page_title: CSS Arkansas
section_title: Under the Vicksburg bluffs
hierarchical_section_title: CSS Arkansas / History / Under the Vicksburg bluffs
caption_attribution_description: English: The gunboat CSS Arkansas as it appeared to readers of the New York Tribune on July 31, 1862.
context_page_description: CSS Arkansas was an ironclad ram of the Confederate States Navy named after the State of Arkansas. Arkansas is most noted for her actions in the Western Theater, when she steamed through a United States Navy fleet at Vicksburg on 15 July 1862 during the American Civil War. She was set on fire and destroyed by her crew after her engines broke down on 6 August. Her remains lie under a levee near Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
context_section_description: After repairs, Arkansas again appeared to threaten her enemies, forcing them to keep up steam 24 hours a day in the hottest part of the summer. To remove the problem, the Union fleet tried once again to destroy the ironclad at her mooring.  At this time, the severely reduced crew of Arkansas could man only three guns, so she depended for protection on the shore batteries. On the morning of 22 July, USS Essex, Queen of the West, and Sumter mounted an ill-coordinated attack. First Essex attempted to ram, but as she approached, the Arkansas crew were able to spring her. As a result, Essex missed her target and ran aground instead, where for ten minutes she remained under fire from both Arkansas and the shore batteries. The armor on Essex protected her crew, however, so she lost only one man killed and three wounded. On the other hand, one of her shots penetrated the iron plating on Arkansas, killing six and wounding six. When Essex worked off the bank, she continued downstream, where she joined Farragut's squadron.
  Meanwhile, Queen of the West was making her run. Her captain misjudged her speed, so she ran past Arkansas and had to come back and ram upstream. Although she struck fairly, her reduced momentum meant that the collision did little damage. She then returned to the flotilla above the city. She had been riddled by shot from the batteries, but surprisingly suffered no serious casualties.
  Farragut had already been pressing the Navy Department for permission to leave Vicksburg. It was clear that he would need assistance from the Army to capture the city, assistance that was not forthcoming. Sickness among his sailors, unacclimatised to the heat of summer in Mississippi, reduced their fighting strength by as much as a third. Furthermore, the annual drop in the level of the river threatened to strand his deep-draft ships. The constant vigilance now necessitated by the presence of Arkansas finally tipped the balance. He got permission to return to the vicinity of New Orleans, and on 24 July his fleet left. With nothing his flotilla could do, Davis also withdrew. He took his vessels back to Helena, where he could still watch the river north of Vicksburg.
caption: Arkansas, as the vessel appeared to readers of the New York Tribune, July 31, 1862
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