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

CSS Mississippi: Leeds and Patterson Ironworks Bidding

From the February 23, 2021, Weapons and Warfare blog.

Patterson Ironworks agreed to furnish the engines and boilers after talks with Leeds had failed because the company was already  occupied with manufacturing and  the shafting for the CSS Arkansas and the never completed Tennessee at Memphis.

Leeds's asking price  for constructing the engines was  $65,0000 plus a build time of no less than four months.  Patterson, on the other hand,  offered to construct them for$45,000 plus a bonus if the work was completed  in 90 days.  They received the contract.

But, after necessary changes took place, the Patterson Ironworks  added $20,000 in price for building the engines and $8,000 for boilers.

--Old B-Runner

CSS Mississippi-- Part 6: The Union Threats on the Mississippi in March 1862

All these delays added up to the Mississippi not being ready to fight the Union ships when the time came.  Nelson Tift later said that  his ship would have been completed  in another two to three weeks.  (However, Captain Sinclair said his estimation was more like ten weeks away.)

In mid-March 1862, Flag Officer Farragut's ships entered the lower Mississippi River with the obvious eventual  intention of attacking New Orleans.  Farragut was already under  pressure from U.S. Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles  who was very fearful of the  two ironclad "monsters" being completed at New Orleans.  ("Monsters" was a widespread term used for the Louisiana and the Mississippi at the time.)

On the other hand, the Confederate government was more concerned  with the threat of the Union gunboat flotilla approaching Memphis from the north along the Mississippi River.  Even as Farragut was moving his ships  across the bar, President Davis and Secretary of the Navy Mallory were promising Flag Officer George N. Hollins, commanding the Confederate naval forces on the Mississippi River, that the Louisiana would be sent to Memphis as soon as she was finished (expected to be a few days.)

The CSS Mississippi would follow shortly thereafter.

--Old B-Runner

David D. Wemple, USN-- Part 4: One of His Brothers Died in the War Also

From the US Naval Academy  Memorial Hall.

David Duane Wemple was admitted to the USNA from Wisconsin  from Wisconsin on September  24, 1858, at the age of  15 years, 3 months.

Three of his brothers served during the Civil War.; one was killed in action in March 1863.  (Actually died of a disease in Memphis, more on this in a later post in this blog.

David Wemple is listed as killed in action on the  panel in front of Memorial Hall (USNA) and is buried in Wisconsin.

--Old B-Runner

John Julius Guthrie Biography-- Part 2: Early Service in Confederate Navy, New Orleans to Island No. 10 and CSS Arkansas

Upon returning to the United States, Guthrie  found out that his home state had joined the Confederacy and now he had to chose which side to serve.  Despite  a plea from a good friend, Captain Andrew H. Foote, he resigned his Federal commission  and was appointed a CSN lieutenant  on July 13, 1861.

Posted to New Orleans, on November 7, he was given command of the steamer CSS Red Rover (which was captured and turned into the Union hospital ship USS Red Rover).  On December 11, he also assumed command of the floating battery New Orleans, formerly the Pelican drydock.

Early in March 1862, he took both vessels up to Island No. 10, but once there was detached from them and sent to Memphis to assist in the outfitting of the new Confederate ironclad ram CSS Arkansas.  To prevent her capture, the Arkansas was moved up the Yazoo River to Greenwood, Mississippi, but then very little more work was done on her until early May when the dynamic Lt. Isaac Newton Brown was ordered to make her ready for battle.

John Guthrie and the ship's commander, William McBlair were transferred elsewhere.

--Old B-Runner

April 27, 1865: The Wreck and Disaster of the SS Sultana

APRIL 27TH, 1865:  The river steamer SS Sultana blew up in the Mississippi River above Memphis, Tennessee, killing 1,450 out of 2,000 passengers -- all but 50 of whom were former prisoners of war.  She was en route to Cairo, Illinois, when a violent explosion ripped her apart and turned her into a sheet of flame.

The cause of the explosion has never been determined, but one of the theories advanced was that of a coal torpedo -- such as the one that was suspected of having destroyed Army steamer Greyhound on 27 November 1864 -- had been slipped into the steamer's coal bin.

This was largely overlooked with all the Lee surrender, Lincoln assassination and pursuit of Booth.

A True Disaster.  --Old B-R'er

USS Prairie Bird-- Part 2: A Busy Warship

At the end of the month, the Prairie Bird took up position above the White River to protect a coal depot.  In Mid March, she shifted to Greenville, in April it was operations at the mouth of the White River. and in May a return to Memphis.

Remaining in the Arkansas-White River area into the following spring, she reconnoitered the Sunflower River as far as Lake George and Silver Creek with the USS Petrel in March 1864.  In April she steamed with the Petrel and Freestone up the Yazoo River to fire on and pass Yazoo City, Mississippi, in support of Union Army attempts to take the city.

On the 22nd, the Prairie Bird received engine damage rescuing survivors from the Petrel, then returned to Vicksburg for repairs.

--Old B-Runner

USS Prairie Bird-- Part 1: Acquired by U.S. Navy

From Wikipedia.

This is the Union gunboat that came to the rescue of the passengers of the Army transport R.M. Runyan in the Mississippi Rover on July 23, 1864.

Acquired by U.S. Navy 19 December 1862.  Commissioned January 1863.  171 tons,  159.10 feet, 29.3 foot beam.  eight 24-pdr. guns.   Classified as a tinclad.

Served on the Mississippi River and its tributaries.  Was built as the civilian ship Mary Miller and renamed the USS Prairie Bird, commissioned January 1863 with Acting Master J.C. Moore in command.

In mid-February 1863, she assisted the USS Juliet, grounded 20 miles below Island No. 10 and then to Memphis where she escorted a provision ship to the Yazoo River.  There, the Prairie Bird joined the Mississippi Squadron.

