OldReliable1862
First Sergeant
- Joined
- Jul 2, 2017
- Location
- Georgia
In early 1862, General Mansfield Lovell and Flag Officer George N. Hollins were greatly concerned for the defenses of New Orleans. The majority of troops and guns had been sent away, leaving the forts undermanned and undergunned. Hollins wrote to Richmond, pleading for permission to attack Farragut's ships. Evidently he was so insistent the government effectively removed him from active service, probably to shut him up. Of course, they were proven right when Farragut ran the forts and then took the city.
At the time of the Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip, the Confederacy had two large ironclads under construction at New Orleans, the Louisiana and the Mississippi. What if the government had listened to Hollins and managed to spare the resources to finish the ships?
Had they been completed, it seems very likely Farragut would learn of it not long after. Surely Farragut would not risk his fleet against two large ironclads?
At the time of the Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip, the Confederacy had two large ironclads under construction at New Orleans, the Louisiana and the Mississippi. What if the government had listened to Hollins and managed to spare the resources to finish the ships?
Had they been completed, it seems very likely Farragut would learn of it not long after. Surely Farragut would not risk his fleet against two large ironclads?