The CSS Arkansas Fights at Vicksburg

At this time Vicksburg, the last remaining Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River, was being attacked by the Federal navy under Flag Officers David Farragut and Charles Davis. However, 150 years ago today, the situation was brightened for the southerners with the attack of the CSS Arkansas.

The Arkansas was an ironclad begun in October 1861 in Memphis Tennessee. With the approach of the Federal ships here sister ship, the Tennessee, had to be burnt, but the Arkansas was far enough along that she was able to be taken to Yazoo City to be finished. Captain Issac Brown was sent out by the Navy Department to finish and captain her. Gathering local workers, in six weeks he had her fit for duty, excepting a few section of curved armor. He gathered a crew of 160 men, sailors from river boats and also infantry soldiers. Although they were inexperienced, they were spoiling for a fight. "The only trouble they ever gave me" Brown said, "was to keep them from running the Arkansas into the Union fleet before we were ready for battle." When his preparations were complete he set sail for Vicksburg to attack the Union fleet. On the way there it was discovered that steam had gotten into the forward magazine and wet the powder, making it useless. However, Brown pulled over to shore, spread the powder on tarps and was able to get it dry enough to explode by sundown, so he against out on his way.

Just after sunrise, 150 years ago today, the Arkansas can in sight of three Union fleet, the ironclad Carondelet, ram Queen of the West and wooden gunboat Tyler. Brown attacked, and soon disabled the Carondelet with a shot in her steering mechanism. He pursued the other two ships down river, and turning a bend came upon the rest of the Federal fleet, "a forest of masts and smokestacks." Not halting for a moment, the Arkansas bore down upon them. The Federal ships, not expecting an attack, did not have their steam up and therefore were imobile. The Arkansas sailed through the entire fleet, trading shots with the ships, and arrived safely in Vicksburg amid the cheers of the populace, who had watched the bold run.

David Farragut

Farragut was not content to let this ship remain in Vicksburg. That night he ran his fleet past Vicksburg, and as he did, tried to destroy the Arkansas. In this he was again unsuccessful. His ships missed their target in the darkness, and only one shell struck the Confederate vessel, killing two and wounding three. When the day was over the Federals had lost 23 killed, 59 wounded and 10 missing, probably drowned. The Arkansas lost only 12 killed and 18 wounded. Although the Arkansas had not sunk any ships, she had delt a blow at Union pride and was a constant threat to the Federal fleet around Vicksburg, forcing them to keep under constant steam. The Federals tried to destroy her again on July 22nd. The ships which made the attempt tried to ram but could not sink the Arkansas and instead were riddled with shot from ship and shore. Having tried twice to destroy the peskey Confederate vessel, Farragut and Davis left Vicksburg with their ships, it having been clear already that infantry were required to capture the city.

John Pope Issues a Proclamation

John Pope

Even before the Seven Days Campaign was fought, Abraham Lincoln recognized another army would be needed to capture Richmond. He began forming the Army of Virginia, which would move on Richmond from the north. The command was given to John Pope, hero of Island No. 10 on the Mississippi River. On July 14th, 150 years ago today, he issued this much reviled proclamation:

By special assignment of the President of the United States I have assumed command of the army. I have spent two weeks in learning your whereabouts, your condition, and your wants, in preparing you for active operations, and in placing you in positions from which you can act promptly and to the purpose. These labors are nearly completed and I am about to join you in the field.

Let us understand each other. I have come from the West, where we have always seen the backs of our enemies; from an Army whose business it has been to seek the adversary and to beat him when he was found; whose policy has been attack and not defense. In but one instance has the enemy been able to place our western armies in defensive attitude. I presume that I have been called here to pursue the same system, and to lead you against the enemy. It is my purpose to do so, and that speedily. I am sure you long for an opportunity to win the distinction you are capable of achieving. That opportunity I shall endeavor to give you. Meantime I desire you to dismiss from your minds certain phrases which I am sorry to find much in vogue amongst you. I hear constantly of taking “strong position and holding them,” of “lines of retreat,” and of “bases of supplies.” Let us discard such ideas. The strongest position a soldier should desire to occupy is one from which he can most easily advance against the enemy. Let us study the probable lines of retreat of our opponents, and leave our own to take care of themselves. Let us look before us, and not behind. Success and glory are in the advance; disaster and shame lurk in the rear. Let us act on this understanding and it is safe to predict that your banners shall be inscribed with many a glorious deed, and that your names will be dear to your countrymen forever.

