May 10, 1862

May 10, 1862: Naval Action-Mississippi River: Battle of Plum Point Bend: Near Ft. Pillow, Tennessee—a five-mile stretch of fortifications and gun emplacements on the Mississippi River—there is a sharp naval battle between seven Union gunboats and ironclads under command of Capt. Charles H. Davis of the U.S. Navy and a flotilla of ten Rebel converted riverboats and rams under command of Captain Montgomery of the CS Navy. Montgomery steams directly at the flagship, the USS Cincinnati, and the CSS General Bragg rams her, followed by the CSS General Sterling Price. The Cincinnati begins to sink. The other six boats of the USN river squadron steam into the battle, and pound the Gen. Bragg, knocking her out of action when a shell passes through the boiler. The USS Mound City is rammed by the CSS General Sumter, and then by the CSS General Van Dorn, which also rakes the Mound City with gunfire. The Mound City sinks before she can get to shallower waters. The Cincinnati also sinks. The CSN River Defense Squadron retires to the protection of Ft. Pillow’s guns, and Memphis is safe for a while longer, yet. The Federal boats badly damage two Rebel vessels, but this is still clearly a rare Confederate naval victory.

U.S.S. Cincinnati

Confederate Victory.
—The Confederate Navy and Army finish evacuating Norfolk and the Gosport Naval Yard, setting the facility on fire. When the Federals discover this, Gen. John Wool and 6,000 troops from Ft. Monroe cross over on steamboats to find empty entrenchments and the Mayor of Norfolk ready to surrender the city.

—At Farmington, Mississippi, Gen. John Pope’s Federal troops (part of Gen. Halleck’s Grand Army of the West) are close enough to Corinth that the Confederates moved a line of battle and artillery out to meet them. After heavy skirmishing, the fighting ends, with nearly 150 men killed or wounded in the Federals who fought.

—In a strange letter to his family from Pvt. William Ray Wells of the 12^th New York Infantry, just arrived at West Point, halfway up the York River in Virginia, he tells of being attacked by "a party of negroes" and the rumor that the black men were in the Rebel army:



The troops are in excellent spirits and expect a brush soon. we have marching orders to move tomorrow morning. destination unknown. but expect somewhere facing the rebels. when our troops first landed here they were attacked by a party of negroes and a number of us slashed up with nives and had their throats cut. but we soon drove them back. . . . I will resume my pen and try and finish this to you. I have just been to the Capt. and borrowed an envelope. money does not do any good here as there is nothing to get unless it is something to eat from the negro families here whose male population are all in the sesesh army.

—Pvt. Robert Knox Sneden, in his journal, details the adverse conditions of muddy roads caused by incessant rains on the James Peninsula, and which is impeding McClellan’s march up the peninsula with the Army of the Potomac:

The wagon trains crawled along slowly, until an opening in the woods allowed one train to pass the other. After going two miles the wagons stuck in the mud every few minutes, while the mules were belabored unmercifully by the teamsters, while the air was blue with their swearing. . . . Then wheels would be interlocked and the mules roll completely out of harness, so the same old scenes were repeated. . . . The yells, cracking of whips, curses, and braying of the mules resounded through the woods for a great distance in many places. . . . As we neared the Halfway House we came upon numerous Rebel army wagons which had been stalled in the mud. They were lying on their sides with all wheels cut to pieces with axes. Nothing was found in the wagons but a few old salt bags. There were lots of dead mules strung out on the road for a mile of more lying on their backs, half smothered in mud, with their feet sticking up out of it. . . . All of our sugar, salt, and hardbread had got wet with the rain which poured down steadily until long after daylight.

—Sarah Morgan, of Baton Rouge, notes in her journal her defiance of the newly-arrived Yankee occupation forces:

Early in the evening, four more gunboats sailed up here. We saw them from the corner, three squares off, crowded with men even up in the riggings. The American flag was flying from every peak. It was received in profound silence, by the hundreds gathered on the banks. I could hardly refrain from a groan. Much as I once loved that flag, I hate it now! I came back and made myself a Confederate flag about five inches long, slipped the staff in my belt, pinned the flag to my shoulder, and walked downtown, to the consternation of women and children, who expected something
awful to follow.