- Joined
- Mar 31, 2012
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- Central Ohio
"Ships… cannot crawl up hills 300 feet high, and it is that part of Vicksburg which must be taken by the Army." -- David Dixon Porter
While the securing of the Mississippi River Valley required a major naval effort on the part of the Union, paradoxically the actual capture of Vicksburg was mostly a land-based affair. On the other hand, Grant conceded that, without the Navy's involvement, the Vicksburg campaign as it eventually unfolded would have been impossible.
As we're in the midst of the 150th anniversaries of many of these events, here's a summarized timeline of the Navy's activities in support of the campaign…
November 1862:
Acting Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter and Rear Admiral David Glasgow Farragut organize and prepare their forces for the upcoming river campaigns.
December 1862:
A small force of ironclads and tinclads under local command of Captain Henry Walke probes up the Yazoo River in preparation for the planned Chickasaw Bayou/Walnut Hills operation. They encounter Confederate torpedoes and lose the ironclad Cairo to two of them December 12. The remainder of the Mississippi Squadron descends the river to join and transport Sherman's forces southward. A strong force of ironclads engages the batteries at Drumgould's Bluff and covers the removal of torpedoes below that point, but are unable to silence the Confederate batteries. The Mississippi Squadron supports Sherman's attack and repulse at Chickasaw Bayou.
January 1863:
Porter and Sherman, soon joined by General McClernand, strike up the White and Arkansas Rivers and take Fort Hindman at Arkansas Post on January 11. McClernand's intent to continue to Little Rock is canceled by Grant, and the forces return to north of Vicksburg, though elements of the Mississippi Squadron remain up the White River to clear out some Confederate positions. Porter observes Grant's troops working on a canal to bypass Vicksburg but doesn't think much of its prospects. Two other attempts to flank Vicksburg, the Lake Providence route and the Yazoo Pass route, are conceived.
February 1863:
In order to "blockade" the flow of supplies down the Red River from the Trans-Mississippi to Vicksburg and Port Hudson, Porter sends Ellet's ram Queen of the West down past Vicksburg. The Queen damages the steamer City of Vicksburg under her namesake city's guns, and then raids downriver capturing several steamers and destroying supplies. The ironclad Indianola is sent to join the Queen of the West, continuing her depredations below Vicksburg, but the Queen is captured before the two can meet. When they do meet, the Queen along with the Confederate steamers Webb and Beatty sink the ironclad off Palmyra Island. Confederate parties working on the Indianola are frightened by the approach of another Union ironclad and destroy the Indianola, but the approaching gunboat turns out to be a dummy sent past Vicksburg to draw fire. The Yazoo Pass Expedition belatedly gets underway.
March 1863:
Farragut plans to pass above Port Hudson during a supporting ground attack on the city by General Banks' troops. The Yazoo Pass Expedition inches southward toward Greenwood, Mississippi, where it is stymied by a quickly-built fort commanded by General Loring, called Fort Pemberton. The ironclads Chillicothe and Baron de Kalb shell the fort without success, and the Chillicothe sustains heavy damage; the Yazoo Pass Expedition begins to retreat northward. Meanwhile, Porter plans an expedition through Steele's Bayou in the Yazoo Delta to flank Vicksburg and to support the Yazoo Pass effort. Farragut's force is mostly turned back by the guns of Port Hudson and the sidewheeler Mississippi is destroyed; however, he continues upriver to block the Red River with the Hartford and the gunboat Albatross. The Steele's Bayou Expedition fails, and a number of Porter's ironclads escape capture by Confederate infantry. Two Ellet rams are sent down past Vicksburg to join Farragut; the Switzerland succeeds, though with heavy damage, and the Lancaster is destroyed. Grant and Porter confer and agree that, with the failure of the flanking operations, the only practical alternative is an assault and river crossing south of Vicksburg.
April 1863:
After preparations, the majority of Porter's ironclads and several other boats run the batteries of Vicksburg in the early morning of April 17, with only the loss of a transport steamer. Recon missions are made down to Grand Gulf, while a number of transports attempt to run the Vicksburg batteries; several are lost but most survive. At the end of the month, Porter's fleet attacks the batteries at Grand Gulf, while the portion of the fleet still above Vicksburg stages a feigned attack up the Yazoo River in concert with Sherman's corps. The Grand Gulf effort is unsuccessful, and a river crossing site farther south is sought. A location near Bruinsburg is selected and Grant's troops begin crossing the river.
