Philip by its crew under orders id Captain John K. Mitchell on April 28, 1862, after Fort St. Philip and Fort Jackson surrendered.

Was blown up with 10,000 pounds of gunpowder at 10:45 a.m. near Fort St. Philip's water battery and drifted downstream.  One soldier in Fort St. Philip was killed and one was wounded by fragments from the explosion.

In 1981, Clive Cussler used a gradiometer in a swamp off the main river channel and found a wreck directly off Fort St. Philip that he thought was the CSS Louisiana.

--Old B-Runner

The CSS Mississippi

From the April 24, 2017, Emerging Civil War  "Failed ironclads:  CSS Mississippi and CSS Louisiana at New Orleans" by Dwight Hughes.

Despite all the problems listed in the previous posts about the ship, Confederate naval officers considered the Mississippi "the strongest...most formidable war vessel that had ever been built."  It was 250 feet long, 1400 tons and was quite unorthodox, even for an ironclad.

As stated before, the Tift brother, Asa and Nelson, had persuaded Mallory that they could make up for a lack of skilled shipwrights needed to bend and shape frames and planks for the hull by building it like a house with flat sides and square corners except where the pointed ends joined the hull.  Essentially, just a big floating box  with guns.

The ship had four and a half feet of wood an iron with a casemate for twenty guns, powered by eight boilers, three engines and three propellers.

She was hurriedly launched on April 19, the day Farragut passed the forts guarding New Orleans:  Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip.  But, Tredegar  Iron Works in Richmond had not yet delivered the main propeller shafts and herb guns were not mounted.

Five days later, with Farragut's ships approaching the city, the crew fled upriver to Vicksburg.  The executive officer, Lieutenant James Waddell, volunteered to return and set her afire.

(Waddell later commanded the raider CSS Shenandoah at the end of the war.)

--Old B-Runner

Wreck of the CSS Louisiana

Of course, whenever I read about a ship sinking I begin to wonder if the shipwreck has been found and where.   As a matter of fact, while I was still in school, I had  underwater archeology as one of my possible careers.

The wreckage of the CSS Louisiana  is on the bottom of the Mississippi River.  In November 1981,  it was magnetically located by NUMA (National Underwater and Marine Agency).  This was founded in 1978 by  Dr. Clove Cussler.

The expedition of that date was out looking for the ram Manassas, CSS Louisiana, CSS Governor Moore and USS Varuna.

They found the remains of the Manassas  after two days.  Then, they found the Moore and Varuna up the river where they grounded a few hundred yards apart on the east bank.

The Louisiana  lies deep under the shoreline mud a hundred yards in front of the southeastern embankment of Fort St. Philip.  You can easily walk the area during periods of low water.

--Old B-Runner

CSS Louisiana Part 6: After the Battle

Once the Federal fleet had passed out of range, the Louisiana had no further part in the action.  Her fate was now tied to the two Confederate forts, which were still in Confederate control.  Both forts were expecting an attack to come from the Union Army supporting the operation led by General Benjamin Butler.

However, on the night of April 28, 1862, the  enlisted men in Fort Jackson mutinied and forced the surrender of both forts. to Commander David D. Porter.

The naval officers on the CSS Louisiana were not consulted at any time during the negotiations between Gen. Duncan and Porter.  As such they considered themselves not bound t respect the truce or decision declared by the two sides.

While the discussions were ongoing, the crew decided not to let their ship fall into enemy hands.  The ship was set afire and the crew went ashore.  The flames soon parted the lines that held her to the bank and she drifted down the river.

When she was nearly across from Fort St. Philip, the fire reached the magazine and she blew up with enough force that a soldier at the fort was killed.

--Old B-Runner

CSS Louisiana-- Part 4: An Unprepared Ship Goes to War

Shortly after the Louisiana was launched, the Union fleet under Flag Officer (later Rear Admiral) David Farragut moved into the lower Mississippi River, threatening Forts Jackson and St. Philip.  The forts commanders urgently requested help from the Confederate fleet at New Orleans and, even though she was not yet finished, the Louisiana was commissioned

The Louisiana's engines had been installed, but the screw propellers hadn't and it was also found that the engines were too weak so the ship had to be towed down the river with workmen still aboard.   There, she was tied to  to the river bank a short distance above Fort St. Philip.

The ship's next problems came from the gun carriages being found to be either too high or too low and had to be modified.  Gun crews were unable to practice firing because of all the workmen tools on the deck, plus the crews were incomplete owing to the fast commissioning.  Soldiers had to be transferred from the forts.

After  nearly a week of bombardment from the Union mortar ships, Farragut determined it to be ineffective and  he moved his fleet past the forts on the night of April 24, 1862.

--Old B-Runner

Fort Jackson Mutiny Facts-- Part 6: How Long Could Farragut Wait for the Troops Necessary to Occupy and Control New Orleans?

