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Tennessee in the Civil War
Tennessee in the Civil War

Selected Contemporary Accounts of Military and Other Events, Month by Month

Memphis
Civil War Tennessee


American Civil War
June 6, 1862

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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

After the Confederate River Defense Fleet, commanded by Captain James E. Montgomery and Brigadier General M. Jeff Thompson (Missouri State Guard), bested the Union ironclads at Plum Run Bend, Tennessee, on May 10, 1862, they retired to Memphis.

Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard ordered troops out of Fort Pillow and Memphis on June 4, after learning of Union Major General Henry W. Halleck's occupation of Corinth, Mississippi. Thompson's few troops, camped outside Memphis, and Montgomery's fleet were the only force available to meet the Union naval threat to the city.

From Island No. 45, just north of Memphis, Flag-Officer Charles H. Davis and Colonel Charles Ellet launched a naval attack on Memphis after 4:00 am on June 6. Arriving off Memphis about 5:30 am, the battle began. In the hour and a half battle, the Union boats sank or captured all but one of the Confederate vessels; General Van Dorn escaped.

Immediately following the battle, Colonel Ellet's son, Medical Cadet Charles Ellet, Jr., met the mayor of Memphis and raised the Union colors over the courthouse. Later, Flag-Officer Davis officially received the surrender of the city from the mayor. The Indiana Brigade, commanded by Colonel G.N. Fitch, then occupied the city. 

Memphis, an important commercial and economic center on the Mississippi River, had fallen, opening another section of the Mississippi River to Union shipping.

Result(s): Union victory

Location: Shelby County

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

Date(s): June 6, 1862

Principal Commanders: Flag-Officer Charles H. Davis and Colonel Charles Ellet [US]; Captain James E. Montgomery and Brigadier General M. Jeff Thompson [CS]

Forces Engaged: U.S. Ironclads Benton, Louisville, Carondelet, Cairo, and St. Louis and U.S. Army Rams Queen of the West and Monarch [US]; C.S. Navy Rams General Beauregard, General Bragg, General Price, General Van Dorn, General Thompson, Colonel Lovell, Sumter, and Little Rebel [CS]

Estimated Casualties: 181 total (US 1; CS 180)

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Wolf of the Deep

Wolf of the Deep: Raphael Semmes and the Notorious Confederate Raider CSS Alabama
In July 1862, the Confederate captain Raphael Semmes received orders to report to Liverpool, where he would take command of a secret new British-built steam warship. His mission: to prey on Union commercial vessels and undermine the North's ability to continue the war

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Civil War Firearms

Standard Catalog of
Civil War Firearms




Civil War: Uniforms, US and Confederate Armies, c.1895
Civil War: Uniforms, US and Confederate Armies
48 in. x 31.5 in. $169.99
Buy at AllPosters.com
Framed
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Reign of Iron

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


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.
"The Total Annihilation of the Rebel Fleet by the Federal Fleet under Commodore Davis."
"On the Morning of June 6th 1862, off Memphis, Ten."

Lithograph by Middleton, Strobridge & Co.
In the foreground, the print depicts the Confederate ships (from left to right): General M. Jeff Thompson (shown sinking); Little Rebel (shown burning); General Sterling Price ; General Beauregard (shown being rammed by the Ellet Ram Monarch ); General Bragg (shown aground) and Colonel Lovell (shown sinking).

In the background are the Federal warships (from left to right): Queen of the West ; Cairo ; Carondelet ; Louisville ; Saint Louis ; a tug; and Benton .
The city of Memphis is in the right distance, with a wharf boat by the shore.
Mephis Civil War Naval Battle Ironclads
More Confederate and Union Navy Ships and Battles
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Men of Fire: Grant, Forrest, and the Campaign That Decided the Civil War
In the winter of 1862, on the border between Kentucky and Tennessee, two extraordinary military leaders faced each other in an epic clash that would transform them both and change the course of American history forever
Tennessee State Battle Map
State Battle Maps
American Civil War Exhibits
Documents of the Civil War
Civil War Timeline
Women in the War
Ships and Naval Battles
Confederate Supplies

Sid Meier's Civil War Collection
Take command of either Confederate or Union troops and command them to attack from the trees, rally around the general, or do any number of other realistic military actions. The AI reacts to your commands as if it was a real Civil War general, and offers infinite replayability. The random-scenario generator provides endless variations on the battles

American Civil War Book Titles
Kindle Available
Hunley the Confederacy Secrect Hope

The H. L. Hunley
The Secret Hope of the Confederacy

On the evening of February 17, 1864, the Confederacy  H. L. Hunley sank the USS Housatonic and became the first submarine in world history to sink an enemy ship. Not until World War I "half a century later” would a submarine again accomplish such a feat. But also perishing that moonlit night, vanishing beneath the cold Atlantic waters off Charleston, South Carolina, was the Hunley and her entire crew of eight
Confederate Blackade Runner
Confederate Blockade Runner 1861-65
The blockade runners of the Civil War usually began life as regular fast steam-powered merchant ships. They were adapted for the high-speed dashes through the Union blockade which closed off all the major Southern ports, and for much of the war they brought much-needed food, clothing and weaponry to the Confederacy
Union Monitor Civil War Ironclads
Union Monitor 1861-65
The first seagoing ironclad was the USS Monitor, and its profile has made it one of the most easily recognised warships of all time. Following her inconclusive battle with the Confederate ironclad Virginia on March 9, 1862, the production of Union monitors was accelerated. By the end of the year a powerful squadron of monitor vessels protected the blockading squadrons off the Southern coastline, and were able to challenge Confederate control of her ports and estuaries
Confederate Subs
Confederate Submarines and Torpedo Vessels 1861-65
Interesting information and many excellent illustrations. It addresses the CSA David class torpedo boats and the Hunley (and its predecessors), as well as Union examples such as the Alligator and the Spuyten Duyvil
Kindle Available
CSS Arkansas
The CSS Arkansas: A Confederate Ironclad on Western Waters

While the Monitor and Merrimack are the most famous of the Civil War ironclads, the Confederacy had another ship in its flotilla that carried high hopes and a metal hull. The makeshift CSS Arkansas, completed by Lt. Isaac Newton Brown and manned by a mixed crew of volunteers, gave the South a surge of confidence when it launched in 1862.
Hunt for the Albemarle
The Hunt for the Albemarle
Anatomy of a Gunboat War

The Confederate ironclad Albemarle was the key to the river wars in North Carolina. Flusser's search for this ship would determine the success or failure of the Union navy in securing the North Carolina coast and rivers.
North Navy
Northern Naval Superiority and the Economics of the American Civil War

Author David Surdam has finally done what others should have done years ago: he has connected the dots between the detailed studies of blockade running, weapons production, materials production, rail transport, and naval strategy to produce a definitive analysis of the blockade's effectiveness.
Confederate Navy
The Confederate Navy in Europe

Full account of the European activities of the Confederate navy during the American Civil War, including information on the Southerners who procured naval vessels in Great Britain and France, the construction of the ships, and the legal and political impact on the European governments that assisted in the Confederate cause.



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

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