Jno. Pope, Maj. Gen., Commanding The Union troops did not take this kindly. The soldiers who had been beaten in the valley by Stonewall Jackson were offended by his rash statements. Pope frequently addressed his dispatches, Headquarters in the Saddle, and the soldiers repeated the old army joke, that his headquarters were where his hindquarters should have been. Pope was also hated by the Confederates, for he issued another proclamation which ordered that all male civilians who would not take a loyalty oath were to be sent across the lines. It was also forbidden for any civilian to communicate with a Confederate soldier, even if they were their family member. Lee called him, “the miscreant Pope,” very strong words for Lee. He would soon turn his attention to putting him down.

Halleck Appointed General in Chief

Henry Halleck

150 years ago today Henry Halleck was appointed General in Chief of the Union armies. Halleck had just captured Corinth, Mississippi after an excruciatingly slow campaign, or rather siege as it almost seemed to be. He lacked the dash of Ulysses S. Grant, who had won the battles of Fort Henry, Fort Donelson and Shiloh, but who was now simply Halleck's lieutenant and had little to do, and was even considering resigning from the army. Halleck would not meet Lincoln's expectations. Halleck, known as 'Old Brains,' had been an expert in military tactics before the war. Lincoln had hoped he would be able to prod Union generals into action, but Halleck was unable to do so, the generals at times simply ignoring his messages. Instead of a General in Chief, Halleck became "little more than a first rate clerk." However, Halleck's promotion opened the way for Grant, who was given back command of an army which would allow him to do great things in time to come.

Battle of Malvern Hill

After maintaining their position in the Battle of Glendale, McClellan set his men to retreating again, to consolidate them on Malvern Hill. Malvern Hill is not steep, rather a long, gradual rise. Although it may not look impressive, it was a very good artillery position, as the Union guns would have plenty of time to fire into the Confederate ranks. As the Confederates moved forward the generals examined McClellan's lines on the hill. D. H. Hill, having heard a description of the place, told Lee, “If General McClellan is there in force, we had better let him alone." Longstreet replied laughingly, “Don't get scared, now that we have got him whipped.” Lee decided to press forward, hoping that the Federals were disheartened and would break if pushed. Jackson and Ewell would remain on the left, Holmes, Longstreet and A. P. Hill on the right. The attack would be made by D. H. Hill, Huger and Magruder in the center.

Federal cannon

Crucial to the success of Lee's plan was the role of his artillery. The Confederate cannons needed to neutralize the Federal batteries so that the infantry could attack. However, through mismanagement the Confederate batteries failed completely. The Yankee cannon opened at 1 pm, and the Confederate guns came into action a few at a time. The Federals simply focused on each section as it came into the fight, put it out of action, and moved on to the next one. 100 Confederate guns were supposed to participate in the fight, but only 20 actually made it in. The Confederate artillery positions were soon covered in dead horses and smashed equipment, while the Union guns were virtually untouched.

Although the bombardment was a failure, the rebel infantry would go forward none the less. D. H. Hill advanced in late afternoon, along with Magruder who only got two of his six brigades into the action. Fitz John Porter, Union corps commander, wrote this of the assault:

As if moved by a reckless disregard of life, equal to that displayed at Gaines Mill, with a determination to capture our army, or destroy it by driving us into the river, regiment after regiment, and brigade after brigade, rushed at our batteries; but the artillery of both Morell and Couch mowed them down with shrapnel, grape, and canister; while our infantry, withholding their fire until the enemy were within short range, scattered the remnants of their columns, somethings following them up and capturing prisoners and colors. As column after column advanced, only to met the same disastrous repulse, the sight became one of the most interesting imaginable. The havoc made by the rapidly bursting shells from guns arranged so as to sweep any position far and near, and in any direction, was fearful to behold.

The Confederate attacks were useless, but they came on again and again pressing forward against the hill. D. H. Hill wrote:

I never saw anything more grandly heroic than the advance after sunset of the nine brigades under Magruder's orders. Unfortunately, they did not move together, and were beaten in detail. As each brigade emerged from the woods, from fifty to one hundred guns opened upon it, tearing great gaps in its ranks; but the heroes rolled on and were shot down by the reserves at the guns, which a few squads reached. Most of them had an open field half a mile wide to cross, under the fire of field-artillery in front, and the fire of the heavy ordnance of the gun-boats in their rear. It was not war - it was murder.