--Old B-Runner

Army Transport B.M. Runyan-- Part 3: Sank in the Mississippi River

"About fifty lives were lost.  Half of this number belonged to the cavalry regiment, and the remainder, excepting two, were refugees and negroes.  But two cabins, a young man named CHAPMAN, of Alton, and a boy, are believed to have been lost.

"Gunboat No. 11 came up twenty minutes after the disaster, and recovered about 40 persons.  Others swam to shore.  (Was gunboat No. 11 the Prairie Bird?)

"There were also aboard the Runyon, 11 mules, 62 horses, 15 wagons, the camp equipage of the regiment -- all of which with the boat are a total loss.

"The James White brought up most of the rescued, except the cavalry, who were brought up by the marine brigade boat Lena to Memphis."

Some really different reports between the Times and the Navy Chronology.

--Old B-Runner

January 11, 1863: Confederates Capture the Grampus No. 2

JANUARY 11TH, 1863:  Confederate troops captured steamboat Grampus No. 2 near Memphis, laden with a large cargo of coal, and later burned her at Mound City, Arkansas.

**  The USS Matthew Vassar, Acting Master Hugh H. Savage, captured schooner Florida off Little River Inlet, South Carolina, with cargo of salt.

--Old B-Runner

June 4, 1862: Fort Pillow Evacuated By Confederates

JUNE 4TH, 1862:  Confederates evacuated Fort Pillow, Tennessee, on the Mississippi River during the night of 4-5 June after sustaining a prolonged bombardment by Union gunboats and mortar ships.

On 5 June, the Union fleet under Captain Davis and transports moved down the river to within two miles of Memphis.

--Old B-Runner

150 Years Ago: Mississippi U.S. Ram Fleet History-- Part 1

NOVEMBER 1, 1865:  James Brooks, formerly of the U.S. Ram Fleet and Mississippi Marine Brigade, wrote a brief sketch of the ram fleet history to Brigadier general L.B. Parsons, Chief of Transportation Department in St. Louis:  "The idea...of destroying the enemy's fleet by the use of rams originated with Colonel Charles Ellet, Jr. ...About the last of March, 1862, the Secretary of War invited him to his office to consult on the subject, and ordered him...to procure the boats and make the necessary alterations...

"It (the ram fleet)...was at Memphis on the morning of 6th June (1862) and participated in the battle....  The result was a great triumph for the rams, and fully came up to the expectations of Colonel Ellet and the Government...."

--Old B-Runner

A New Look at the Sultana Disaster-- Part 4: Last and Found

From Wikipedia.

There was an East Tennessee Sultana Survivors Association which met every April 27th until 1928, when just four remained.  The last survivor, Samuel H. Randebaugh, of Co. K, 65th Ohio, died March 4, 1931 at age 83.

The remains of the Sultana (most likely the ship) were found in 1982, 32-feet under a soybean field on the Arkansas side of the Mississippi River, about four miles from Memphis. The reason for it being found here is the constant shifting of the river.

--Old B-R'er

150 Years Ago-- January 1-3, 1864

JANUARY 1, 1864:

The USS Huron sank blockade-running schooner Sylvanus in Doboy Sound, Georgia with cargo of salt, liquor and cordage. Now, that's what I call alcohol abuse.

JANUARY 2ND, 1864:

Major General Hurlburt, Army commander at Memphis, wired Secretary Welles: "The Tennessee at Mobile will be ready for sea in twenty days. She is a dangerous craft. Buchanan thinks more so than the Merrimack...."    And Buchanan would know, having been on both ships.

JANUARY 3RD, 1864:

Union ships discovered steamer Bendigo aground at Lockwood's Folly Inlet, SC. Boat crews discovered it had been partially burned and had seven feet of water in the hold and was destroyed by gunfire.

Old B-Runner

The Tug Hercules at Memphis and Burning of Hopefield, Arkansas

In my last Naval Happenings 150 Years Ago, I wrote that on February 17, 1863, Confederates captured the US tug Hercules near Memphis, Tennessee. 

I haven't been able to find out much about that boat, but, the Memphis Travel Site has a tour of Civil War sites and the followup to the capture was mentioned.  It said that on Feb. 17, 1863, a group of Confederate guerrillas attacked the USS Hercules.  When Union forces in Memphis heard about this, their commander ordered retaliation.

A detachment was sent to Hopefield, Arkansas and all townspeople were ordered to leave the town, whereupon it was burned to the ground.

Before the war, Hopefield had been a site for rail shops and then converted to a Confederate armory.

Major General Stephen Hurlburt ordered the town's burning which took place February 19, 1863.

The town was evidently rebuilt and completely washed away in the Flood of 1912.

Talk About Mean Tempered.  --Old B-Runner

Naval Happenings 150 Years Ago: April 25, 1862-- New Orleans Captured

APRIL 26TH

Farragut's fleet silenced Confederate batteries at Chalmette en route to New Orleans.  High water allowed the ships to be able to fire over the levees into the city.  The largest and wealthiest city and seaport in the Confederacy surrenders.

Now Union ships can steam up the Mississippi River and conduct operations with those coming southward.

The CSS Mississippi, launched  on April 19th and described by Confederate officers as "the strongest...most formidable war vessel that had ever been built," was destroyed to prevent capture.  Had the Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond been able to finish her shaft in time, it might have been a different story.

Commander Charles H. McBlair, CSN, notified the Navy department that because of the passage of the forts below New Orleans, he was going to take the unfinished ironclad Arkansas, building at Memphis, up the Yazoo River to complete.  He also had ordered the Tennessee to be destroyed on the stocks if Memphis fell.

Too bad for the CSS Mississippi.  --Old B-R'er