{"id":14037,"date":"2013-04-12T08:00:31","date_gmt":"2013-04-12T13:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.brettschulte.net\/CWBlog\/?p=14037"},"modified":"2013-08-29T22:06:46","modified_gmt":"2013-08-30T03:06:46","slug":"the-great-naval-showdown-that-wasnt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brettschulte.net\/CWBlog\/2013\/04\/12\/the-great-naval-showdown-that-wasnt\/","title":{"rendered":"The Great Naval Showdown that Wasn’t"},"content":{"rendered":"

On April 14th 1863, 150 years ago this week, a naval battle occurred in the Atchafalaya Basin<\/a> that could have had a big impact on the war; but instead of a dramatic showdown, it turned into a turkey shoot.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Destruction of the Queen of the West from Harper’s Weekly, May 30, 1863<\/p><\/div>\n

———————————————————————————————-<\/p>\n

In the beginning of 1863 Confederate naval forces in the Gulf Coast region enjoyed a string of successes. \u00a0On January 1st, though outnumbered two boats to six, the Confederates defeated the US Navy in Galveston Bay; on January 11, the CSS Alabama<\/em> captured the USS Hatteras<\/em> off the Texas coast; and on the night of January 20th the CSS Josiah Bell<\/em> and CSS Uncle Ben<\/em> chased and captured the USS Morning Light<\/em> and USS Velocity<\/em> off Sabine Pass. In February the USS Queen of the West<\/em> ran past the batteries of Vicksburg and\u00a0briefly\u00a0disrupted Confederate shipping. But when she ventured up the Red River, the Queen <\/em>ran aground while engaging the guns of Fort De Russy. She was captured and became the CSS<\/span> Queen of the West. \u00a0<\/em>When the USS\u00a0Indianola <\/em>ran past the Vicksburg batteries, the Queen of the West<\/em> attacked and sunk her.<\/p>\n

US Admiral David Farragut, commander of the\u00a0West Gulf Blockading Squadron, had a large area to cover and the setbacks along the Texas coast as well as the focus on the Mississippi meant that he could spare few ships for operations on the Atchafalaya. \u00a0At the beginning of the year Lieutenant-Commander Augustus Cooke had just four boats at Brashear City (modern day Morgan City) — the Estrella<\/em>, Kinsman<\/em>, Calhoun <\/em>and Diana<\/em>. \u00a0In an embarrassing incident in February, the Kinsman<\/em> caught on a snag, ripped its hull and sank. \u00a0In March, the captain of the Diana<\/em> ventured out on his own, right into an ambush, and was captured, becoming the CSS Diana<\/em>. Fortunately, Farragut was able to sent the Arizona<\/em> and Clifton<\/em>, keeping Cooke’s command at four.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Confederate General Richard Taylor was striving to build his own navy. \u00a0On Bayou Teche, in addition to the captured \u00a0Diana, <\/em>Taylor <\/em>was improving the Hart<\/em> (also referred to as the CSS Stevens<\/em>) with steel plate, which would turn it into a formidable gunboat. On the Red River, he was outfitting the Webb<\/em>, Grand Duke<\/em>, Nina Simms<\/em> and Mary T<\/em> (also known as the JA Cotton 2<\/em>) as light gunboats. \u00a0The captured Queen of the West<\/em> became the centerpiece of this fleet. Given time to get all of these boats in working order, Taylor would have the strength to crush the US squadron at Brashear City, thereby changing the dynamic in southern Louisiana. \u00a0But before this could happen, US General Nathaniel Banks began his offensive, forcing Taylor\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n

At the start of April, Banks moved to Brashear City and with the aid of the navy began crossing to the Bayou Teche. Emory\u2019s division and Weitzel\u2019s brigade were moved directly across while Grover\u2019s division was sent up Grand Lake in a wide flank move. \u00a0This was a bold plan with significant risks — over half the troops in Banks’ Department were transported to \u00a0the other side of the Atchafalaya, making them dependent on the small navy squadron to\u00a0maintain\u00a0a secure connection to the supply base at New Orleans. With a limited number of boats, only one division could be moved at a time. \u00a0In moving Grover’s division up the lake, the men were crowded into the boats and artillery and wagons were loaded on scows towed behind the boats. \u00a0Once a landing had been secured, the Clifton<\/em> turned back to update Banks of the progress and \u00a0to assist in confronting the Confederates forces on Bayou Teche. \u00a0This left the Calhoun<\/em>, Arizona<\/em> and Estrella<\/em> protecting the troop transports and the landing area. Here was a golden opportunity for the Confederates: if Taylor\u2019s fleet could close with and defeat these three boats it would be a crushing blow to the US efforts in Louisiana.<\/p>\n

Once alerted to Banks’ movements, Taylor ordered the boats on the Red River to come down the Atchafalaya. But coordination and timing began to break down. \u00a0Repairs to the Webb<\/em>, damaged in the fight with the Indianola<\/em>, were taking longer than hoped, so it was left. Though instructed to hurry on, the Grand Duke<\/em> and Mary T<\/em> lagged behind. Thus rather than having a full squadron that could overwhelm the US boats, just the Queen of the West<\/em> and the Nina Simms<\/em>\u00a0were steaming toward the showdown with the US Navy.<\/p>\n

The afternoon of April 13, US lookouts noticed smoke in the distance from unknown boats. \u00a0During the night, a crewman on the Calhoun<\/em> reported seeing boat lights up the lake. \u00a0At dawn on April 14 US lookouts spotted the Confederates boats coming their way. \u00a0Crews cleared for action. \u00a0\u00a0The Queen<\/em>\u00a0appeared to be aiming for the Arizona. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

But\u00a0<\/em>then the Queen<\/em> stopped. An unexpected event brought her career to an end: the Queen<\/em>\u00a0ground into a sand bar and became a sitting duck. The US boats bombarded her from a distance until she caught fire. \u00a0The crew were rescued as prisoners and the burning husk of the Queen of the West<\/em> drifted down the Lake until it exploded.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Nina Simms<\/em>\u00a0retreated up the Atchafalaya, meeting the\u00a0Grand Duke<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Mary T<\/em>\u00a0on the way. \u00a0The three fell back toward the Red River. \u00a0Without the\u00a0Queen<\/em>, the Confederates lacked \u00a0the muscle to go head to head with the US Navy.\u00a0Bad timing and the treacherous mud of Grand Lake ended a chance for Taylor to wrest control of lower Louisiana from the US.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On April 14th 1863, 150 years ago this week, a naval battle occurred in the Atchafalaya Basin that could have had a big impact on the war; but instead of a dramatic showdown, it turned into a turkey shoot. ———————————————————————————————- In the beginning of 1863 Confederate naval forces in the Gulf Coast region enjoyed a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3038,27,6,26],"tags":[3986,3987,3984,3985,3983,3982],"class_list":["post-14037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-150-years-ago-in-the-civil-war","category-campaigns-battles","category-military-history","category-trans-mississippi-theater","tag-april-13-1863","tag-april-14-1863","tag-grand-duke","tag-mary-t","tag-nina-sims","tag-queen-of-the-west"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brettschulte.net\/CWBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brettschulte.net\/CWBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brettschulte.net\/CWBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brettschulte.net\/CWBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brettschulte.net\/CWBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.brettschulte.net\/CWBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14037\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brettschulte.net\/CWBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brettschulte.net\/CWBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brettschulte.net\/CWBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}