Mound City, Illinois is located about eight miles up the Ohio river from its confluence with the Mississippi. The town is situated just above the mouth of the Cache River near the early settlements of Trinity and Unity which had long been abandoned by the time the Civil War erupted. Founded in the mid-1850s, it was named for the nearby Native American burial mound. One of the most important features of the town were the Marine Ways (iron and cement runners upon which boats were hauled out of the water by cables operated by a steam engine located on or behind the levee), which can still be seen 
, which were built in 1859 and purchased by Hambleton, Collier & Company. The first boat to be built there was the H. R. W. Hill.
Mound City would play a major part in the Civil War. Its first contribution to the Union war effort was as the site at which three of the "City Class" ironclad gunboats—U.S.S. Cairo, U.S.S. Cincinnati and U.S.S. Mound City—were built. Construction of these novel craft had begun in late August of 1861 under the supervision of engineer James B. Eads and Commander John Rodgers, USN.
As of late September of 1861, there had been no major battles fought in the western theatre but small engagements, or "skirmishes," were occurring on an almost daily basis producing a growing number of wounded. These were initially treated at the hospital in Cairo with the more serious cases sent by steamer to St. Louis. However, the natural effects of inadequate sanitary facilities for the more than 12,000 troops in the area aroung that city, combined with diseases carried by the ubiquitous mosquitos and other insects, soon overwhelmed the available medical facilities. To help alleviate this growing problem, Army Surgeon John H. Brinton was ordered to Mound City to establish a hospital in which to accomodate the growing number of sick, injured and wounded.
As early as September 10, 1861, the Marine Ways (which were leased to the government from 1861 to 1874 were being used in the repair and maintenance of the other Union gunboats and transports, which services they would continue to perform throughout the war.
When the General Hospital was completed, Surgeon Brinton found himself with another problem; staffing. Although there were plenty of idle soldiers camped in the vicinity, Brinton soon found that western men were "not well suited to 'women's' work." This problem was, at first, thought to have been solved by the arrival of a large number of Northern women who came as volunteers to help care for "our boys." Brinton soon discovered, however, that these well-intentioned-but-pampered "Mrs. Brundages" demanded too much space and required more care than they gave. His problem was finally solved by the arrival of 14 or 15 Nursing Sisters of the Holy Cross, St. Mary's Convent, of South Bend, IN, who only required one room and very little maintenance.
In November the hospital would treat its first combat casualties following the battle of Belmont, MO. The Nursing Sisters were augmented by the arrival of the Mary Ann "Mother" Bickerdyke, of Sanitary Commission fame, who moved her "base of operations" from Cairo to Mound City and remained until the most of the wounded were sent to their homes or returned to their regiments.
Following the capture of Fort Henry early the following February, the gunboats USS Conestoga, USS Lexington and USS Tyler were dispatched on a raid up the Tennessee River during which they captured the steamer Eastport in the process of being converted into a ironclad. At the conclusion of the expedition, the Union gunboats delivered their unfinished prize, together with some 100,000 feet of lumber and a large quantity of iron plating, to Mound City whereupon instructions were immediately issued for the completion of the work begun by the Confederates.
By April of 1862, Mound City could boast at least one working foundry and a spur of the Illinois Central Railroad had been run into the city. The arrival of rail service happened not a moment too soon as the "Spring rise" in the rivers that year had inundated a portion of the track just outside Cairo. Therefore, troops and military supplies were brought by rail to Mound City where they were transferred to steamers for the remainder of the trip to Cairo.
Although most of the repair work to the gunboats was still being performed at Cairo, June and July of 1862 would prove to be busy months for the General Hospital at Mound City which was, by then, under the supervision of E. C. Franklin, M. D., Brigade Surgeon and Medical Director.
The busy, but otherwise quiet, life at Mound City was disturbed in late July by the news that Henderson, IN, on the Ohio River had been invaded by a large Confederate raiding party under General Morgan. Fleet Commander Alexander M. Pennock
August of 1862 would finally witness the launch and commissioning of the USS Eastport after more than six months of hard but often-interrupted work. The Army Ram Fleet, consisting of nine boats for which there was no space at the Cairo waterfront, would also establish its base at Mound City during this month.
By late September, the General Hospitals at Cairo and Mound City had reached the limits of their combined capacities. It is not well known that, during the course of the Civil War, more men died of disease than were killed in combat. Consequently, Army Surgeon Franklin, at Mound City, and Edward Gilchrist, Fleet Surgeon at Cairo, issued a joint report urging the establishment of a separate Naval Hospital at Mound City. The Mound City Hotel and the then-idle foundry were suggested as possible facilites with the hotel being the preferable location.
