June 6, 1862

June 6, 1862: Naval Battle

Battle of Memphis

Mississippi Campaign

Under Flag Officer Charles Henry Davis, USN, five "turtles"—river ironclads—drift down the Mississippi, dropping down toward Memphis. He is accompanied by one of the most odd and unwieldy experiements in naval warfare—a small flotilla of gunboats commanded and owned by the Army. Col. Charles Ellet commands four steam rams, jury-rigged vessels designed to sink enemy boats by high-speed ramming. The Confederate flotilla, which had been 14 vessels strong, including the ironclad CSS Arkansas, had been split with several vessels sent downriver to defend Vicksburg, including the Arkansas. Capt. Montgomery of the C.S. Navy now commanded the River Defense Fleet, consisting of 8 "cottonclad" rams, which were merely converted commercial river boats, also designed to ram (as Ellets rams were), and stacked with cotton bales on the decks to protect the crew from rifle fire and maybe slow down cannon shells.

Davis signals Ellet’s rams forward as the Rebel flotilla came into sight, and the USS Queen of the West steams forward with the USS Monarch, commanded by Ellet’s brother. The Queen strikes the CSS General Lovell, which almost immediately sinks, but in turn is struck and disabled by the CSS Beauregard. Capt. Hunt of the Beauregard is encouraged by this success, and aims for the Monarch, too, but Monarch evades Beauregard, and the Rebel ram’s momentum sheers off the paddle wheel of her own comrade, the CSS General Price. By this time, Davis’s slower ironclads are close enough, and open fire on the Confederate steamers. Monarch maneuvers quickly and rams the Beauregard, which just makes it to shore and sinks in shallow waters. The ironclads hammer the CSS Jeff Thompson and CSS General Bragg until their crews drive them aground in shallow water, and they are blown up by their crews. Montgomery’s flagship, the CSS Little Rebel, is driven ashore by the Monarch, and the turtles hammer it and riddle it full of holes. The Little Rebel is abandoned by her crew. The CSS Earl Van Dorn, the fastest ship on the river that day, turns and heads south, downriver, with the Monarch and Switzerland in pursuit; they do not catch her. Col. Ellet is wounded in the knee with a pistol ball—as a result, he dies in hospital by measles, which kills him and 5,000 other soldiers during this war. The Rebels lose nearly 180 men, 7 vessels, and the city of Memphis.

Union Victory.

Battle of Memphis

Union Flotilla:

Gun-boats, U.S. Navy

Ship	Captain
Benton (Flagship)	Flag Officer Charles Henry Davis Lieutenant S. L. Phelps
Louisville	Commander B. M. Dove
Carondelet	Commander Henry Walke
Cairo	Lieutenant N. C. Bryant
St. Louis	Lieutenant Wilson McGunnegle

Rams, U.S. Army River Fleet

Ship	Captain
Queen of the West (Flagship)	Colonel Charles Ellet
Monarch	Lieutenant-Colonel Alfred W. Ellet
Switzerland	First Master David Millard

Confederate Flotilla: River Defense Fleet, C.S. Navy

Vessel	Captain	Fate
Little Rebel (flag-ship)	Captain J.E. Montgomery	Captured
General Bragg	Captain William H. H. Leonard	Captured
General Sterling Price	First Officer J. E. Henthorne	Captured
General Sumter	Captain W. W. Lamb	Captured
General Earl van Dorn	Captain Isaac D. Fulkerston	Escaped
General M. Jeff. Thompson	Captain John H. Burke	Destroyed
General Lovell	Captain James C. Delaney	Sunk
General Beauregard	Captain James Henry Hunt	Sunk

CSS General Bragg

CSS Sterling Price

—In the Shenandoah Valley, Gen. Turner Ashby, leading Jackson’s cavalry, plays a delaying game in front of Harrisonburg. Jackson has beaten Shields to Port Republic, the key crossing point over the Shenandoah River, and he now turns to deal with Fremont’s pursuit. Col. Percy Wyndham, an Englishman commanding a Union cavalry brigade, is captured by Ashby, and the Union horsemen are scattered. Ashby wants to organize a defense south of Harrisonburg, and borrows two infantry regiments. As he is putting them into line, the famous Pennsylvania Bucktail regiment surprises the Rebels, being closer than expected: they pour volleys into the infantry at close range, before they are formed into line, and the Rebels begin to break. Ashby’s horse is killed, but on foot he draws his saber and revolver and tries to rally the 58^th Virginia Infantry with a charge–but no one follows him. Out in the open, Ashby is killed instantly with one bullet. The entire South mourns.

—George Michael Neese, an artilleryman under Ashby’s command, writes in his journal:

Ashby is gone. He has passed the picket line that is posted along the silent river, and the genius of science, the ingenuity of man, earth, and mortality combined cannot invent a countersign that will permit him to return. He is tenting to-night on the eternal camping-ground that lies beyond the mist that hangs over the River of Death, where no more harsh reveilles will disturb his peaceful rest nor sounding charge summon him to the deadly combat again.