CSS Arkansas is Attacked at Vicksburg (Again!)

Vicksburg, Mississippi

On July 22, 1862 (150 years ago today), the Union fleet at Vicksburg made one more run at the famed Confederate ironclad, CSS Arkansas.
The Federals had been shelling the ironclad from long distance for days and, despite their reports of multiple hits, had done no real damage to the Arkansas. The railroad-iron sheathed gunboat intimidated the entire Federal fleet far more than the guns mounted on the bluffs of Vicksburg ever had or ever would.

They made one more attempt to destroy the Confederate warship on the morning of July 22, 1862, but things did not go well.



USS Essex (Civil War Photo)

Even though many of the men assigned to the Arkansas were ashore and there were only enough on board to man three guns, the ironclad made a formidable foe. The USS Essex, Queen of the West and General Sumter came in at full speed, planning to ram the Confederate vessel and send it to the bottom of the Mississippi River.


USS Queen of the West
(Civil War Water Color)

The Arkansas dodged the Essex, which missed its target and ran aground under heavy fire from the Confederate batteries at Vicksburg. The Union ironclad did succeed in sending a shot through the armor of the Arkansas at close range, killing 6 Confederates and wounding 6 others. Having lost 1 killed and 3 wounded, the Essex worked its way out of the mud and steamed downstream and away from the battle.

CSS Arkansas

The Queen of the West then came on, but missed as well. Turning around and coming back upstream, she succeeded in hitting the Arkansas but did little real damage. Pounded by cannon fire from both the Arkansas and the shore batteries, the Queen limped away back upstream.

The battle only succeeded to prove to Admiral David G. Farragut and other Union commanders that they would not be able to take Vicksburg using naval power alone. The CSS Arkansas, like the people of her namesake state, had proved herself to be strong, courageous and resilient. She had turned the tide of the first Battle of Vicksburg.

Farragut's attempt to end the city would end two days later.

To learn more about historic Vicksburg, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/vicksburg1.

CSS Arkansas Defies the Union Fleet on the Mississippi River

CSS Arkansas as drawn in 1904 by R.G. Skerrett

150 years ago this week, the CSS Arkansas touched off one of the most dramatic naval battles of the War Between the States.

Vicksburg, then commanded by Major General Earl Van Dorn, was under attack from a massive river fleet. Admiral David G. Farragut had brought his large ships up the Mississippi after taking New Orleans and Baton Rouge. A U.S. Army flotilla of gunboats and ironclads had come down the river and the two forces were threatening Vicksburg.

Confederate Battery at Vicksburg, Mississippi

General Van Dorn, who proved himself a much more capable commander on the defensive at Vicksburg than he had on the offense at Pea Ridge in Arkansas, ordered the Arkansas from her construction port in the  Yazoo down to assist in the defense of the city. With a makeshift but courageous crew, Captain Isaac N. Brown brought the makeshift ironclad up to full steam and headed for the Mississippi.

A steam leak dampened gunpowder in the forward magazine and caused a delay, but the Arkansas was approaching Vicksburg by the morning of July 15, 1862 (150 years ago yesterday). She quickly came under attack from the U.S. gunboats Carondelet (ironclad), Tyler (wooden) and Queen of the West (ram). Most of the men making up the gun crews on the Arkansas had never handled cannon the size of those on board the ironclad, but they quickly fired a shot that disabled the Carondelet.

Wartime Image of CSS Arkansas at Vicksburg

The approach of the Confederate ironclad caught the Union fleet napping. Most of the ships did not have their steam up and Captain Brown took his vessel close by them, exchanging fire as he passed. Despite fierce cannon fire, he soon tied up at Vicksburg.

Farragut was not content to have had his entire fleet shown up by a single Confederate ship, so he prepared to exact his revenge that night. The same Chicago reporter witnessed the attack:

...Commodore Farragut made an ineffectual attempt to sink her. His entire fleet passed down the river, each vessel pouring a broadside into the Arkansas as she passed her. The Rebels acknowledge that one 7-inch steel pointed shot went through the Arkansas, but assert that this is the only damage she sustained. A reconnoissance next morning showed that the Arkansas was undergoing repairs, but she did not appear in any danger of sinking.

