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

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

Nelson Tift of Georgia and the CSS Mississippi-- Part 1

I first came across this man's name when I started writing about the Confederate ironclad under construction at New Orleans when the city fell in April1862 and was destroyed.  Nelson Tift and his brother Asa were in charge of the ship's construction.  I wrote a lot about this ship at the end of last month and earlier this month.

Before that, I had never heard of him, but it turns out he was quite the important man. 

From Find-A-Grave.

NELSON TIFT

BORN: 23 July 1810, Groton, Connecticut

DIED:    21 November 1891 (aged 81), Albany, Georgia

BURIED:  Oakview Cemetery,  Albany, Georgia

U.S. Congressman.  Served in the Confederate Navy during the Civil War.  Elected to represent Georgia's 2nd District in the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1868 to 1869.

Also served as a Georgia state judge in 1840 and a member of the Georgia  House of Representatives in  1841.

And, he did a lot more than that.

--Old B-R'er

Shipwreck of the CSS Louisiana-- Part 1

From Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks.

CSS LOUISIANA

Confederate

Two-paddlewheel ironclad, 1,400 tons.  Length 264 feet, beam 62 feet, 4 engines (from steamer Ingomar).

Complement of 200 to 300 men with two rifled 7-inch guns, three 9-inch guns and four 8-inch shell guns, and seven rifled 32-pounders.

Construction began at New Orleans in mid-October 1861 but was not completed because of lack of raw materials.  Used as a floating battery.

Supposed to have cost about $1 million to build.

--Old B-Runner

CSS Mississippi-- Part 7: The End

At about the same time the Confederate Navy Department was assuring Flag Officer Hollins that he would get the Mississippi and Louisiana to help him defend Memphis, they  ordered Commander Arthur Sinclair to take command of the CSS Mississippi.  He arrived on April 3, 1862.

About this time, the Tift brothers were under increasing pressure to complete their ship.  A self-appointed group of citizens calling them selves the Committee  for Public Safety, tried to force the launch of the Mississippi prematurely against the advice of Sinclair and a group of  engineers working on the ship.

The Tufts refused, arguing that  to do so would delay  completion by several weeks.

All arguments were rendered moot on April 24, when the Union fleet passed the forts below New Orleans to the south.  There was nothing now between the Union fleet and the city.

Trying to move his ship to a safer place and complete her, Sinclair had her hastily launched, with approval from the Tifts, and tried to have her towed upriver.  The tow boats he initially hired proved unable to accomplish the tow and the next day, he tried to find others.  While so engaged, the Union fleet came into view and the Mississippi was ordered burned.

--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

CSS Mississippi-- Part 4: Shipping the Iron Plate and the Propellers Shafts

Shipping the plate iron needed for the Mississippi over the already overtaxes Confederate railroad system was sporadic at best.  Delays were many.  Plates awaiting shipment were often found in Atlanta, days after they were supposed to go out.  The final armor arrived in New Orleans the day the CSS Mississippi was burned.

Engines and shafts added even more problems.  There were to be three shafts and places could be found in New Orleans to handle them, but the longer, central shaft could not be manufactured anywhere in the Confederacy.  Finally, a satisfactory shaft was found in a wrecked ship in October, but only Tredegar Ironworks or the Gosport Navy Yard in Virginia could handle the needed modifications.

When they were completed,  the shaft had to be transported over the rails.  It was shipped out March 26, 1862.    Although all three shafts were put into the hull, they were not hooked up to the engines, and the two outboard screw propellers were  still on the wharf when the end came.

--Old B-Runner

CSS Mississippi-- Part 2: Enter Nelson and Asa Tift

The CSS Mississippi was the brainchild of Nelson Tift, a man raised in Florida as a child, but had moved to Georgia as a young man where he had become locally prominent.    (The town of Tifton in Tift County, Georgia, is named for him.  His nephew Henry Harding Taft named the city after his uncle, who is regarded as the founder of Albany, Georgia, the state's eighth largest city.)

At the beginning of the war, he realized that the Confederacy would have to build a navy, but faced major problems since there were few major shipyards and a lack of skilled shipwrights to build the ships.  To save time, he he  came up with the idea of constructing shops on the house-building.

