css general polk

[jr baker]

Anybody know what happen to the CSS general Polk I know she was station at Randolph tn I don't know what ever happen to her thanks

 

[AndyHall]

Silverstone says she was burned at Liverpool, below Yazoo City, on June 26, 1862.

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

General Polk


(Gbt: t. 390; a. 3 to 7 guns, progressively)


CSS General Polk was originally a side-wheel river steamer which some authorities cite as the Ed Howard or Howard, built in New Albany, Ind., in 1852. Purchased for $8,000 by the Confederates at New Orleans, La., in 1861, she was converted into a ship of war, which involved stripping her to a "mere shell."


Her first service was under Flag Officer G. N. Hollins who took his Louisiana defense fleet up the Mississippi in December to cooperate with the Army in the vicinity of New Madrid, Mo. At that time Lt. J. H. Carter, CSN, commanded Polk, as she was usually known.


In April, 1862 Commodore Hollins returned to New Orleans and command of the river fleet devolved on Comdr. R. F. Pinkney, CSN. After the fall of Island No. 10, Polk, Livingston and Army ram General Earl Van Dorn escaped 75 miles up the Yazoo River where they were burned at Liverpool, 25 miles below Yazoo City, on 26 June 1862 to prevent capture.

http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/cfa4/general_polk.htm

 

[ErnieMac]

Burned in the Yazoo River on June 26, 1862.
http://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Civil_War_Confederate_Ships_G_through_L

 

[georgew]

Anybody know what happen to the CSS general Polk I know she was station at Randolph tn I don't know what ever happen to her thanks

Lt. C.W. Read was ordered by Lt. I.N. Brown to prepare the Polk and Livingstone for use as rams. Then they were treated with materials for use as fire ships. When a probing Union gunboat came up river, these vessels were prematurely fired. The Livingstone collided with the River Defense ram Van Dorn, igniting that vessel also. The Union gunboat escaped and the Van Dorn blew up - according the Read she was the only vessel on the Yazoo other than the Arkansas with pretentions of being a gunboat.

 

[ErnieMac]

Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies; Series 1, Volume 23, page 233.

Steam Ram Switzerland
Above Vicksburg, June 28 via Memphis, July 2.

Since my dispatch informing you that I had communicated with Flag-Officer Farragut, I have been able to maintain constant intercourse with his fleet through the active energy of General Williams.

On the 26th instant I went up the Yazoo River with two rams, the Monarch and the Lancaster, the latter under the command of Medical Cadet Charles R. Ellet. I proceeded about 65 miles to a point where the river is obstructed by a raft built by the enemy, and protected by four guns in battery.

My object was to capture or destroy three of the enemy's gunboats that I was informed were lying before the raft, the Van Dorn, Polk, and Livingston. I ran up close under the battery and was mortified to see the enemy set fire the boats and start them adrift down the river upon us. I was obliged to leave the river to escape the conflagration.

The three boats were totally destroyed. The enemy did not fire upon us.

It is with great pleasure that I announce the arrival of Flag-Officer Farragut, with nine vessels of his fleet, above Vicksburg. They passed up this forenoon, about 5 o'clock, through a severe fire from some thirty or forty of the enemy's guns. Their loss, as far as reported, was 4 men killed and 13 wounded.

Alfred [W.] Ellet,
Lieutenant-Colonel.

E. M. Stanton,
Secretary of War.

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

Silverstone says she was burned at Liverpool, below Yazoo City, on June 26, 1862.

Liverpool, MS no longer exists.

From Mississippi Byways
By Jim Ewing
Jackson Daily News Staff Writer

Liverpool Landing ---- This spot, at the end of a short, almost indistinguishable dirt road in southwestern Yazoo County, isn't listed on maps anymore. But at one time this quiet dirt landing on the Yazoo River was the hub of a bustling community, a steamboat stop and a shipping point for cotton. And legends about it still remain. Hardly any landmarks point out this spot and local residents--or, those who launch their fishing boats here in summer--know of it. The only clues that people have been here are cast-off beer cans, a few old candy wrappers and spent, weathered .22 shells left by "plinkers" shooting at debris floating down the river on sunny days.

Local legend has it that this was a busy place before the Civil War. Longtime area residents report that a Union gunboat, or barge, was sunk here. And back in the early part of this century, its smokestack and flywheel could be seen jutting from the river's waters during times of drought.Behind the landing, on the eastern side of Mississippi Highway 3, is a towering ridge, called "Rudloff Ridge" or "Battle Ridge". It acquired the name "Battle Ridge" because the Confederate artillery battery that sank the Union boat was supposedly located there and because a skirmish was fought there in the last days of the Civil War.

Relic hunters with metal detectors sometimes still find Minnie balls and other objects there, although the ridge has been reduced somewhat by a by a re-routing of the highway.During the cotton boom years of the 1830s and '40s, farmers from many miles would drive their cotton wagons to meet the river steam packets that landed here. One early steamer, the Gov. Morehead, broke down its charges for passenger travel in 1840 as "Vicksburg to Liverpool--$2.50," "to Satartia--$2.50," with passage from Yazoo City to Vicksburg, $3.00.

After the Civil War with the slow decline of river traffic and the rise of railroads, the little community here began to decline. Today there is nothing more to mark its spot than a clear space next to the river and an almost forgotten road from a bustling new highway.

 

[ErnieMac]

I imagine that was the fate of many small communities along the rivers throughout the country. Now we're seeing the demise of many other small towns that the railroads created and have now abandoned.

 

[jr baker]

I remember she sunk somewhere around Yazoo ms. Anybody know if anything left of the wreck thanks