Battle of Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864

CSS Tennessee, an ironclad ram, was built at Selma, Alabama, where she was commissioned on February 16, 1864, Lieutenant James D. Johnston, CSN, in command. CSS Baltic towed... her to Mobile where she was fitted out for action. Tennessee was laid down in October 1862, hull and other woodwork turned out by Henry D. Bassett, who launched her the following February, ready for towing to Mobile to be engined and armed. Her steam plant came from the steamer Alonzo Child; only casemate design differed materially from CSS Columbia and CSS Texas. Her iron mail was the same 2 by 10 in plate used on CSS Huntsville and CSS Tuscaloosa but triple instead of double thickness. A fearsome detail of her armament was a "hot water attachment to her boilers for repelling boarders, throwing one stream from forward of the casemate and one aft.
more

The American Civil War , often referred to as The Civil War in the United States, was a civil war fought over the secession of the Confederacy. In response to the election of an... anti-slavery Republican as President, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25 states supported the federal government . After four years of warfare, mostly within the Southern states, the Confederacy surrendered and slavery was outlawed everywhere in the nation. Issues that led to war were partially resolved in the Reconstruction Era that followed, though others remained unresolved. In the presidential election of 1860, the Republican Party, led by Abraham Lincoln, had campaigned against expanding slavery beyond the states in which it already existed. The Republicans strongly advocated nationalism, and in their 1860 platform they denounced threats of disunion as avowals of treason. After a Republican victory, but before the new administration took office on March 4, 1861, seven cotton states declared their secession and joined to form the Confederate States of America.
more

USS Chickasaw was a monitor in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. The first U.S. Navy ship to be so named, Chickasaw was built in Carondelet, Missouri,... launched 10 February 1864 by Thomas G. Gaylord, St. Louis, Missouri; brought to Mound City, Illinois, 8 May; and commissioned 14 May 1864, Acting Master J. Fitzpatrick in command. Between 14 May and 30 June 1864 Chickasaw patrolled on the Mississippi River. Sailing to New Orleans, Louisiana, she joined the West Gulf Blockading Squadron 9 July. While operating with the Squadron she participated in Admiral David Farragut's victory the Battle of Mobile Bay , during which she was struck by enemy shells 11 times, and the attacks on Forts Gaines and Morgan . The monitor remained in the vicinity of Mobile Bay until 3 July 1865 when she sailed down river for New Orleans, Louisiana. Upon her arrival at New Orleans 6 July 1865, Chickasaw was decommissioned and laid up. Between 15 June and 10 August 1869 she bore the name Samson and then reverted to Chickasaw. She was sold at New Orleans 12 September 1874.
more

USS Winnebago was a Milwaukee-class double-turret monitor, named for the Winnebago tribe of Siouan Indians that aided the US government during the Black Hawk War of 1832. The... contract for construction of the first Winnebago was awarded to James B. Eads of St. Louis, Missouri, on 27 May 1862; and the hull of the ship was built at Carondelet, Mo., by the Union Iron Works. Launched on 4 July 1863, Winnebago was commissioned on 27 April 1864, Acting Master A. S. Megathlin in command. Assigned to the Mississippi River Squadron, Winnebago operated on the Mississippi River and its tributaries protecting that vital waterway for Union forces during the last year of the American Civil War. On 15 June 1864, she dueled Confederate artillery after Rebel guns had fired upon the wooden side-wheeler General Bragg, off Como Landing, La. General Bragg's, return fire caused the Confederates to move their guns to Ratliff's Landing, whence they began shelling the paddle-wheel steamer Naiad. Alerted by the sound of the gunfire, Winnebago headed toward the action and soon joined the battle. Eventually, the combined fire from the three Union ships silenced the Confederate battery.
more

USS Hartford, a sloop-of-war, was the first ship of the United States Navy named for Hartford, the capital of Connecticut. Hartford was launched 22 November 1858 at the Boston... Navy Yard; sponsored by Miss Carrie Downes, Miss Lizzie Stringham, and Lieutenant G. J. H. Preble; and commissioned 27 May 1859, Captain Charles Lowndes in command. After shakedown out of Boston, the new screw sloop of war, carrying Flag Officer Cornelius K. Stribling, the newly appointed commander of the East India Squadron, sailed for the Cape of Good Hope and the Far East. Upon reaching the Orient, Hartford relieved Mississippi as flagship. In November she embarked the American Minister to China, John Elliott Ward, at Hong Kong and carried him to Canton, Manila, Swatow, Shanghai, and other Far Eastern ports to settle American claims and to arrange for favorable consideration of the Nation's interests. With the outbreak of the American Civil War, Hartford was ordered home. She departed the Sunda Strait with Dacotah on 30 August 1861 and arrived Philadelphia on 2 December to be fitted out for wartime service. She departed the Delaware Capes on 28 January as flagship of Flag Officer David G.
more