**  In order to actually occupy New Orleans, Farragut needed the Unions soldiers on the troop ships which had not run past the forts.  They could not run past the forts on their own.

**  Without the troops, the mayor of New Orleans and the "Mob" controlled the streets and left the mayor the ability to refuse the surrender of the city.

**  This left Farragut with the option of bombarding the city, awaiting the capture of the forts or withdrawing to south of the forts.

**  The forts still had six weeks worth of food.

**   Neither the mortar attacks or broadsides form Farragut's ships had significantly damaged Fort Jackson's defensive works.

**  If the forts held out for six weeks, Farragut may have had to retreat back down the river.

** It was the mutiny at Fort Jackson on the night of April 27 and the refusal to fight any longer of the rest of the fort's garrison the following morning (except one  unit raised in a plantation parish), along with lack of Fort St. Philip would fight that enabled Farragut to bring the troops upriver to New Orleans and land sufficient troops to control the city streets.

--Old B-Runner

Fort Jackson Mutiny-- Part 5: The Facts According to Pierson

H-Net Review of Michael Pierson's book Mutiny at Fort Jackson: The Untold Story of the Fall of New Orleans" by Judith Gentry.

Again, I have not found any articles on the Confederate mutiny other than Pierson's book.

These are some points his book made:

**  Joblessness and poverty coerced poorer immigrants to volunteer their service in the Confederate military. This had nothing to do with their love of the Confederacy.

**  By September, the "Mob" of New Orleans had coerced military-age men to join local units of the state militia.

**  In the emergency of February and March 1862, when Farragut's ships entered the lower Mississippi River, several of the militia units were organized  into units of the Confederate army and placed on ships that carried them down the river to Forts Jackson and St. Philip.

**  Pierson argues that the importance of the mutiny at Fort Jackson has been underestimated.

**  Farragut's run past the forts and appearance at New Orleans on April 25 did not result in the occupation of New Orleans right away.

--Old B-Runner

There Was a Mutiny by Confederate Troops at Fort Jackson and a Later One by Union Troops-- Part 1

In an earlier post I wrote that Fort Jackson surrendered after Farragut's fleet had bombarded it and then run past  it.  But the eventual surrender of the fort (and sister Fort St. Philip across the river) did not happen because of Union siege or bombardment, but because a mutiny occurred among the Confederate defenders.

And, this was not the only mutiny that occurred at Fort Jackson during the Civil War

On December 9, 1863, a mutiny occurred with black troops from the  Fourth Regiment of  Corp d'Afrique.

So, what was it about Fort Jackson that caused mutinies?

--Old B-Runner

Fort Jackson-- Part 3: The Problem With Hurricanes

In the 1960s,  Leander Perez (quite a character) threatened to turn Fort St. Philip into  a prison for advocates of  desegregation ("outside agitators") who entered the Plaquemines Parish.

Due to the location of Fort Jackson, it is vulnerable to strong winds, pelting rain, and decimating storm surges from storms ranging from rough weather to deadly hurricanes.  The fort was inundated with twenty feet of water  from both Hurricane Betsy, a category four hurricane, in September 1965, and Hurricane Camille, a category five storm,  in August of 1969.

The fort was again badly damaged by Hurricane Katrina's storm surge in 2005.  Between  Katrina and Hurricane Rita the following month, much of  the fort sat under water for up to six weeks.  Many of the historical exhibits in the fort were destroyed, and the fort itself suffered much structural damage.

Since the 1970s,  the grounds of Fort Jackson have been used for the Plaquemines Parish Fair and the Orange Festival.

The fort was used to treat oily birds in the early weeks of the Deepwater  Horizon oil spill.  The treatment facility was moved to Hammond, Louisiana,  on July 10, 2010, in order to make it less vulnerable to hurricanes.

--Old B-Runner

Fort Jackson-- Part 1: Site of Battle

From Wikipedia.

Fort Jackson is a masonry fort located 40 miles up the Mississippi River from its mouth in Plaquemines Parish.  It was constructed as a coastal defense for New Orleans between 1822  and 1832, and it was a battle site during the Civil War and is a National Historic  Landmark.  It was recently heavily damaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and its condition is considered very endangered.

On its grounds are also located the Endicott era  work called Battery Millar.

It is 70 miles south of New Orleans on the western bank of the Mississippi River

The fort was occupied on and off from its completion to until after World War I, when it served as a training station.  It is now owned by Plaquemines Parish .

Fort Jackson and its sister fort across the river, Fort St. Philip, were the site of the Battles of Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip from April 16 to April 28, 1862, during the Civil War.  The Confederate controlled fort was the site of a siege of 12 days by the fleet of U.S. Navy flag officer David Farragut.  It fell on April, 28, after the Union fleet sailed past it.