Old Courthouse at Vicksburg, Mississippi

General Van Dorn described the attack in a telegram dispatched from Vicksburg to the Confederate War Department in Richmond 150 years ago today:

...Enemy opened all their guns and mortars last evening, and shelled the city and batteries until after dark, when eight of their vessels of war passed down under fire of batteries and Arkansas' broadsides. What damage was done to them I have not learned, though they were repeatedly pierced by shot of the heaviest calibre. One heavy shot passed through the side of the Arkansas, killing two men and wounding three. This was all the damage done to us, with the exception of one house burned down in the city. Our troops here have a contempt for the fleet and bombardment, and await cooling for troops to land. The Arkansas is the admiration of all, and her daring and heroic act has inspired all with the greatest enthusiasm....


Total losses suffered aboard the Arkansas during her daring passage and the subsequent Union attack were 12 killed and 18 wounded, including the casualties mentioned by General Van Dorn. The Union fleet lost 23 killed, 59 wounded and 10 missing (lost in the river). The Confederate general's report was accurate, the Southern ironclad had been pierced only once despite the massive number of Union guns that fired on her.

I will continue the story of the CSS Arkansas over coming weeks, so be sure to check back for more. You can learn more about historic Vicksburg by visiting www.exploresouthernhistory.com/vicksburg1.

New Exhibit on CSS Arkansas in Little Rock

The Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum in Little Rock has announced a new exhibit on one of the most famous ironclads of the Civil War, the C.S.S. Arkansas. This photo shows a section of replica armor from the exhibit.

Built on the Yazoo River in Mississippi in remarkable time, the Arkansas was a makeshift ironclad plated with railroad track. Despite the conditions under which she was built, the lack of materials available to her builders, and the overall "ramshackle" nature of the project, she was one of the most successful ironclads launched by the Confederacy.

Here is the official press release from the museum:

Nearly 150 years ago, in the spring of 1862, a warship was being built in a makeshift shipyard in Yazoo City, Mississippi. Her armor, pieces of railroad track, had to be pulled out of the river where they had sunk. Unpainted, the rusted rails gave the vessel her only color.

This new ship fought not one, but three battles in a single day, one against an entire enemy fleet. Afterward, her captain would write, “We stood for them, fought them, ran by them at pistol-shot distance…and I think, did much injury…”

150 years ago, one ship thwarted the ambitions of not one, but two enemy fleets. One ship returned 400 miles of river to friendly control.

The ship? The Ironclad Ram CSS Arkansas.

Learn about this one-of-a-kind vessel, built under the direst circumstances imaginable. Touch replicas of her armor, see her weaponry, and read about her short career by visiting the Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum (AIMM) and touring their new exhibit, “We Fought Them” – The Ironclad CSS Arkansas. This exhibit will also feature artwork loaned to the museum by artist Dan Dowdey and never before exhibited to the public.

AIMM is located just blocks from both Verizon Arena and Dickey-Stephens Park in downtown North Little Rock and short walk across the Junction Bridge from the Riverwalk in downtown Little Rock. The museum is open Wednesday through Sunday. For more information call the museum at 371-8320 or visit http://www.aimm.museum/.

Flag of the C.S.S. Arkansas

This is the flag of the famed Southern ironclad C.S.S. Arkansas.

One of the most successful inland warships ever built by the Confederacy, the Arkansas was a unique, makeshift ironclad that was actually built in two places.

Work on the vessel started in Memphis in 1861, but when that city was captured by Union troops the unfinished gunboat was carried to the Yazoo River in Mississippi for completion.

On her maiden voyage, the Arkansas steamed down the Yazoo and smashed through a flotilla consisting of the Union warships Carondelet, Queen of the West and Tyler. The Queen escaped, but the Carondelet was driven aground by the Confederate warship. Heavy damage and casualties were inflicted on the Tyler as well.

Leaving the Yazoo, the ironclad entered the Mississippi and stormed through the Union river fleet to reach the cover of the Confederate batteries at Vicksburg.

The vessel eventually engaged additional Union warships on the Mississippi but finally was destroyed by her own crew after she experienced engine trouble about 5 miles above Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Her flag is now on display at the Port Columbus National Civil War Naval Museum in Columbus, Georgia. The museum preserves the wrecks of two Confederate warships as well as numerous artifacts relating to both the Confederate and Union navies. For more information, you can visit them at www.portcolumbus.org.