Confederate Ironclad 1861-65
Every aspect of Confederate ironclads is covered: design, construction, armor, armament, life on board, strategy, tactics, and actual combat actions.

New Madrid Missouri

American Civil War
February 28-April 8, 1862


P.G.T. Beauregard: Napoleon in Gray
Beauregard often gets overlooked, he was never as beloved as Lee or Stonewall Jackson, but he was capable, the man had a sharp mind and Lee understood this, even if Jefferson Davis did not

With the surrender of Forts Henry and Donelson, Tennessee, and the evacuation of Columbus, Kentucky, General P.G.T. Beauregard, commander of the Confederate Army of the Mississippi, chose Island No. 10, about 60 river miles below Columbus, to be the strongpoint for defending the Mississippi River.

Nearby was New Madrid, one of the weak points. Brigadier General John Pope, commander of the Union Army of the Mississippi, set out from Commerce, Missouri, to attack New Madrid, on February 28. The force marched overland through swamps, lugging supplies and artillery, reached the New Madrid outskirts on March 3, and laid siege to the city. Brigadier General John P. McCown, the garrison commander, defended both New Madrid and Island No. 10 from the fortifications. He launched a sortie, under Brigadier General M. Jeff Thompson, Missouri State Guard, against the besiegers and brought up heavy artillery to bombard them.

On the 13th, the Confederates bombarded the Yankees to no avail. Since it did not appear possible to defend New Madrid, the Confederate gunboats and troops evacuated to Island No. 10 and Tiptonville.

On the 14th, Pope's army discovered that New Madrid was deserted and moved in to occupy it. A U.S. Navy flotilla, under the command of Flag-Officer Andrew H. Foote, arrived March 15 upstream from Island No. 10. The Ironclad Carondelet on the night of April 4 passed the Island No. 10 batteries and anchored off New Madrid. Pittsburgh followed on the night of April 6.

The ironclads helped to overawe the Confederate batteries and guns, enabling Pope's men to cross the river and block the Confederate escape route. Brigadier General William W. Mackall, who replaced McCown, surrendered Island No. 10 on April 8.

The Mississippi was now open down to Fort Pillow, Tennessee.

Result(s): Union victory

Location: City of New Madrid, Missouri; Lake County, Tennessee

Campaign: Joint Operations on the Middle Mississippi River (1862) Next Battle in Campaign Campaigns

Date(s): February 28-April 8, 1862

Principal Commanders: Brigadier General John Pope and Flag-Officer Andrew H. Foote [US]; Brigadier General John P. McCown and Brigadier General William W. Mackall [CS]

Forces Engaged: Army of the Mississippi [US]; Garrisons of New Madrid and Island No. 10 [CS]

Estimated Casualties: Unknown


Ironclads and Big Guns of the Confederacy : The Journal and Letters of John M. Brooke
Information about the Confederate Navy's effort to supply its fledgling forces, the wartime diaries and letters of John M. Brooke tell the neglected story of the Confederate naval ordnance office, its innovations, and its strategic vision.


Reign of Iron: The Story of the First Battling Ironclads, the Monitor and the Merrimack
The first ironclad ships to fight each other, the Monitor and the Virginia (Merrimack), were the unique products of American design genius


USS Carondelet , a 512-ton Cairo class ironclad river gunboat, was built at Saint Louis, Missouri, for the U.S. Army's Western Gunboat Flotilla.

USS Corondolet Ironclad Civil War Vessel
More Confederate and Union Naval Ships and Battles


Naval Strategies of the Civil War: Confederate Innovations and Federal Opportunism
Compare and contrast the strategies of the Southern Secretary of the Navy, Mallory, against his rival in the North, Welles. Mallory used technological innovation and the skill of individuals to bolster the South's seapower against the Union Navy's superior numbers

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Missouri State Battle Map
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Civil War Store
Monitor 21" Civil War Ship Wood Model Fully Assembled
  • Dimensions 21" Long x 5" Wide x 3" High
  • Meticulously painted to the actual Monitor
  • Museum quality model. Fully assembled and ready to display.
  • The model rests perfectly on a polished marble base and 4 arched dolphins
  • Built with rare, high quality rosewood.

