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 On the morning of 15 July, 1862 three Union vessels were
sighted steaming toward CSS Arkansas.
The Ironclad Gunboat Carondelet, armed with a total of 14
guns and a veteran of several river battles with Confederate forces, the wooden
Gunboat Tyler with 7 guns, and the wooden Ram Queen of the West with 4 guns.
The Arkansas, armed with a two 8-inch guns in the forward
ports, two 6.4-inch rifled guns in the stern ports, and three different guns in
each broadside was both out-numbered and out-gunned. Her Confederate Army
gunners had never fired such large guns before and they had no training as
naval gunners.
Her gunpowder soaked by a boiler leak the previous day was
suspect at best. Protected by makeshift armor and facing three well-equipped
ships and with two large Union fleets nearby, Arkansas was facing near-certain
destruction the day after entering service.
A running gun battle quickly ensued. The two smaller ships
fled downriver, hoping to reach the safety of the large Union fleet above
Vicksburg. Carondelet, a veteran of several river battles, closed with Arkansas.
In the words of one witness:
 "The Arkansas ranged up alongside her [the Carondelet] and,
pouring a broadside into her with her port guns, compelled the Carondelet to
strike her colors and run ashore in a sinking and crippled condition," so
notes John A. Wilson in the Southern Historical Society Papers.
With the commanding officer wounded in the battle and her
pilot killed, the Arkansas now had to face the Union fleet above Vicksburg. In
all there were 33 Union vessels. This well experienced Union force had fought
down the Mississippi River, winning battle after battle against Confederate
opponents. Yet having won one battle, CSS Arkansas was ready for a second.
In the words of a Union sailor from his letter written aboard
the USS Richmond and published in the Southern Historical Society Papers:
“On the morning of the 15th of July, at about 7 o'clock [a.m.]
we were suddenly aroused...The first words I heard were ‘the Rebel ram Arkansas
is coming down upon us’ ... “Around us lay the combined power of Farrgut's and
Davis's fleets. Frigates, gunboats, iron-plated boats, wooden rams and
iron-cased rams were anchored along the banks for a mile and a-half.”
“And slowly steaming
along the hollow of the bend in the river, just above us, was a long, low,
dull, red, floating object.”
“Slowly, steadily, gallantly, the Rebel Ram kept on her way,
as though she belonged to us and was quietly choosing an anchorage.”
“The Benton, Hartford and gunboats below poured a perfect
shower of balls upon her.”
“It did not even hasten her speed, and proudly she turned a
point, disappeared from sight and anchored under the batteries at Vicksburg.”
“I doubt whether such a feat was ever before accomplished
and whoever commanded her should be known and honored.”
Safely under the guns at Vicksburg, the Arkansas needed to
repair the damage done that day before she could fight again. Her army gun
crews were detached to rejoin their unit, and in the words of one of Arkansas'
officers.
“As well as we could, we put the ship to rights and the day
wore away. As soon as dark began to set in, it was evident that the enemy meant
mischief,’ said Lt. George W. Gift of the Confederate States Nay (CSN).
Yet even damaged, Arkansas' mere presence was enough to
cause the Union forces problems. One of the mortar boats in the Union fleet ran
aground and rather than even risk capture, it was set on fire and allowed to
blow up.
The Union fleet was forced to keep steam up constantly,
which in addition to quickly burning up the available supplies of coal, also
greatly added to the discomfort of the hot Southern summer.
The CSS Arkansas’
beginnings
 Construction of the Ironclad Ram CSS Arkansas began in Memphis, Tenn. in October 1861. She was
supposed to have been delivered to the Confederate Navy by January 1862.
However, she was still incomplete in May 1862, when Union forces
closed in on Memphis. In order to prevent her capture, she was towed up the Yazoo River
into Mississippi to the area of Greenwood, MS.
Her incomplete sister ship, CSS Tennessee,
was burned when Memphis
fell to Union forces. It was hoped that, safe from capture, the much-needed
warship could be quickly completed.
However, when her newly appointed Commanding Officer Capt.
Isaac N. Brown arrived, he found the engines in pieces, the guns without their
needed carriages and the railroad iron –intended as armor – lying at the bottom
of the river. Brown ordered a recovery mission and the armor was pulled out of
the mud. Brown then had his ship towed to Yazoo City, MS, where he pressed both
local craftsmen and 200 Confederate Army soldiers into service as construction
crews.
After five weeks of toil under the Mississippi summer sun, the
Arkansas was fully outfitted,
lacking only the curved armor intended for her stern and pilot house. Complete
or not, the ship had to get
underway since river levels were falling, and the Arkansas was in danger of being trapped.
(The saga of the CSS Arkansas is not over and will continue here soon.)
(Top and second artwork courtesy of teh Naval Historical Center. Photo of the CSS Arkansas Model is courtesy of Old Steam Navy.)
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