CSS Arkansas

CSS Arkansas and her sister ship, the CSS Tennessee, was signed to be built by John T. Shirley and was launched by sometime in April 1862. On April 25th, 1862, the Union captured the city of New Orleans and the Arkansas was hurriedly commissioned and ordered to Yazoo City, Mississippi for completion. The two ships left for Greenwood on May 7th, 1862 and the governor of Mississippi warned them of Union ships possibly searching for the Arkansas. They reached Greenwood on May 10th, just as the spring river rising began. Levees broke and flooding occurred, placing the Arkansas four miles from shore and sinking the barge accompanying her. In June, the Union captured the city of Memphis and threatened Vicksburg, Mississippi. When the Confederate ships approached Liverpool landing, a commander placed a barrier and set his gunboats afire. On July 12th, the Arkansas, accompanied by the tugboat CSS St. Mary, made it past the barrier and headed upriver to Satartia, Mississippi. Commander Brown stayed there the whole next day and exercised his gun crew for battle. Confederate deserters alerted Farragut that the Arkansas was on the Yazoo and he agreed to send a reconnaissance mission to the Yazoo to search for the ironclad. This search mission consisted of the USS Tyler, USS Queen of the West, and USS Carondelet. After a mishap with magazine powder on the shore, the Arkansas left CSS St. Mary behind, and three hours later, spotted the Union fleet that was searching for them, a few miles from the mouth of the Yazoo River. Lieutenant Issac Brown ordered the Arkansas to aim and attempt to ram the USS Carondelet. While the Arkansas was approaching, the USS Tyler shot a gun port at a Confederate soldier, decapitating him. One of USS Tyler’s columbiads exploded a shell in the engine room, dismounting the cannon. This incident killed and injured many, but also spared the Arkansas some time. Although unarmed, the USS Queen of the West positioned itself to attempt to ram the Arkansas but was turned downstream by a broadside. The USS Tyler followed and fired at the Arkansas with rifles, most of the projectiles bouncing off of her armor. The USS Carondelet was ordered to reverse course to avoid being rammed by Arkansas. USS Tyler began firing its rifles at the Arkansas’s smokestack and even the captain himself. After this battle, the Arkansas and the USS Carondelet both suffered expensive damages and many casualties. To reach Vicksburg, the Arkansas needed to push its way through the Union fleet. The attention of the battle between the Arkansas and Tyler alerted the Union fleet to prepare for battle. The gunboat, USS Pinola, arrived at the scene and began firing upon the Arkansas. Brown ordered to fire back at the USS Pinola. The Arkansas began approaching the USS Richmond and USS Hartford during this battle. Before the Arkansas could reach them, the Union ironclad, USS Lancaster, attempted to ram the Arkansas but was shot through one of its steel drums and disabled. The smoke from the shots fired caused low visibility. The Union fleet was afraid that if they missed the Arkansas, they could hit Union hospital ships coming in. Shots from the USS Iroquois went into the Arkansas and killed a 16-man crew on one of the columbiads. More shots from the USS Wissahickon and the USS Winona killed three men through a case mate. When visibility cleared, Brown saw that the Arkansas didn’t have to bypass too many more vessels so he attempted to ram the slow-moving, USS Benton on the way through, but the vessel sped up enough to avoid the Arkansas. Brown fired a broadside into the stern of the USS Benton and caused minor damage. The last ship the Arkansas had to bypass to reach Vicksburg was the ironclad, USS Cincinnati but, the Arkansas easily evaded her. They began opening gunfire on each other and during this time, a schooner, the USS Sidney C. Jones, was set ablaze to avoid capture after running aground nearby. When the Arkansas docked at Vicksburg, a large crowd formed around the docks. Brown spent the rest of the day attending to the wounded and dead. That evening, Farragut planned to pass by Vicksburg and destroy the Arkansas but, only a shot from the USS Oneida was effective, destroying the Arkansas’s sickbay. The next day, mortars rained down on the Arkansas. The amount of casualties from the two-day attacks left the Arkansas with a serious crew shortage. Over the next few days, the CSS Arkansas was repaired and dead crew member were replaced with new recruits. On July 22nd, 1862, the Arkansas was still positioned at Vicksburg but, the USS Essex, USS Queen of the West, and the USS Sumter were ordered to make a surprise attack on the Arkansas. The crew was unprepared for this attack and it came as a surprise. USS Essex approached and attempted to ram the Arkansas but she maneuvered quickly out of the way. The Essex passed the Arkansas and temporarily ran aground but she quickly came loose. Unfortunately, one of the Essex’s shots pierced the Arkansas, conflicting more casualties and damaging the superstructure of the Arkansas. The USS Queen of the West was able to ram the Arkansas but all it caused was the Queen of the West to run aground. Once they freed themselves, the Union ships left for Vicksburg. During the retreat, a parting shot from the Arkansas hit the Queen of the West in the stern. Later in July, the Confederates planned an attack on the Union-held city of Baton Rouge but many of the leaders crew fell sick and the Arkansas was asked for assistance. While Brown was sick, Van Dorn was in charge of the ship. Even though the Arkansas was in poor condition, he agreed to take part in the assault. When the Arkansas left Vicksburg, she had many engine issues and her main engineer was sick. Breckinridge’s plan was to ram and sink the USS Essex and continue downstream in order to block the retreat of smaller Union vessels. The Essex was in the Battle of Baton Rouge and helped stop Breckenridge’s attack. During the downstream movement, the Arkansas suffered a second engine failure and ran aground on cypress tree stumps. It took many hours to repair the engines and the Arkansas did slip free of the stumps but it caused a crank pin to break. The engineer on board forged a new crank pin and he crew repaired the engines all night. On August 6th, the other engine failed, rendering the Arkansas immobile. Stevens ordered the Arkansas set ablaze and scuttled. Around noon, the Arkansas drifted downstream in flames, exploded and sank. In 1981, NUMA discovered the wreck of the Arkansas under a levee near Mile 233. The site is possibly the location of an old sand and gravel pumping site that reported finding skeletons and ammo.