Battle of Lucas Bend The Battle of Lucas Bend took place on January 11 , 1862 near Lucas Bend , four miles north of Columbus on Mississippi River in Kentucky as it lay at the time of the American Civil War . In the network of the Mississippi , Tennessee and Ohio rivers , the Union river gunboats under Flag Officer Andrew Hull Foote and General Ulysses S . Grant sought to infiltrate and attack the Confederate positions in Tennessee . On the day of the battle , the Union ironclad s " Essex " and " St Louis " , transporting troops down the Mississippi in fog , engaged the Confederate timberclad warships " General Polk " , " Ivy " and " Jackson " towing the gun platform " New Orleans " at a curve known as Lucas Bend in Kentucky . The " Essex " , under Commander David D . Porter , and the " St Louis " forced the Confederate ships to fall back after an hour of skirmishing during which the Union commander was wounded . They retreated to the safety of a nearby Confederate battery at Columbus , where the Union vessels could not follow . The battle marked one of the first occasions where timberclad warships were convincingly outclassed by the newer ironclad warships , and it would be one of the last naval engagements to see timberclad warships perform a major role . Prelude . The USS " Essex " had been constructed in 1856 . She was a 1000 - ton river gunboat , converted from her original role as a timberclad ferry named " New Era " . She was armed with one 32 - pounder cannon , three Dahlgren smooth bores , one Dahlgren smoothbore and a 12 - pounder howitzer . The USS " St Louis " was a City class ironclad built in 1861 at Carondelet , Missouri . She was armed with three 8 - inch smoothbores , four 42 - pounder rifles , six 32 - pounder rifles and one 12 - pounder rifle at the time of her service at Lucas Bend . Both ships were sent to Cairo , Illinois , early in the Civil War as part of troop transports moving the army into Tennessee . Illinois , a Union state which contributed 250 , 000 men to the Union Army , a figure surpassed by only New York , Pennsylvania , and Ohio , was a key theater . Cairo , at the confluence between the Mississippi and Ohio rivers , was a key supply point and headquarters for Flag Officer Andrew Hull Foote and General Ulysses S . Grant . It was defended by Fort Defiance . The complex river network provided routes for the Union gunboats into the heart of the Confederate forces ; however the water levels – particularly in the Tennessee river – were often not sufficient for gunboats to pass . The Confederate " Ivy " was launched in 1845 as a privately owned commercial vessel originally named " Roger Williams " , and later the " El - Paraguay " . Originally based in New Orleans following her commission in 1861 , she was armed with one smoothbore cannon and one 32 - pounder rifle . The CSS " Jackson " was another privately owned vessel built in 1849 before being acquired in May 1861 by the Confederacy and commissioned into active service in June . She was armed with two 32 - pounder guns , and was ordered to Columbus on June 6 , 1861 , to join Hollins in the defence of the Mississippi river . She had already seen action against the USS " Conestoga " on the river . The floating battery " New Orleans " had been towed up from her namesake city in Louisiana . Lastly , the " General Polk " was a former side - wheel river steamer named either " Ed Howard " or " Howard " . She was built in 1852 , and the Confederacy bought her in 1861 . She was the vessel from which Hollins commanded the Confederates during the battle , and was known casually as the " Polk " . The Union vessels arrived in October 1861 , venturing up the Cumberland River , a tributary of the Ohio , on October 30 . The " Essex " underwent her conversion to a partly ironclad warship in nearby dockyards . Over several weeks between December and January , the Union ships had regularly sailed towards the Confederates on the Mississippi , Ohio , and Tennessee Rivers in order to provoke an engagement , to be frustrated by blank - cartridge shots from the latter ' s cannons , the Confederates being reluctant to be drawn into a full engagement . On the evening of January 10 , the Union forces in Kentucky having just defeated their opponents at the Battle of Middle Creek , the " Essex " and the " St Louis " moved off in heavy fog from the ferry landings at Cairo in convoy escorting troop transports carrying Brigadier General John Alexander McClernand ' s brigade . Their path was blocked for part of the night by a steamer which had run aground north of Cairo , and by Cmdr . David D . Porter moving off - route to investigate two suspicious , but later revealed to be legitimate , boats moored on the riverside . Sighting and engagement . Having sighted the Confederate vessels early in the morning of January 11 , the " Essex " s commander Porter beat to quarters at 10 : 00 that morning , and sailed under the cover of fog towards the enemy ships and engaged near Lucas Bend . Lucas Bend was simply a bend or meander in the Mississippi River roughly four miles north of Columbus and seven miles west of Arlington , Kentucky . Since the time of the Civil War the Army Corps of Engineers cut off many of the bends , including Lucas Bend , to straighten the river and prevent flooding . The historical location of these bends is often marked by state boundaries , which sometimes appear to be land boundaries on the " wrong " side of the river . Thus , today , Lucas Bend consists of an area of Kentucky which lies on the " wrong side " of the present - day main course of the river . In 1862 , it was a bend in the river incorporating the state line . The enemy consisted of three vessels , the " General Polk " , " Ivy " and " Jackson " – vessels that Porter was aware of from a previous engagement in December – as well as several smaller boats pulling the " New Orleans " , a floating battery . Commanding officers in nearby Cairo dispatched the " Tyler " , carrying Foote , to assist . Until around 11 : 00 hours , the two ships fought a " running battle " that was " brisk on both sides " according to Porter . At Columbus , there was a Confederate battalion , to which the Confederate ships fell back , forcing the Union vessels to call off their pursuit . Porter and his men were under standing orders not to engage the Confederate guns , though Porter had himself long desired a decisive victory since he assumed command of the " New Era " . The troops at the battery , having heard the battle , were under fear of immediate land attack by Union troops . Foote , in the " Tyler " , chose not to proceed to Porter ' s location , and was instead diverted by McClernand , who had captured a prisoner . Porter instead loitered around the Confederate positions , and spotted a pair of buoys in the water . Following a musket shot which sunk one of them , the other was hauled aboard and examined . Porter concluded that they either marked locations of Confederate submarine batteries or indicated a safe pathway through enemy minefields . It was sent for later examination onshore . Aftermath . After having reluctantly given up the chase , the " Essex " and the " St Louis " returned to Cairo to replenish and begin ammunition runs , and were relieved by two other vessels which took up guarding Fort Holt . In the days following , Porter used a buoy to float towards the Confederate positions a challenge : " Hollins : Why don ' t you accursed , cowardly rebels bring out your gunboats and fight us . Porter . " Confederate Captain Miller sent his reply in the same medium : " Sir : The ironclad steamer " Grampus " will meet the " Essex " at any point and time your Honor may appoint and show you that the power is in our hands . An early reply will be agreeable . " The ships would meet in the coming weeks , however the Confederate vessels proved speedier than the Union ironclads . Porter ' s later account of the engagement was syndicated in the " New York Times " , where it was well received for their " lucid and graphic manner " . The inferiority of the timberclad vessels to the ironclad warships was ever more apparent following the battle , particularly their lack of a stern gun . Following the incident , one of each of the three Confederate vessels ' cannons were moved to point aft . The Lucas Bend engagement would nevertheless be among the last engagements of the Civil War to see timberclad vessels fulfil anything more than a supporting role for either side . The " Essex " and " St Louis " would go on to join Admiral Foote ' s squadron to capture Fort Henry on February 6 . The " New Orleans " would be scuttled in April . References . Website Printed