It protected Union transports and supply boats from Confederate ambushes. Piecing together fragmentsĪs a Civil War historian who has been researching the Union’s river navy for seven years, I have learned that the fleet was important in ways beyond its attacks on southern forts. Naval History and Heritage Commandīut these conventional battles are only one part of the larger story of the Union’s Mississippi River Squadron. Philbrick, a crew member of a nearby Navy ship. The USS Essex operating on the Mississippi River on Nov. The Union used this cutting-edge naval technology to attack Confederate forts at places like Tennessee’s Fort Henry and Island No. The seven city-class ironclads, sometimes called the turtles, were the most recognizable boats in the fleet, but northern laborers also converted a few existing steamboats into armored vessels. Called ironclads, these boats were about 50 yards long, carried 75 tons of armor on their hulls and decks, sported up to 13 guns, and had crews numbering up to 250 men. Naval History and Heritage Commandĭuring the American Civil War, huge metal monsters roamed the Mississippi River. The USS Cairo pulls up to the banks of the Mississippi River in 1862.
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