The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1914-08-14
SAVED THE FLEET.
Brilliant Exploit of a Brainy Wis
c0nSin lumberman.
A BIT OF WAR TIME STRATEGY
The Red River Was Damned, and Ad-
miraI Porter's Gunboatg Shot tho
Rapids, Though tho Scheme Had
Been RidicuIed by Army Engineers.

In the spring of 1864 a Wisconsin
lumberman by a brilliant exploit saved
the Red river feet of the Mississippi
squadron from destruction. To thwart
the intrigues of Napoleon ILL.,, who had
sent French army into Mexico, the
federal government desired to gain
strong military foothold In Texas. To
| this end 1t was planned to send an
army and fleet into Interior Texas by
way of the Red river, which was
navigable only I'm the spring.
| The army under General Banks, sup
ported by Admiral Porter's feet OF
| gunboats, began the ascent of the riv-
or. But matters went badly almost
from the beginning. The leaders quar-
relied among themselves, the prepar1,-
| tions made were Inadequate and,
worst Of all, the Red river suddenly
began to fall, when by all precedents
| it should have risen. Admiral Porter,
fearful that his fleet would be caught
In the shadows. hurriedly descended
the stream, and the army, already saw
agely handled by the opposing Confed-
crate force. followed after.
At Alexandria, In central Louisiana,
the retreating federals found them
selves face to face with crisis At
this point the Red river ~ broken by
a mile Of rapids; the stream had fallen
so quickly that the gunboats could
no longer navigate the channel. The
water was but three feet four inches,
whereas Porter's larger gunboats drew
ut least seven feet. Here was indeed
desperate situation--the army far
from It's source of supplies, the victori-
GUS enemy pressing in not pursuit
and the $2,00O,O00 fleet marooned by
falling water. 1t seemed to almost
every one that the only course open
was to blow up the vessels.
But Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Bailey
of the Fourth Wisconsin. who was
| serving at the time as acting engineer
of the Nineteenth army corps, came
| forward with plan for bringing the
| ironclads to safety. 1t was to raise
| the level Of the water above the raptos
| by constructing a great dam across
| the river. When sufficient depth or
water had accumulated he proposed TO
| break the dam IN the center, thus fore
| ing the vessels with the outrushing
| food through the shadows and Into
the deep water below. Before the war
| Colonel Bailey had been lumberman
| and had often seen this scheme en-
ployed I'm the Wisconsin pineries to
'1ift" stranded RATS Of logs to safety.
| The project was at first received with
! ridicule by Colonel Bailey's superiors.
It was declared impossible of achieve
ment by the best engineers In the
army.
But there was nothing else to be
done. and at length the Wisconsin
lumberman was dubiously granted per-
mission to put his project TO the proof.
His first step was to requisition de-
tachments OF ''pinery boys" Hrom the
Twenty-third and Twenty-ninth WIS
| .onsin regiments, who understood what
was to be done and how to go about It.
In all 5000 men were employed in
| the enterprise. Hundreds OF men were
set TO Telling trees. other hundreds toll
ed I'm the quarries that were opened
Cor the occasion, and two or three hun
| dred wagons were engaged In the es-
sential work of transporting the ma
terials for the dam. Up to their necEs
In the swift current, which swept over
the rapids at the rate Of nine miles an
hour. under the blistering southern
sun. the men toiled.
| At the end Of eight days the river
was sufficiently high to permit three
of the lighter gunboats to pass the
upper falls, where they had been held.
and come down to position immedi-
ately above the dam, ready to pass
| the lower rapids. One more day and
the dam would be high enough to per-
NIT all &c come down in readiness for
the final attempt
On the morning Of the ninth day.
however, the steadily increasing pres
sure of the water caused two Of the
stone barges in the middle Of the
dam to swing aside and through the
opening thus created the accumulated
torrent swirled. The three lighter YES
sells that were In position to make the
passage, together with fourth that
had meanwhile come up. promptly took
advantage OF the break and, passing
the remaining rapids on the flood tide.
safely reached the deeper waters be
low.
Somewhat encouraged By the escape
OF mt least four OF the vessels. the men
bravely set about repairing the dam
age that had been done. Within three
days the break had been closed and In
addition two wing dams constructed
on the upper falls. The remaining
gunboats, somewhat lifted 10y the back.
water of the wing dams. were now
hauled over the upper falls, and on
May II, amid the tumutuous cheers OF
10000 soldiers lined up along the shore
made the perilous passage over the
lower falls to the deep water below.
On June IL. 1864. congress adopted
resolution of thanks to Lieutenant
Colonel Bailey. A few months later
the officers OF Admiral orter's feet
| prqqonfod him With n bea'ttiful sUOr II