--Old B-Runner

The Fall of New Orleans' Fort Jackson-- Part 4: 'The Crash of Splinters, the Explosions of Boilers and Magazines'

On April 12, 1862, the Union fleet fired a few test shots on Fort Jackson to calculate the distance.  Soon after that, the siege was on.  Because For St. Phillip was largely out of range of Farragut's fleet, the worst of the fire went to Fort Jackson.

An account that has been attributed to General Butler, but which was actually written by James Parton for his 1864 book "General Butler in New Orleans," described the bombardment thusly:

"The mere noise was an experience unique to the oldest officers -- Twenty mortars, a hundred and forty-two guns in the fleet, a hundred and twenty in the Forts, the crash of splinters,  the explosions of the boilers and magazines, the shouts and cries, the shrieks of scalded and drowning men; add to this, the belching flashes  of guns, burning rafts of burning steamboats, the river full of fire, and you have a picture of the battle that was all confined to Plaquemines Bend."

By April 27, the men of Fort Jackson had had enough and staged a mutiny.  A day later, Duncan surrendered.  That open the door to New Orleans and the fleet to make its way to it.

--Old B-Runner

The Fall of New Orleans' Fort Jackson-- Part 3: Making Plans

Just a month after the fall of Fort Sumter, the federal warship USS Brooklyn appeared at the mouth of the Mississippi River and sent word to General Johnson K. Duncan, the commander of Fort Jackson, that  the federal blockade of the river was in effect.

This began a  long, difficult year in New Orleans, marked by shortages and occasional naval skirmishes at the river's mouth.  It all came to a head in April 1862 when Union commander David  Farragut moved on Fort Jackson with 17 wooden vessels and 24 mortar boats. 

Also there were 6,000 men under General Butler's command, waiting on transport ships to take over New Orleans.

The Confederate forces had  69 guns at Fort Jackson and another 45 at Fort St. Philip.  They also had  10 wooden ships and two ironclads, although one, the CSS Louisiana, was unfinished and therefore used as a floating battery.

They hoped to further impede Farragut by blocking the river  with a string of vessels, connected by a chain, stretching between the two forts.

--Old B-Runner

The Fall of New Orleans' Fort Jackson-- Part 2

As early as 1742, the French first built a battery there.  Later, under Spanish rule, Fort Bourbon was built there on the site of what would become Fort Jackson.  About the same time, they also built Fort San Felipe --  a predecessor to Fort Jackson's sister fort, Fort St. Phillip -- on the east bank.

With the need for even stronger defense made by the War of 182 the construction of Fort Jackson came to be at an eventual cost of $554,500.

Its foundation would be made of three layers of cypress logs, atop which would be laid  cypress planks.  From there would rise a star-shaped fort, made of bricks, protected by an outer wall and an inner moat and lined with dozens of guns.

There was such confidence  in the combined strengths of  forts Jackson and St. Phillip, which also received a modernization at the time, almost no other defense were constructed further upriver between the forts and New Orleans.

This would prove a very big mistake.

--Old B-Runner

CSS/USS Diana-- Part 4: Captured By Union at New Orleans and Recaptured a Year Later

The Diana was reported to have escaped when the Union Navy under Admiral Farragut ran past forts Jackson and St. Philip on April 24, 1862, but was captured by the USS Cayuga on April 27th.

It was then used by Union forces at New Orleans on May 5 as a troop transport.  Then the Diana was assigned  to assist Federal ships at Berwick Bay before being sent to Grand Lake around March 28, 1863 to make a reconnaissance down the Atchafalaya River with two companies of infantry aboard
to Bayou Teche near Pattersonville.

Confederate shore batteries weer lying in ambush, however, and laid down a murderous fire from both artillery and sharpshooters.  The Diana had her tiller ropes shot away and her engine disabled.  This major damage caused the Diana to drift ashore where she was surrendered.

Also captured by the jubilant Confederates were 58 men from the 12th Connecticut and 20 from the 160th New York Infantry.

The Diana's commander, Acting Master T.L.  Peterson along with five other men were killed, and three  others were wounded in the two-hour action.

--Old B-Runner

USS Norfolk Packet-- Part 1: Bought By Navy and at Battle of New Orleans

From Wikipedia.

Was a large schooner purchased by the U.S. Navy 10 September 1861 and commissioned  7 February 1862.

It was 108 feet long,  gad a 28.2-foot beam, was a sailing ship, crew of 40 and mounted a 13-inch mortar, two 32-pdr. guns and two 12-pdr. guns.

It was bought from George Goodspeed of New York City and converted for naval use by J. Engles at the New York Navy Yard.   First commander was Lt. Watson Smith.

Assigned to the mortar squadron of  Cmdr. David Dixon Porter and participated in Farragut's attack on New Orleans.  The flotilla moved into position on 16 April and the mortar ships pounded Forts Jackson and St. Philip below New Orleans. Farragut's ship ran past the forts and New Orleans surrendered the next day.

--Old B-Runner