May 1863:
Cut off by Grant's inland advance, the Confederate positions at Grand Gulf are evacuated and the Mississippi Squadron occupies them. Porter meets and relieves Farragut at the mouth of the Red River. At the advance of gunboats up the Red, Confederate Fort De Russy is evacuated and the Union forces partially demolish it. Both Vicksburg and Grand Gulf come under regular fire from the Union riverine forces. Porter's upstream elements in the Yazoo greet Union army units closing in on Vicksburg from the interior and open up a new supply route north of the city at Snyder's Bluff. The Mississippi Squadron supports Grant's assault on May 22; meanwhile a force pushes up the Yazoo River to Yazoo City and forces its evacuation and the destruction of Southern shipbuilding facilities there. On May 27, while attempting to enfilade Confederate rifle pits on Sherman's right flank, the ironclad Cincinnati is sunk by gunfire from the Vicksburg batteries; the same day, Grand Gulf repulses an assault by Banks' forces, supported by Farragut's ships.
June 1863:
As operations at both Vicksburg and Grand Gulf settle down into regular sieges, the Navy lands heavy guns to reinforce the Army's siege artillery. The ironclad Choctaw and the gunboat Lexington add heavy fire support to the defense of Milliken's Bend on June 7. During the siege, in addition to providing fire support, the Navy patrols the river above, below, and between Vicksburg and Grand Gulf, seizing or destroying all forms of water transport and supplies that could aid the Confederate positions.
July 1863:
Vicksburg surrenders after a lengthy bombardment and siege by Union naval and land forces on July 4. Port Hudson holds out until July 9, when news of the fall of Vicksburg reaches it. A combined force moves up to occupy Yazoo City on the Yazoo, but loses the ironclad Baron de Kalb to a mine. At the end of the month, Rear Admiral Farragut turns control of the entire length of the Mississippi down to New Orleans over to Porter's Mississippi Squadron.
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While the securing of the Mississippi River Valley required a major naval effort on the part of the Union, paradoxically the actual capture of Vicksburg was mostly a land-based affair. On the other hand, Grant conceded that, without the Navy's involvement, the Vicksburg campaign as it eventually unfolded would have been impossible.
As we're in the midst of the 150th anniversaries of many of these events, here's a summarized timeline of the Navy's activities in support of the campaign…
November 1862:
Acting Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter and Rear Admiral David Glasgow Farragut organize and prepare their forces for the upcoming river campaigns.
December 1862:
A small force of ironclads and tinclads under local command of Captain Henry Walke probes up the Yazoo River in preparation for the planned Chickasaw Bayou/Walnut Hills operation. They encounter Confederate torpedoes and lose the ironclad Cairo to two of them December 12. The remainder of the Mississippi Squadron descends the river to join and transport Sherman's forces southward. A strong force of ironclads engages the batteries at Drumgould's Bluff and covers the removal of torpedoes below that point, but are unable to silence the Confederate batteries. The Mississippi Squadron supports Sherman's attack and repulse at Chickasaw Bayou.
January 1863:
Porter and Sherman, soon joined by General McClernand, strike up the White and Arkansas Rivers and take Fort Hindman at Arkansas Post on January 11. McClernand's intent to continue to Little Rock is canceled by Grant, and the forces return to north of Vicksburg, though elements of the Mississippi Squadron remain up the White River to clear out some Confederate positions. Porter observes Grant's troops working on a canal to bypass Vicksburg but doesn't think much of its prospects. Two other attempts to flank Vicksburg, the Lake Providence route and the Yazoo Pass route, are conceived.