When night fell all the Confederate attacks had been bloodily repulsed. 5,300 Southerners had fallen, half of those from the artillery, a very high number.

The Battle of Malvern Hill the Seven Days campaign was over. The casualties had been very heavy. The Confederates had 3,300 dead, 15,900 wounded and 100 missing. The Federals had lost 1,700 killed, 8,060 wounded and 6,050 captured. Many mistakes had been made. McClellan had retreated before numbers less than his own, convinced he had just escaped destruction. He pulled his men of Malvern Hill to a camp along the river, under cover of the gunboats. He telegraphed Washington,

My men are completely exhausted and I dread the result if we are attacked today by fresh troops.... I now pray for time. My men have proved themselves the equals of any troops in the world, but they are worn out.... We have failed to win only because overpowered by superior numbers.

The Confederate generals had time and time again demonstrated their inexperience. They had failed again and again to arrive on the field promptly and press the attack. Lee's staff had failed, producing orders which confused the generals. However, there was no doubt that this was a resounding Confederate victory. Lee had driven McClellan from the gates of Richmond and pressed him back all the way to the James River. If they had failed in completely destroying the Federals, none the less they had brought back the Confederacy from the brink of defeat with a much needed victory.

Battle of Glendale

As in the previous battles of the Seven Days Campaign, the Confederate plan for the attack on McClellan on June 30th, 150 years ago today, was again executed badly. Lee intended for Jackson to cross White Oak Swamp and strike the Federal northern flank while the rest of the Confederate troops pushed east. For various reasons the divisions of Huger, Holmes and Magruder failed to have much effect on the battle. Huger encountered felled trees across his route, so he spent the day building a new one rather than clearing away the trees. As on the previous day Magruder was unsure what to do, and eventually he was ordered by Lee to join Holmes. Holmes made an attempt to assault the Federal left near Malvern Hill, but after suffering one repulse and loosing a few men he refused to attack again.

Battle of White Oak Swamp

Jackson was having troubles as well, in what would be his most inexplicable and controversial day of the war. He needed to rebuild a bridge across White Oak Swamp. Arriving in the area, he had found Federals in some strength on the other side of the water. He brought up artillery and drove them away from the bridge site, but when his men set to work on the bridge the Yankees returned and drove off the workmen. Colonel Thomas Munford of the cavalry found a ford downstream that seemed to be practicable and Wade Hampton built a makeshift bridge that could be used for infantry at least, if not artillery. However, when these developments were reported to Jackson, he did not act on them. Saying nothing, he walked off and went to sleep. He woke up for supper, and after falling asleep with a biscuit in his mouth, said, "Now, gentlemen, let us at once to bed, and rise with the dawn, and see if tomorrow we cannot do something." Many reasons have been suggested for Jackson's lack of aggressiveness, but the most likely appears to be sheer exhaustion. He had not gotten much sleep for many days, and had spent several nights in the saddle. He was probably simply too tired to continue to effectively lead his forces. This exhaustion was a great misfortune for the Confederacy.

Glendale Battlefield via CWT

Through these various mistakes of his generals, Lee was only left with two divisions to make the attack on the Federals, 20,000 men under Longstreet and A. P. Hill, who had already done hard fighting. At around 4:00 pm Lee decided he could wait no longer for the other columns to arrive, so he ordered the assaults to begin on the 40,000 Federals, in a two mile arch around Glendale intersection and Frazier's Farm, both of which would give the battle its name. The Confederates were sent in piecemeal, charging headlong at the Federals. Edmund Patterson of the 9th Alabama wrote:

Captain King gave us the command: “By the right of companies to the front, Battalion! Right Face! Double Quick! March!” We obeyed the command with a right good will and soon lessened the distance between us and the battery... We advanced in this manner until just before we reached the edge of the thicket, and within three hundred yards of the battery, the command was given: “By Company into line, March!” and the movement executed at the double-quick through us into line of battle without retarding our progress.. straight forward into that flame, into the jaws of death we pressed. Those of us left standing poured a volley at a distance of no more than 10 paces into the faces of the gunners. They fell across their guns and under the wheels, whole teams of horses plunging about in their mad agony, trampling under food the wounded.