His brother Asa  F. Tift agreed to work with him.  He had remained in Florida after Nelson moved to Georgia and had become a successful businessman in Key West and had come to know Stephen Mallory before he became a United States Senator and Confederate Secretary of the Navy.

Asa and Nelson showed his model to Mallory, who passed it on to a review board who declared it a feasible idea and Mallory authorized them to go to New Orleans and build the ironclad which would have18 guns and would be driven by three screw propellers.

--Old B-R'er

CSS Mississippi-- Part 1: Was Never Finished

From Wikipedia.

One of the sources I used for research on the Leeds Foundry in New Orleans, said that this foundry was going to be used for the two Confederate ironclads at New Orleans, the CSS Louisiana and the CSS Mississippi.  I was writing about the Leeds Foundry in my Saw the Elephant:  Civil War blog in connection with cannons they produced for the Confederate Army.

The CSS Mississippi was a projected Confederate ironclad.  Her design was unusual as  she was to be built according to house-building techniques.  Whether this would have worked or not was never proven  as she was not complete when New Orleans fell to Union ships under Flag Officer David G. Farragut on 25 April 1862.

Rather than let her fall into Union hands,  Captain Arthur Sinclair, CSN, ordered her to be hastily launched and burned.

Despite  the delays in construction that left her unfinished and untried,  her mere existence, together with that of the CSS Louisiana, raised hopes of the Confederate defenders of New Orleans.  For the Union, it caused  unfounded fears.

--Old B-Runner

CSS Louisiana-- Part 7: What the Problem Was

The Confederate Navy came under fire for the loss of New Orleans for its supposed "inaction" when Farragut was passing the two Confederate forts.  Commander John K. Mitchell, second in command to Commodore Whittle pointed out several of the Louisiana's shortcomings (other than the ones already pointed out) which could have impacted her usefulness.

1.   The arrangement of the paddlewheels  meant that the after wheel was always in the wash of the other,  with the result of loss of power.

2.  The wash also created an eddy at the rudders making it impossible to steer.

3.  The gunports were too small to allow either elevation or traverse.  Consequently, the Louisiana would have to fight at close range, and furthermore, her guns covered only 40 degrees azimuth.

4.  The gundeck was uninhabitable during the summer, particularly when the boilers were in use.

So There You have It.  --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

Confederate Ironclads CSS Louisiana and Mississippi-- Part 1

I have been writing about the Confederate iron foundry in New Orleans named Leeds & Co. in my Saw the Elephant:  The Civil War blog in connection with cannons they made for the Confederacy.  Leeds cannons are quite rare in the artillery world because of the fact that New Orleans fell to Farragut so early in the war.

Yesterday I found out that Leeds also was involved with the iron on two Confederate rams that were built in New Orleans as well as an early submarine named the Pioneer I.  The source did not say what the name of the ironclads were, however.

Today, I learned that they were the CSS Louisiana and CSS Mississippi, two of the largest ironclads built in the Confederacy.  I had thought that perhaps it was the CSS Manassas.

I am not sure if the Leeds Foundry was to have something to do with the iron on the casemates or other materials on the ships.

***********************************

From Wikipedia

CSS LOUISIANA

The CSS Louisiana was a casemate ironclad built for the Confederate Navy to defend the lower Mississippi River (New Orleans)  She took part in one major action during the war, the defense of Forts Jackson and St. Philip.  When those forts fell, she was destroyed by her crew to prevent capture.

--Old B-Runner

USS New York (LPD-21)-- Part 3: Part of WTC in the Ship's Bow

Seven and a half short tons of steel used in the construction of the New York came from the rubble of the World Trade Center;  this represents less than one thousandth of the total weight of the ship.  The steel was melted down at Amite  Foundry and Machine in Amite, Louisiana, to cast the ship's bow section.  

It was poured into molds on 9 September 2003, with 7 short tons cast to form the ship's "stem bar" -- part of the ship's bow.  The foundry workers reportedly  treated the metal with "reverence usually accorded to religious artifacts," gently touching  it as they walked by.  One worker  delayed his retirement after 40 years of working to be part of the project.

