Tifts Priority in June 1862

[DaveBrt]

Telegram from CSN Paymaster ? Senac? to Mallory, June 14, 1862:

Will you send me an order from the War Dept to the Agts in charge of Rail Roads here to Savannah to give immediate transportation to iron plates, spikes & bolts for Mess Tift.

June '62, Tifts, Jackson, armor, rush -- can anyone put these together for me?

 

[georgew]

Telegram from CSN Paymaster ? Senac? to Mallory, June 14, 1862:

Will you send me an order from the War Dept to the Agts in charge of Rail Roads here to Savannah to give immediate transportation to iron plates, spikes & bolts for Mess Tift.

June '62, Tifts, Jackson, armor, rush -- can anyone put these together for me?

Dave, the time and context suggests this relates to the conversion of the Fingal at Savannah.

 

[DaveBrt]

Dave, the time and context suggests this relates to the conversion of the Fingal at Savannah.

So you are saying this was Tifts material going from Jackson to Savannah; I was reading it the other way, but your interpretation makes more sense.

 

[georgew]

So you are saying this was Tifts material going from Jackson to Savannah; I was reading it the other way, but your interpretation makes more sense.

Hi Dave. I think I'm reading the message correctly. I also base it on the question of who in Jackson would be receiving such materials during that time frame? Jackson had become the HQ for the CSN in the west, but the only active project at that time was the Arkansas and she was just finishing up. To the best of my knowledge, the Tifts had already gone east. I don't believe that the project to convert the Pontchartrain at Little Rock had been approved yet, but Rebel can probably clarify that issue. I don't think the material was intended for the Cotton either. She was an Army boat and had been converted at Franklin, La. On the other hand, I do remember reading something a few years ago implying that the conversion was not complete. She was basically a tin-clad forward around the boilers and machinery and a bulwarked cotton-clad from the wheel aft. Her guns were exposed on the fore-deck and a light piece was reported on the deck above the boiler deck. If the iron in question was a late left over from the Mississippi order there would have been a battle royal to divert it. That was plate armor and when laminated superior to the rail available.

 

[rebelatsea]

The order to convert Pontchartrain was never given so far as I am aware. James H Warner was sent to survey the machinery in the partially burned ship ,and to report on the feasibility of rebuilding her into an ironclad. It has been suggested that a Nashville type vessel was suggested. I would suggest that, if so, the description refers to the arrangement of wheels etc rather than an actual Nashville .
Neither Cotten nor Pontchartrain were completed iron protected ,in both cases the armour did not extend beyond the wheel boxes.

Atlanta's armour plate was 2" thick and 7" wide and had no connections to anything from the west.

 

[georgew]

The order to convert Pontchartrain was never given so far as I am aware. James H Warner was sent to survey the machinery in the partially burned ship ,and to report on the feasibility of rebuilding her into an ironclad. It has been suggested that a Nashville type vessel was suggested. I would suggest that, if so, the description refers to the arrangement of wheels etc rather than an actual Nashville .
Neither Cotten nor Pontchartrain were completed iron protected ,in both cases the armour did not extend beyond the wheel boxes.

Atlanta's armour plate was 2" thick and 7" wide and had no connections to anything from the west.

Howdy Rebel. That plate went somewhere, and I don't remember that any of the builds at Yazoo City actually received plate armor. The only project I can think of that could have used it would have been the conversion of the Mobile, but I don't think she could have carried more than one layer (2 inches) on the casemate.

 

[rebelatsea]

Howdy Rebel. That plate went somewhere, and I don't remember that any of the builds at Yazoo City actually received plate armor. The only project I can think of that could have used it would have been the conversion of the Mobile, but I don't think she could have carried more than one layer (2 inches) on the casemate.

Hi Georgew,

Yes .Mobile would have been a "tinclad" .She was too small to carry thick armour, I think they used what was already available on her, but maybe the missing iron was intended for the Yazoo monster ?