As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
In a time when America is invaded, the old warfare which founded America will be necessary to comprehend and revisit in strategy.
The American Civil War saw a fascinating situation in a the Navy of America fought not a Naval High Seas battle, but instead was one of freshwater contests, completely upon the rivers of America. No one even comprehends the Mississippi River as a battle zone, but that was the absolute case and God laid out the perfect operational base for the North at a place called Cairo Illiniois.
Illinois does not exactly sound like anything of the Navy, but it was the chief Naval base in America for it is naturally situated on the Mississippi River, and it juts like a salient between Missouri in the west with the Mississippi and Kentucky in the east at the confluence of the Ohio River.
The breaks there afford to their front in Illinois a flood plain of sorts, which were protected by dikes and damns, and this became the city of Cairo. It was this strategic location which became the Union Naval operation base for the interior rivers of America in the Civil War.
The Mississippi is 1097 nautical or miles of water from the Gulf of Mexico, due to it's meanering course, but as the crow flies Cairo is only 480 miles from New Orleans. It is that broad valley though which seperates Mississippi, the State, which was the focal point of all of this, and the Gibraltar choke point on the river was Vicksburg, and the site of the death struggle for the South in an epic seige.
The Mississippi is regular in having a late winter and early spring flood rise, and one again in early summer when the massive storms of the West and Midwest dump millions of gallons of water onto the plains. The lowest months of the river are, August, September and October, due to the plains storms ending and the high heat index of July drying out the entire drainage.
The Mississippi is a fantastic spider vein of drainage. It takes in the river systems from the east in the Ohio systems, it takes in the central systems of it's namesake, and then it receives the entire drainage of that great muddy and sandy river systems in the Missouri and the Platte, which of course if followed is the entire Yellowstone and Montana Basin.
One can literally start in New Orleans, and never leave water until reaching Yellowstone Park in Wyoming.
The bluffs of Chickasaw in Tennessee, Vicksburg in Mississippi, and Grand Gulf, Port Hudson and finally Baton Rouge were all important points of contests and Naval operations in the Civil War.
The war would start at two points in New Orleans and Cairo and converge upon Vicksburg which would receive the entire Southern retreats and therefore reinforcements.
On May 16th, 1861 AD in the year of our Lord, Commander John Rogers took command of the inland Navy by creating it. He was subject to officers of higher regional command and President Lincoln's own thoughts which were all not helpful.
He acquired in Cincinnati, the Tyler, the Lexington and the Conestoga, three river steamers which he fitted with 5 inch oak plank and some massive batteries.
The Tyler had 6 64 pounders in broadside, and one 32 pound stern gun.
The Lexington 4 64's and 2 32's.
The Conestoga had 2 32's and one light stern gun.
This was the entire inland Navy without iron clad which the Union sent forth to Cairo Illinois.
The river was low, and it was not until August 12th, that the three ships arrived in Illinios, literally dragging one of them over a sand bar by combined steam.
From St. Louis, seven gunboats were contracted for and arrived in Cairo on October 10th.
The gunboats were 50 feet wide and 175 feet long, with one paddle midship. The paddle was enclosed in an ingenious 45 degree sloped box to protect the paddle, the engines and the battery of 13 guns.
These were ingenious warships constructed by James B. Eads of St. Louis.
These ships had iron plating, but only front on, as it was deemed only forward fighting would take place, but in that forward area they were substantial in having 2 1/2 inches of iron backed by 24 inches of oak plank. The boilers and the engines were also iron clad protected, but had no oak backing.
The vessels drew about 7 feet of water in the river fully loaded. Their weakness was no plating on the sides or stern, which made the high pressure boilers as were all which were available in the west, vulnerable to being pierced and boiler explosions.
The bridge or pilot house was protected by 2 1/2 inches of iron in the front and 1 1/2 inches in the remainder of the bridge house.
These "turtles" threw a 70 pound rifled shell from 42 pounder guns. They were worthless in the rifling was shot away which made them weak, and they exploded much to the chagrine of the crews stuck with the things. When they were replaced, they were thrown over into the Mississippi as the crews detested them this much.
The Navy provided for the turtles, 32 pounders, 8 inch guns. Their batteries in total were 13 cannon, and the ships carried in their flat bottoms 12 1/4 tons.
