The National tribune., 1902-07-17
WASHINGTON, c. JULY H. 1902

| able to engage the enemy's land forces at
any point they might appear along any OF
| those rivers. and this, too, without the
aid of our land forces; the result was
that all along our Western rivers the rebel
military authorities had Il wholesome
| dread of the Union gunboat Their conf
| ing and going could not be foretoid; they
| had an unpleasant way of putting in al
| appearance at the very time they wc:e
neither wanted nor expected. The gun
beat batteries. too, were mainly composed
of heavy guns which overmatchcd the
ordinary field pieces which accompanied
| moving columns of infantry and cavalry.
80 that an artillery duel between rebel
| field pieces and Il Union gunboat WIS Il
thing thar Confederate officers avoided.
The Union naval fleet of the Western
| rivers was composed of three classes of
| vessels: namely, 1st. The Gunboat. These
were vessels of large size well protected
| by heavy iron shearhing. and. carried L
humber of guns and Il large force of men /;
I'd. The ''hnclads." su-callcd. These were
| light vessels, protected by light iron
sheathing, and armed with light batteries
of artillery. The ''tinclad'' feet was de-
signed for the navigation of the smaller
streams and for use on the larger rivers
curing times of low water. These vessels
wee ever active. and were of immense
value in conveying TRANSPORTS and keep
Ing the peace along the rivers.
The third class of aimed vessels was
the feet of rams" put i'll service by Col.
Eilet by authority OF the Navy Depart
Inent. These vessels wee ordinary steam
| boats purchased with reference to their
speed. and altered to suit the new use to
which they were to be put. The ma
chinery and vulnerable portions of these
beats were protected with wood and iron:
they we've armed with artillery and car
ried an assortment of small arms. but the
great feature of this fleet was the ram y
| This was an addition to the bow of each
boat; the framework WAS of heavy timber
coming to sharp point in front; the
whole was covered with heavy metal, and
made weapon against which the hull of
no vessel could stand when struck by the
ramming vessel moving ut full speed. Col.
Ellet's Ram Fleet distinguished itself dur
ing the naval battle at Memphis, when
the rebel gunboats were sunk by the rams
in short order but after the rebel fleet
was destroyed the most valuable work of
Tie rams was ended. ---r
The services of Commodore Foote, and
afterwards of Commodore Porter, as
commanders of the Western GunbOat
Fleet and the corps of able Commodores
| under them constitutes one of the bright
est chapters of enterprise and heroism of
| the civil war.
The hearty cooperation OF the navy
| with the army in all its important cam
paigns along and near the rivers is one
| of the marked features OF the war. No
service was too exactiRg, nc enterprise
was too dangerous to be undertaken by
the gunboat fleet. The two arms of the
service were absolutely essential to the
success of the Union arms in the Mis-
sissippi Valley. The Mississippi River
could not have been opened, and this
great river and its tributaries could not
have been held without the joint and
| hearty cooperation of the army and navy.
(To be continuedJ