With October of 1862 came the transfer of the ownership and operation of all the gunboats and support vessels to the Navy (the reader will remember that the vessels of the Western Gunboat Flotilla, as it was then called, was originally owned and operated by the Army) and the designation of the fleet was changed to the "Mississippi Squadron." Consequently, the Navy Department dispatched Surgeon William Whelan, USN, Chief of Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, to Mound City with authority "to hire any necessary buildings at or near Mound City, or any other convenient and salubrious locality, if proper buildings are to be obtained; [or] if absolutely necessary, ... to have temporary buildings erected."
In March of 1863, the Navy began treating patients at the newly-established hospital in Memphis. Considering that this facility was larger and more centrally located, the operations (no pun intended) of the Naval Hospital at Mound City were transferred to Memphis and the Mound City Hotel was returned to its owners, though the barge Fitchwas still used for temporary housing.
By July of 1863, the decimation of the ranks of the Army caused by disease, injury and deaths, combined with the increased military activity were straining the Union's ability to maintain sufficient forces in the field. Therefore, troops and arms were continually drawn from rear echelon units like those guarding Cairo and Mound City. The situation became so serious that General N. B. Buford, Commander of the District, would complain; "To defend this place, I have this day [July 15, 1863] 284 officers and soldiers for duty, being a part of a regiment which have been prisoners of war and paroled, and not in a good state of discipline...I have not arms or ammunition, even for the convalescents who could fight, at Mound City and this place.
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In November of 1863, the Navy Department ordered the Ordnance Stores of the Mississippi Squadron moved to Mound City. To avoid the unnecessary expense of simply moving large quantities of materials, Fleet Captain Pennock had all new shipments delivered to Mound City while the inventory at Cairo was being depleted.
In December, following several instances in which Naval vessels moored along the crowded river bank at Cairo were endangered by fires aboard nearby transports, Rear Admiral Porter approached the Mayor of Mound City to request help in alleviating the problem. The city responded by donating (for the duration of the war) 2,400 feet of waterfront adjacent to the marine ways, which gave the Squadron exclusive use of 4,000 feet fronting the river "with sufficient land for all present purposes." This was not a totally selfless act as the City officials knew full well that the resulting increase in maintenance activities would bring an increase in business to the town.
On February 20th, 1864, a detachment of 40 U. S. Marines commanded by First Lieutenant Richard S. Collum, arrived to guard the Navy Ordnance stores now being housed at Mound City.
Late March and early April of 1864 would find the majority of the Navy's heavy ironclads, several tinclads and a portion of the Mississippi Marine Brigade up the Red River in Louisiana. The natural result of removing so many gunboats from their previous patrol stations along the upper rivers was that the Confederates could operate along these rivers almost unmolested. Paducah, KY, just 20 miles upriver, was attacked. Fort Pillow, on the Mississippi in Tennessee, was captured and most of the black troops murdered. Columbus, KY, was threatend as were Cairo and Mound City.
May of 1864 would prove a busy month. On the 9th, the transfer of the Naval storage facilities was finally complete and the wharf boat which served as Fleet Headquarters and the inspection boat Abraham were moved from Cairo to Mound City. It was determined also that the slack-water chute between the mainland and Tow Head Island (map link below) provided an excellent harbor for coal and powder barges. After two and a half years, the Squadron's primary support operations were finally consolidated at one place
On December 11, the famous Hospital Ship USS Red Rover arrived. Although she would would remain at her moorings for the duration of the war, her excellent facilities were used to help relieve the overflow from the Navy Hospital.
War-related activities at Mound City were almost strictly limited to the supply and repair of the Union Naval Vessels. This work contined at a rather monotonous pace until March of 1865. The Ohio was at flood stage and the Navy took advantage of the high water to bring three monitors of the new "Cannonicus" class which had been built at Pittsburgh and Cincinnati to the Naval Station (which was, at the time, inundated) for completion. However, the war would end before any of them could be put into service.
April of 1865 would bring celebration, mourning and excitement, accompanied by considerable noise.
May of 1865 would witness the capture of ex-president Davis and the beginning of the end of Naval operations in the Western rivers as, with the end of the war in sight, the services of the Mississippi Squadron would no longer be needed. There was still, however, much work to be done.
Throughout the months of June and July, the smaller "Tinclad" vessels of the Mississipi Squadron arrived, singly and in pairs, to be stripped of their wartime vestments. Their crews would perform much of the work of "decommissioning" them.
By the 12th of August 1865, all but a few of the tinclads and smaller boats had been decommissioned and advertised for sale. The waterfront was, however, still busy with the comings and goings of the tugs which were used to take potential buyers out to inspect the boats anchored in the river. By this date also, the Station was being operated by the Navy (under the command of Commodore J. W. Livingston) proper—not the Mississippi Squadron as had previously been the case.
On August 14, 1865, Rear Admiral S. P. Lee hauled down his flag aboard the USS Tempest and the Mississippi Squadron of the United States Navy ceased to exist.
On the 17th of August, a huge auction was held at Mound City in which all of the decommissioned vessels were sold except the ironclads, the two Navy Rams and those boats which had been captured from the Confederates and/or purchased from the prize courts.