American Civil War Book Titles

General Jo Shelby
Undefeated Rebel
When the Confederacy fell, Shelby refused to surrender and instead took his command to Mexico, where they fought in support of the emperor Maximilian. Upon his return to Missouri, Shelby became an immensely popular figure in the state
Galvanized Yankees on the Upper Missouri: The Face of Loyalty
Confederate prisoners of war were permitted to enlist in the Union army. Detailed studies of individual regiments. One such unit, the First United States Volunteers and their commander, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Dimon.
Inside War: The Guerrilla Conflict in Missouri During the American Civil War
The state of Missouri witnessed the most widespread, prolonged, and destructive guerrilla fighting in American history. A horrific combination of robbery, arson, torture, murder, and swift and bloody raids on farms and settlements.
Memoirs of the Confederate War for Independence
This is a wonderful memoir of the author's year and half of active service on the staff of the legendary Confederate cavalry General, J. E. B. Stuart.

Charles W. Quantrell
A True History Of His Guerilla Warfare On The Missouri And Kansas Border During The Civil War Of 1861-1865
This book was written just as Captain Harrison Trow told it to John P. Burch, giving accounts of fights that he participated in, narrow escapes experienced, dilemmas it seemed almost impossible to get out of, and also other battles

Civil War St. Louis
Rough-and-tumble St. Louis played a key role as a strategic staging ground for the Union army. A citadel of free labor in a slave state, it also harbored deeply divided loyalties that mirrored those of its troubled nation
Gray Ghosts of the Confederacy: Guerrilla Warfare in the West, 1861-1865
The establishment of a police state in Missouri and the subsequent backlash and ensuing war of sabotage by local guerrillas. Missouri and Kansas had shared much animosity in the years leading up to the Civil War
Guide to Missouri Confederate Units
The origins and history of Missouri Confederate units that served during the Civil War. Deeply torn, some Missourians chose sides enthusiastically, others reluctantly. The several thousand that sided with the Confederacy earned reputations for hard fighting exceeded by few other states, North or South

American Civil War DVD Movie Titles

Halls of Honor
The U.S. Navy Museum takes you on an informed and entertaining romp through one of North America s oldest and finest military museums. The museum has been in continuous operation at the Washington Navy Yard since the American Civil War
Raise The Alabama
She was known as "the ghost ship." During the Civil War, the CSS Alabama sailed over 75,000 miles and captured more than 60 Union vessels. But her career came to an end in June of 1864 when she was sunk by the USS Kearsarge off the coast of Northern France
Civil War Journal - The Conflict Begins
These four programs from the History Channel series Civil War Journal cover critical aspects of the early days of the war.
The Civil War - A Film by Ken Burns
Here is the saga of celebrated generals and ordinary soldiers, a heroic and transcendent president and a country that had to divide itself in two in order to become one

Ride With The Devil
The bloody feud among neighbors in the border state of Missouri. In this war zone the destinies of several young Southern bushwhackers as they experience the violence and the seasons
Blue Vs. Gray - Killing Fields
Relive the most vicious fighting of the Civil War, in which General Ulysses S. Grant forcibly reversed the tide of the conflict by paying with the blood of thousands. It was a desperate time for the Union
Civil War Combat: America's Bloodiest Battles
The violent mayhem of the hornet's nest at Shiloh, the valiant charge on the sunken road at Antietam, the carnage in the wheat field at Gettysburg, and the brutal fighting at Cold Harbor
The Blue and the Gray
The Complete Miniseries
The Civil War proved a backdrop for this 1982 miniseries. Complete and uncut three disc set. Two families divided by the War Between the States. A Southerner caught when he becomes a war correspondent for the Northern newspaper. He finds himself  where history's in the making from the Battle of Bull Run to Abraham Lincoln's assassination

Current Weather conditions and City History for Saint Louis Missouri

Sources:
U.S. National Park Service
U.S. Library of Congress.

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