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\ \ ile commanding a Union squadron of ironclad y y gunboats on the Mississippi River above Vicks- David burg, Mississippi, in early 1863, Commodore °ns s- IXOn ^orter employed one of the strangest weap- ^■nce the Greeks used the wooden “Trojan horse.” °gni7 'mPortance of the Mississippi River was rec-
Abrai? ^y both sides early in the Civil War. In 1861, Tbe watTl ^'nc°ln told Porter, “Vicksburg is the key. . . . oUr p ai,Caa never be brought to a close until that key is in hind p, 611‘” ®ut {be defenders of Vicksburg, dug in be- °f*he M- • ^u*war^s on high bluffs above the east bank “Miss' ISSissiPpi, were determined to hold on to the key. %re 'SS1Ppians don’t know, and refuse to learn, how to stalled t0 an enemy,” their commander said. Vicksburg Rea ^rdon drive in the West.
New o David Glasgow Farragut had captured
Missjsr eans in April 1862, but sporadic forays on the Ures f/PP' by his deepwater ships had been costly fail- tiver a ae e'ements of destruction to the Navy in this feportj? beyond anything I ever encountered,” Farragut ined m More anchors have been lost and vessels ru- Artp jan i have seen in a lifetime. ...” The Union 6ral ul" northcrn Mississippi, commanded by Major Gen- ViclcSb^SSes Grant, could not move by water south of tllat fld8Lon!and’ it was bogged down by torrential rains °assabl ed aduviat flatlanrlc anH tiimpH marts into im-
'Ssissir
By Jack Polk
alluvial flatlands and turned roads into im- _ ^ quagmires. Confederate forces controlled the P°rt u 'Ppi River and its tributaries from Vicksburg to niuniti Udson’ near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. European Ued to0"*’ ProvTsi°ns> and other essential supplies contin- River^°Ur *nto the heart of the Confederacy on the Red
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Truary 1863, one of Porter’s armored rams, the
<£ %the'West, ran past the guns of Vicksburg to try to aged p 0rdederate shipping on the Red River. Encour- hnest i 0rtCr °Mcred the lndianola, one of his newest and °/« slin°nclads’ to join the Queen of the West. The Indian- Ped south by Vicksburg on the night of 13 Febru-
A PICTURE HISTORY OF THE U. S. NAVY
ary. However, the Queen of the West was captured by the Confederates that same day.
On 24 February, the Confederate wooden ram Webb and the ironclad Queen of the West, now flying the Confederate Stars and Bars, found and attacked the lndianola. The Webb rammed and sank the Union ironclad in shallow water. The Confederates immediately set about raising and repairing their newest acquisition.
Commodore Porter had serious problems. The fortress of Vicksburg, doubly alerted after the passages of the Queen of the West and the lndianola, fired at anything that moved on the river. With the two captured ironclads now in the Confederate Navy, the rebels could defend that part of the Mississippi under their control, and might even be able to take the offensive.
West that the monster Union “ironclad’ was in close pursuit, the rebels blew up the just-captured Indianola.
Some of Porter’s remaining gunboat crews were attempting to bulldoze a water passage through a tangled maze of old bayous and long-abandoned channels, to outflank the northern outposts of the Vicksburg defense; others were patrolling the Mississippi between St. Louis and Vicksburg. Even if Porter could send gunboats south, and even if the boats could survive Vicksburg’s scathing fire, the disturbing possibility remained that they could eventually fall into the hands of the rebels.
Faced with these problems. Commodore Porter conjured up his remarkable weapon. He leaked information through the rebel lines that a gigantic new Union ironclad had been built in the Eads works near St. Louis, and that it would soon steam down the Mississippi.
Porter stripped his flotilla of all sailors who could be spared, and sent them sloshing through wet timberlands to cut trees. Hauled by mule teams to the nearest water, the logs were floated downstream to the Mississippi, where they were assembled into a raft shaped like a monster gunboat—300 feet long.
Over the center of the raft a great log casemate was raised. Into its sides were installed counterfeit guns, made of logs painted black. Abandoned Confederate barns were tom down and the lumber was used to construct two huge paddle-wheel boxes on the sides of the raft. Wooden barrels were stacked end-to-end and lashed in place to form a high smokestack on each side of the forward end of the casemate. Heavy iron washpots commandeered from the backyards of farm houses were filled with tar and oakum and then lowered into the smokestacks. Davits from one of the Union riverboats were attached to each side of the new “ironclad,” and two old boats were suspended from them. One of Porter’s sailors dragged in an intact wooden privy, and it was hoisted atop the casemate to serve as a pilothouse. The great log ship, more than half again as large as the Ericsson ironclad Monitor, was solemnly commissioned in the U. S. Navy by hoisting a U. S. flag on its stem. Then the raft was towed near the bend of the
Mississippi just above Vicksburg and moored to a darkness.
vva*1
At midnight, lighted torches were tossed into the
pots. The raft was pulled into midstream and set a1
.drift'
the current. The alert watchers behind the Vicksburg
parts saw the monster coming downstream in the rn1
all)'1
light, black smoke belching from its funnels. FrantlC they poured round after round of heavy artillery shells1
the “ironclad.” “What was their astonishment,’ modore Porter wrote, “to see this huge ironclad pasS ^ batteries, apparently unharmed, and not even taking trouble to fire a gun!”
The Vicksburg military governor immediately ( patched messengers southward, to warn Confer ...
forces. The Queen of the West had come up the
sippi to Warrenton, just south of Vicksburg, to
pumps needed to raise the Indianola. When the
ironclad” came into view, the crew of the Queen °ftJj
West hurriedly cast off lines and fled downstream the monster relentlessly drifting after them.
'V|i
The Webb was moored alongside the Indianola commanding officer learned that the great ironclad the way and ordered all salvage work to stop. Demolj;^ charges were set on the Indianola. As the Queen °J ,
West steamed abreast with the word that the behemoth "
tl*
in close pursuit, the Indianola was blown up, and Webb joined in the frenzied flight. ^
The Queen of the West was sunk by Rear Admiral k ragut’s forces in the south. The Webb ran for the '
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tive safety of Shreveport on the Red River. Comrn° ^
Porter’s victorious monster ran aground on a ivun- ^ sandbar where chagrined Confederates could re,,p0 message painted in large letters on the paddle boxes: luded rebels, cave in.”
As the ground dried under the spring sun, General took the offensive. He was supported by Porter’s conventional river craft, which brought about the sim der of Vicksburg on 4 July 1863.