The New York was christened on 1 March 2008, in a ceremony at  at Avondale Shipyard in New Orleans.

USS New York (LPD-21)-- Part 2: Her Sister Ships Also Named for 9/11 Sites

On 9 September 2004, Gordon R. England, then Secretary of Defense,  announced that two of the USS New York's sister ships would be named Arlington and Somerset in commemoration of the places where two other planes used in the attacks came down:  Arlington County, Virginia, and Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

A symbolic amount of steel from the World Trade Center after it was destroyed during the 9/11 attacks, was used in the construction of the New York.

The ship is the first built designed fully from the CAD-screen up to support both  of the Marine primary capabilities, LCAC  landing craft and MV-22B Osprey aircraft.

The contract to build the ship was awarded to Northrop  Grumman Ship Systems of New Orleans, Louisiana, in 2003 and was under construction when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005.

J.R.M. Mullany-- Part 4: To the End of His Naval Career

He was commissioned commodore 15 August 1870 and was in charge of the Mediterranean Squadron  from October 1870 until November 1871.  From 1872 to 1874, he commanded the Philadelphia Navy Yard.

After receiving his rear admiral's commission 5 June 1874,  he commanded the North Atlantic Squadron until February 1876, during a part of which time he  cooperated efficiently  with General  William H. Emory and General Philip Sheridan, who were successively in command of New Orleans.

He was governor of the Naval Asylum in Philadelphia from 1876 to 1879, when he was retired from active service, and he made, to the close of his life, his home in Philadelphia, dying at one of its summer resorts.

"No government or people," says one who knew him well, "ever had a more gallant and faithful public servant; and he was as modest, as genial, as gentle, and as kind as he was faithful and brave."

--Old B-Runner

Fort Jackson Mutiny Facts-- Part 8: Parole or Not to Parole?

**  The Confederates troops drew up on Fort Jackson's grounds the night of the mutiny and demanded to surrender to nearby Union troops.

**  Those troops involved in the mutiny were largely foreign or northern-born and did not have a strong attachment to o love of the Know-Nothing Party or government of New Orleans.

**  They did not have a strong attachment to  to Confederate goals as did they native-born Southerners.

**  The experience of having been working class men in New Orleans and accustomed to organizing to go on strike when not being paid was also a factor.

**  Choosing to mutiny on the first night there were nearby Union troops suggests that they preferred the Union.

**  After the officers surrendered the forts on April 28, 1862,  all were offered a parole.

**  All the officers and enlisted men of the one non-New Orleans unit swore to not fight until am exchange could be arranged, and then  they would fight for the Confederacy again.

**  The other seven units had many men who did not want a parole, for that would eventually mean they would have to return to Confederate service.

--Old B-Runner

Fort Jackson Mutiny Facts-- Part 7: Conditions at the Fort

Some other things presented by Michael Pierson for the mutiny:

**  Unpleasant conditions at the fort

**  A week of mortar fire

**  A night of heavy direct fire when the Union fleet ran past the forts

**  A alleged lack of food in the fort

**  A conviction that it was useless to continue fighting once the Union fleet reached New Orleans

**  Pierson has also found that the mutineers may have had Unionist goals

**  The mutiny was well organized

**  The mutineers were able to deceive officers until ready to act

--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

Fort Jackson Mutiny-- Part 4: An Immigrant Thing

The mutineers were soldiers primarily recruited from New Orleans'  large German and Irish immigrant populations.  Pierson shows that  the new nation (the Confederacy)  had done nothing to encourage poor white men to feel they had aa place of honor in the new  Southern Republic.

He  argues that the mutineers actively  sought to help the Union cause.  In a major reassessment of the Union administration of New Orleans that followed, Pierson  demonstrates that Union general Benjamin Butler enjoyed the support of  many white Unionists in the city.

Pierson adds  an urban working-class element to debates over the effects of  white Unionists in Confederate states.  With the personal stories o soldiers appearing throughout the book, "Mutiny at Fort Jackson" presents the Civil War from a different perspective, revealing the complexities of New Orleans society and the Confederate experience.

--Old B-Runner