Working On The Red River Dam!

[JPK Huson 1863]

Ok, well beyond Brandy Station and The Battle of Fairfield next-best favorite story is The Red River Dam. Hand's down- the only crushing blow was finding Walke not in command of the Carondelet that day but you can't have everything. " Bailey's Dam " might sound like a faintly boring feat of engineering but here's why it wasn't;

https://thecivilwarandnorthwestwisc...14/1864-june-11-baileys-dam-on-the-red-river/

So anyway- got started on all this because I came across this, LoC group images, how cool is THAT?

BUILDING the dam? I have photos of bits and pieces, not one where they're constructing it.


Ships mentioned in article, the ones which had to go OVER this thing? Forget it- cannot imagine it. I still think if they could figure out the budget, this would make an incredible movie, plus they could really blow it like they always do with History and let Henry Walke have his ship for the day.

Sorry- hadn't bumped into this before, found it amazing!!

Fort Hindman

Pittsburgh

Lexington

Mentioned in article, Choctaw

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

Lexington
View attachment 58440

Is it actually labeled "Lexington" at LOC?

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

Is it actually labeled "Lexington" at LOC?

Yes, do you need the link? I think I saved it- it's in one of the pages there which has like a bazillion ' groups'- I re-checked in case I was getting the name mixed up with the other behemoth, Tyler?

Looks like a ship is right behind this one, too- same type?

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

Blurry from enlarging, you folks only need the basics for ID though, right?

The ship following the one LoC calls " Lexington " OH! " Essex" ?

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

Yes, do you need the link? I think I saved it- it's in one of the pages there which has like a bazillion ' groups'- I re-checked in case I was getting the name mixed up with the other behemoth, Tyler?

No, no--- the reason I ask is that it's a great shot of the only timberclad that was on the Red River expedition, which is documented to have been Lexington. The boat that's otherwise usually labeled Lexington looks different:

But, as has been noted on this website a few times, that boat (with the chimneys forward rather than amidships) must be Conestoga.

I'm just wondering if the LOC image was correctly-labeled from the get-go, or if it's been corrected at some point.

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

Blurry from enlarging, you folks only need the basics for ID though, right?

More or less. That's definitely one of the "Pook turtles," but there were several along on Red River. Could be Carondelet, Pittsburg, Louisville, or Mound City.

From the other image you have, it looks like the same boat that's behind Pittsburg, so it's probably one of the other three.

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

No, no--- the reason I ask is that it's a great shot of the only timberclad that was on the Red River expedition, which is documented to have been Lexington. The boat that's otherwise usually labeled Lexington looks different:

But, as has been noted on this website a few times, that boat (with the chimneys forward rather than amidships) must be Conestoga.

I'm just wondering if the LOC image was correctly-labeled from the get-go, or if it's been corrected at some point.

So is this Lexington and the Conestoga the boat generally labeled ' Lexington'? Only asking for personal purposes- have no clue on veracity with these and also would not have been surprised to see incorrect labeling even in LoC- good reason to bring this stuff here for many pairs of professional eyes.

Even in LoC you can bump into these amazing, amazing areas of search, time out on them and then find it flatly impossible to find them again- even with photos in your history. Crazy- and unsurprising there seem to be a fair amount of buried photos in both LoC and National Archives.

 

[1stMS-Arty]

Two watercolors by James Madison Alden depicting ships passing through the dam. Alden was Admiral Porter's secretary and was eye witness to the scene of building the dam and ships passing through it. Alden was also a nephew of James Alden, Jr. captain of the USS Richmond.

 

[lelliott19]

Wow! Amazing. I wouldnt have wanted to be on a ship "passing through" the dam. Looks like a rough "passage."

 

[1stMS-Arty]

Also at the LOC: Photos of the dam(s)(there were two) during low water in 1984.
The remains of the dam will probably never be seen again because of the construction of 5 modern locks and dams on the Red River which keep the water level up.
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/la0217/

 

[jude]

I know this is a old post but glad to see this bc I've been confused about the uss signal. The one in this post I have a picture of myself but the problem is that everything I read said the boat number was 8. This one has 9. I have another picture that suppose to be the signal with 8 and it's a different ship
Anybody know anything different or know what boat was number 8 or 9?

 

[JOHN42768]

A lot of great photos. Thanks