Both sides fought hard. Many soldiers remembered desperate hand to hand fighting with bayonets ad gun butts. The front lines on both sides were reinforced and the fighting continued. The men fired at each other through the smoky underbrush, sometimes firing so quickly their guns became too hot to hold. Darkness finally ended the fighting, with the Federals hurt, but unbroken. Through the failure of the Army of Northern Virginia to concentrate on the Federals, they had lost perhaps their best chance of victory during the war. General Edward Porter Alexander wrote after the war:

"[W]hen one thinks of the great chances in General Lee's grasp that one summer afternoon, it is enough to make one cry to go over the story of how they were lost. And to think too that our Stonewall Jackson lost them. He had been great & grand & glorious before & he was so, too, many a time again, until he gave his life in battle within less than eleven months afterward. But never, before or after, did the fates put such a prize within our reach. In spite of all the odds against us, it is my individual belief that on two occasions in the four years we were within reach of military successes so great that we might have hoped to end the war with our independence, had we gathered the rich victories which seemed easily possible. ...[T]he first was Bull Run [in] July '61, when a vigorous pursuit might have caused the abandonment of Washington. ... This chance of June 30th '62 impresses me as the best of all."

Battle of Savage Station

150 years ago today the Confederates continued to execute Lee's complicated plan to crush the retreating army of McClellan. The battle began about 9 am when Magruder pushed his troops forward. Two Georgia regiments encountered the Federals, and the fighting continued for several hours before they disengaged. Although the Federals were vulnerable, retreating across his front, Magruder became confused and thought he was going to be attacked and overwhelmed. He requested and received reinforcements from Lee. The rest of the Confederate plan was not going smoothly either, with Jackson again moving slowly.

"Prince John" Magruder

The Federals were not immune from mistakes. Three corps had been assigned to stay around Savage Station, facing Magruder, but Heintzelman decided he was not needed and left, leaving only Sumner and Franklin.

After hesitating throughout the day Magruder finally ordered two and a half brigades forward at around 5 pm. They were supported by what was called the Land Merrimack, a 32 pounder cannon mounted on a railroad car and shielded with armor plates. This was the first use of an armored railroad battery in combat. The Federals responded with only a small force, so the fighting turned into a stalemate until darkness ended the conflict. Around 1,030 were lost by the Federals and 475 by Magruder. Magruder's cautiousness meant that the opportunity to destroy McClellan was wasted. Lee wrote him a letter in which he delivered an rebuke unusual for him:

"I regret much that you have made so little progress today in the pursuit of the enemy. In order to reap the fruits of our victory that pursuit should be most vigorous. ... We must lose no more time or he will escape us entirely."

The next day would come quickly, bringing new opportunities for Lee to strike McClellan.

Field Hospital at Savage Station

McClellan Retreats

After his army was beaten back at Gaines Mill, Lee decided to retreat. Only one fifth of his army had been driven back at Gaines Mill. A large portion of the army had not yet fought. Additionally, he had enough troops that he could launch an trust at Richmond while holding back Lee. He could easily break through the thin Confederate lines, and it seems likely that he could have capture the city. However, that was not to be. McClellan was badly scared. He had been convinced by his scouts that he was outnumbered. He thought the attacks on his right were only a disguise for a major effort on his left. Throwing away all thought of an attack, instead he decided to fall back to the James River, where he could be protected by the gunboats. He blamed his situation on the government in Washington:

I have seen too many dead and wounded comrades to feel otherwise than that the Government has not sustained this army. If you do not do so now the game is lost. If I save this army now I tell you plainly that I owe no thanks to you or any other persons in Washington. You have done your best to sacrifice this army."

One small Confederate success had convinced McClellan to give up the work of months of campaigning, and embark on a full scale retreat, or change of base as he liked to call it. McClellan himself went to the gunboats ahead of his army, abandoning direct control of his army in the retreat.

McClellan

Meanwhile, Lee did not sit idly by. He had his troops moving on June 28th in pursuit. He was not privy to McClellan's plans, so he had to determine whether he was going to retreat north to his base at White House, east to the James River, or attack Richmond. Sending out scouts to reconnoiter, he decided correctly that it was the second. Lee hoped to catch McClellan while his army was crossing the nearly impenetrable White Oak Swamp. He could crush one half of the army independently as it could receive little help from the rest on the other side of the swamp. This would be the best chance Lee had to destroy the Federals in the entire war, with the Federals moving across his front through favorable ground.

There was little fighting this day as the army moved, but Confederate general John B. Magruder did send out a reconnaissance in force at Golding's Farm. Although it was easily turned back, it served to further convince the Federals that they were being attacked from all sides.