CSS Mississippi-- Part 3: Problems, Problems and More Problems

Among the first problems facing the Tift brothers was finding a shipyard capable of handling their project.  None in or near New Orleans  was suitable, so they  established their own near Jefferson City on the river just north of the New Orleans city line.  The builders of the CSS Louisiana faced the same problem and also ended up at Jefferson City and the two massive ironclads were built next to each other. (There apparently is not a Jefferson City, Mississippi anymore.)

The first plank of the CSS Mississippi-- it would not be correct to refer to it as a keel--  was laid down October  14, 1861, and it was found the first design would not have sufficient room to provide extra boilers so the ship was lengthened to an eventual 252 feet.  That also allowed for two more guns to be added, for a total of 20.

Construction delays plagued the Mississippi right from the beginning.  Getting the parts and materials was the worst of them.  On top of that, there were labor troubles.

Iron for the armor  was in short supply throughout the Confederacy and was not to be found near New Orleans.  Eventually the Tifts found a foundry in Atlanta that could produce iron plate of the required thickness, but then that led, of course, to the logistics problem of getting the needed iron plate to Jefferson City.)

--Old B-Runner

Death of Industrialist Horace Ware This Date in 1890

From the July 2, 2018, Alabama News Center "On This Day in Alabama History:  Industrialist Horace Ware Dies."

In the 1850s-1860s Horace Ware established the Shelby Ironworks, the first rolling mill in Alabama.

During the Civil War is supplied iron to the Confederate Naval Arsenal at Selma.  Its machinery was destroyed by Union forces in the waning days of the war.

Ware was able to get northern investors to commit money to his company to rebuild but now he focused on making rail car wheels.

He retired to Birmingham where he died July 2, 1890.