February 1863:
In order to "blockade" the flow of supplies down the Red River from the Trans-Mississippi to Vicksburg and Port Hudson, Porter sends Ellet's ram Queen of the West down past Vicksburg. The Queen damages the steamer City of Vicksburg under her namesake city's guns, and then raids downriver capturing several steamers and destroying supplies. The ironclad Indianola is sent to join the Queen of the West, continuing her depredations below Vicksburg, but the Queen is captured before the two can meet. When they do meet, the Queen along with the Confederate steamers Webb and Beatty sink the ironclad off Palmyra Island. Confederate parties working on the Indianola are frightened by the approach of another Union ironclad and destroy the Indianola, but the approaching gunboat turns out to be a dummy sent past Vicksburg to draw fire. The Yazoo Pass Expedition belatedly gets underway.
March 1863:
Farragut plans to pass above Port Hudson during a supporting ground attack on the city by General Banks' troops. The Yazoo Pass Expedition inches southward toward Greenwood, Mississippi, where it is stymied by a quickly-built fort commanded by General Loring, called Fort Pemberton. The ironclads Chillicothe and Baron de Kalb shell the fort without success, and the Chillicothe sustains heavy damage; the Yazoo Pass Expedition begins to retreat northward. Meanwhile, Porter plans an expedition through Steele's Bayou in the Yazoo Delta to flank Vicksburg and to support the Yazoo Pass effort. Farragut's force is mostly turned back by the guns of Port Hudson and the sidewheeler Mississippi is destroyed; however, he continues upriver to block the Red River with the Hartford and the gunboat Albatross. The Steele's Bayou Expedition fails, and a number of Porter's ironclads escape capture by Confederate infantry. Two Ellet rams are sent down past Vicksburg to join Farragut; the Switzerland succeeds, though with heavy damage, and the Lancaster is destroyed. Grant and Porter confer and agree that, with the failure of the flanking operations, the only practical alternative is an assault and river crossing south of Vicksburg.
April 1863:
After preparations, the majority of Porter's ironclads and several other boats run the batteries of Vicksburg in the early morning of April 17, with only the loss of a transport steamer. Recon missions are made down to Grand Gulf, while a number of transports attempt to run the Vicksburg batteries; several are lost but most survive. At the end of the month, Porter's fleet attacks the batteries at Grand Gulf, while the portion of the fleet still above Vicksburg stages a feigned attack up the Yazoo River in concert with Sherman's corps. The Grand Gulf effort is unsuccessful, and a river crossing site farther south is sought. A location near Bruinsburg is selected and Grant's troops begin crossing the river.
May 1863:
Cut off by Grant's inland advance, the Confederate positions at Grand Gulf are evacuated and the Mississippi Squadron occupies them. Porter meets and relieves Farragut at the mouth of the Red River. At the advance of gunboats up the Red, Confederate Fort De Russy is evacuated and the Union forces partially demolish it. Both Vicksburg and Grand Gulf come under regular fire from the Union riverine forces. Porter's upstream elements in the Yazoo greet Union army units closing in on Vicksburg from the interior and open up a new supply route north of the city at Snyder's Bluff. The Mississippi Squadron supports Grant's assault on May 22; meanwhile a force pushes up the Yazoo River to Yazoo City and forces its evacuation and the destruction of Southern shipbuilding facilities there. On May 27, while attempting to enfilade Confederate rifle pits on Sherman's right flank, the ironclad Cincinnati is sunk by gunfire from the Vicksburg batteries; the same day, Grand Gulf repulses an assault by Banks' forces, supported by Farragut's ships.
June 1863:
As operations at both Vicksburg and Grand Gulf settle down into regular sieges, the Navy lands heavy guns to reinforce the Army's siege artillery. The ironclad Choctaw and the gunboat Lexington add heavy fire support to the defense of Milliken's Bend on June 7. During the siege, in addition to providing fire support, the Navy patrols the river above, below, and between Vicksburg and Grand Gulf, seizing or destroying all forms of water transport and supplies that could aid the Confederate positions.
July 1863:
Vicksburg surrenders after a lengthy bombardment and siege by Union naval and land forces on July 4. Port Hudson holds out until July 9, when news of the fall of Vicksburg reaches it. A combined force moves up to occupy Yazoo City on the Yazoo, but loses the ironclad Baron de Kalb to a mine. At the end of the month, Rear Admiral Farragut turns control of the entire length of the Mississippi down to New Orleans over to Porter's Mississippi Squadron.
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