The 7 turtles were named for the cities which they defended with the exception of one, being named after the great Missouri Senator, Thomas Hart Benton, who had been thrown out of office by Missouirians for being pro Union.
Their names listed, the Louisville, Mound City, Pittsburg, St. Louis, Cardondelet, St. Louis and the Cairo.
In review of this, the South was not interested in invasion, but in protecting it's own States. One wonders though if the South would have prepared 50 such turtles, with armoured barges in tow, what kind of terrorism they could have sown, with massive exploding cannister and incindiary rounds shelling Pittsburg, Cincinnati and Cairo early in the war, allowing their border States of Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee to become Confederate, the war would have been prosecuted in the Ohio and Pennsylvania, and DC would have fled to New York with Mr. Lincoln.
After recoil the Union would have attempted to blockade the river and remove the turtles, but if something could have been prosecuted in the first 6 months, the South would have had a Navy from St. Paul in Minnesota, Cairo in Illinois and Cincinnati in Ohio.
The war would have looked much different without the manufacturing base of Pennsylvania and Ohio smelting for the Union.
The Benton was a snag boat or a river clearing boat. She was the largest in being purchased by the Union and was much heavier. She was 1000 tons, and was 72 feet wide and 202 feet long. Forward plating was 3 inches of iron and 30 inches of oak plank. Her engines were protected by 2 1/2 inches of iron and backed by 12 inches of oak. 5/8 inch iron plating were the rest of her battlements.
She was the largest of the fleet and Flag Officer Foote was not in favor of receiving her as her draft was 9 feet in the water and she was slow at 5 knots, but for all her heft and slow pace, she was affectionately called The Old War Horse as she was the most fit dreadnaught for battle on the freshwater veins which were American inland naval power.
One other turtle would play a part in the inland water war, and that would be the Essex, named for the original Essex of the War of 1812, and commanded by Admiral Porter and lost in combat off Chile with the British in a rather unchivalrous deceit by the British in that engagement.
The Essex of the inland waters was commanded by Admiral Porter's son, Wm. Dixon Porter, one of the finest Naval officers ever.
The late Essex was seperated by the Northern flotilla by the batteries of Vicksburg.
Commander Rogers was soon replaced by Commander A. H. Foote, who oversaw the fitting of the flotilla, including 38 mortar barges carrying 8 inch mortars for shelling. These barges were solid plank.
1100 men were drafted December 23, 1861 to man this fleet. They would include over 200 Western steamboat men, sailors from the Great Lakes, 500 from the seaboard in men of war, merchant men, with the remainder men of the shore or Army.
This was the inland Navy of America, and once again into it stepped another person who meddled too much in General Halleck of the Military Command who demanded at this point, that all men would be termed Marines, and be accompanied by Army officers on board, and answer to no Naval Officer except the Commander on board.
Flag Officer Foote rejected such luanacy as there would not be any way to command such a group and maintain discipline.
The great American Hero, General Fremont was in direct command of the western inland Navy and he gave full control of it to Flag Officer Foote, but it came to the point that Foote refused to admit any more "Army men" in a draft, as the "draft" was one which every Army command decided to dump their most worthless men into it, and Foote could do nothing with these worthless types.
He finally declared he would go into combat with half staff than to endure any more of these malcontents.
This was the inland Navy of America in the Civil War and the command structure. It was a fine flotilla in the turtles and deserves a great more credit and honor, on both sides of Union and Confederate, as this was a necessary part of the war, and mismanaged by both the Lincoln and Davis Administrations.
The only person who managed this correctly was John Charles Freemont, but due to "the West Point insiders" he was soon displaced, and then the fleet fell under the management of the commander, General Grant predominantly in the west.
I would love to have the funding to build the USS Fremont again, and then invade US cities on the 4th of July from Minneapolis to St. Louis and fire off huge fireworks into the air. Can just imagine what an exploding fireworks canister 50 times larger than what is currently thrown would present to the night skies.
That though is the short history of the beginning of the river forces in America, minus Gung Ho John Kerry attacking rice piles with grenades in Vietnam in blowing rice up his ass and receiving a Purple Heart for it.
agtG
