The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1914-10-09
SAVED The FLEET.
Brilliant Exploit of a Brainy Wis
Consin Lumberman.
a BIT OF WAR TIME STRATEGY
The Red River Was Damned, and Ad-
miraI porter's Gunboats Shot the
Rapids, Though the Scheme Had
Been RidicuIed by Army Engineers.


Rapids, Though the Scheme Had
Been RidicuIed by Army Engineers.
In the spring of 1864 a Wisconsin
lumberman by brilliant exploit saved
the Red river feet of the Mississippi
squadron from destruction. To thwart
the tntrigues Of Napoleon ILL.,, who had
sent a French army into Mexico, the
federal government desired to gain a
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 In the spring.
The army under General Banks, sup
ported by Admiral Porter's feet of
gunboats. began the ascent Of the riv-
er. But matters went badly almost
from the beginning. The leaders quar-
relied among themselves, the prepara.
lions made were inadequate, and,
worst of all, the Red river suddenly
began to fall, when by all precedents
ii should have risen. Admiral Porter,
fearful that his fleet would be caught
In the shadows, hurriedly descended
the stream, and the army, already say
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 a crisis At
this point the Red river Is 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
a desperate sltuation-the army far
from it's source of supplies, the victori-
Gus enemy pressing In hot pursuit
and the $2,0O0,OOO 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 a plan for bringing the
ironclads to safety. 1t was to raise
the level of the water above the rapids
by constructing a great dam across
the river When a sufficient depth OF
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 lumbermar
and had often seen this scheme en-
ployed In the Wisconsin pineries to
lift" stranded RATS of logs to safety
The project was at first received with
ridicule by Colonel Bailey's superiors
1t 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
Iumberman was obviously granted per
mission to put his project to the proof
His first step was to requisition de
tachments of "pinery boys" from the
! Twenty-third and Twenty ninth Wis
consin regiments. who understood what
was to be done and how to go about 1t
In all 5000 men were employed III
the enterprise Hundreds Of men were
| set TO telling trees, other hundreds toll
ed in the quarries that were opened
| for 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 necks
! in the swift current, which swept oveI
| 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
| upper falls, where they had been held,
! and come down to a 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 to 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 at least four of the vessels, the men
bravely set about repairing the dam
nge that had been done. Within three
days the break had been closed and In
addition two wing dams constructed
Oh the upper falls. The remaining
vunboats, somewhat lifted by the back
water of the wing dams, were now
| hauled over the upper falls, and OF
| May IL. amid the tumultuous cheers OF
10000 soldiers lined up along the shore
made the perious passage over the
| lower falls TO the deep water below.
On June IL. 1864, congress adopted
a resolution of thanks to Lieutenant
| Colonel Bailey. A few months latei