In early November the Navy Department issued instructions that, where practical, the plating be removed from the ironclads preparatory to being sold and, on November 29, the ironclads and monitors that had seen service, together with the other vessels mentioned above, were sold at auction.
In 1867, the monitor USS Etlah, built at St. Louis, was brought to Mound City and laid up at Tow Head with the others.
In 1868, Command of the Naval Station was given to Captain Henry Walke, USN, who had spent much time there during the War as commander of the gunboat USS Tyler and the ironclads USS Carondelet and USS Lafayette, and who would serve as Commandant of the Station until some time in 1870.
The monitor USS Etlah was moved to New Orleans some time in 1871 and the monitors USS Marietta, USS Neosho and USS Sandusky were finally sold on the 17th of April 1878.
The above information focuses mainly on the Naval activities at Mound City during the Civil War era, primarily due to the fact that virtually all of the books in my collection are thus oriented. If you have any further info about the town—especially pictures—that you would like to share, I will be more than happy to add them here. You may contact me at .
In his Personal Memoirs, Brinton describes the town thusly; "The town of Mound City, [was] four years old and of speculative origin and growth...was then a very little town, just on the river bank, [along the river was] a long row of three- or four-story brick houses, or rather warehouses, built to accomodate the anticipated business of the future city. As a speculation they had up to this time been a failure, and the buildings stood finished as to their walls, but unfinished as to their interiors. They were just in that state, from which they could readily be converted into a General Hospital, three hundred feet long in front, by one hundred feet deep, capable of accommodating from eight hundred to one thousand patients comfortably...
[T]he garrison at Mound City at this time was but a single regiment, and to this regiment many duties were assigned. The presence of the iron gunboats, in process of building, was a tempting bait to the enemy, who practically held the opposite bank of the river, and our men were constantly on the alert against surprise. At first we were very defenceless, but later, guns and a battery were sent up for our protection. Every day or two an alarm would be raised and we would be told that the enemy were in force on the opposite shore, and our scouting parties would be sent out to reconnoitre. During my stay, however, the excursions never resulted in any practical end. The 'enemy' would usually turn out to be scouts of our own from camps below Cairo." While the ironclads were under construction, one of the "timberclad" gunboats were usually stationed off the city as added protection.
During this month, the General Hospital would receive and treat over 2,000 wounded following the Battle of Shiloh.
During the warm Summer months, referred to in the Navy as "the sickly season," so much illness occurred that a small steamer was employed exclusively in making a daily trip between Cairo and Mound City; transporting new patients to the hospital and bringing back those who had recovered. To this steady stream were added the casualties of the explosion of steam aboard the USS Mound City, the sick and wounded from the ships of Admiral Farragut's fleet which had suffered heavily in passing the Confederate batteries at Vicksburg and the wounded from the USS Tyler and USS Carondelet following their battle with the ironclad CSS Arkansas.
With the increase in the number of patients came a natural increase in the number of deaths and, while the remains of many were sent home to or claimed by their families, a number of the dead were initially buried near the hospital but, as this area was rapidly filling up, the government purchased 10 acres of land nearby and established what would, in 1866, become the Mound City National Cemetery, the first to bear this designation. Those buried near the Hospital were moved to this new facility which would continue to accept interments until 2001.
, Commondant of the Naval Station at Cairo, who was at the time in the Mound City Hospital (allegedly recuperating from a collapse brought on by fatigue) when the news was first received by telegram at Cairo, could not be reached because the telegraph officer at Mound City was asleep. Major General Henry Halleck, having also heard the news of the "Rebel invasion," arrived by steamer off Cairo late that night and the Commanding Officer of one of the nearby forts, following military custom, ordered the firing of several cannons in salute, greatly alarming an already nervous population. Hearing the sound of heavy guns and fearing the worst, Commander Pennock left his hospital bed and immediately made arrangements, should the need arise, for setting fire to the USS Pittsburg and the still unfinished USS Eastport which were both on the ways at the time. After a tense night, a tug arrived from Cairo early the next morning with an accurate report on the cause of the previous night's commotion, following which life at Mound City more or less returned to normal. Work on the two ironclads was resumed as was construction of the hull for the new river monitor, USS Ozark, by the local ship building firm of Hambledon, Collier & Co., which had begun in June.
Upon his arrival, Whelan, in agreement with Gilchrist and Franklin's recommendation, immediately leased the Mound City Hotel, whereupon the residents were moved out and patients moved in. Mindful that the Union forces were building up for the capaign against Vicksburg, Whelan also issued contracts for the building of the Hospital Barge Fitch. However, even these measures would not be sufficient to cope with the rising number of sick and wounded and, as of October 19th, several patients were housed aboard the transport Soverign for lack of hospital beds.
At this time, the Mississippi Squadron consisted of roughly 98 vessels of various types, in various condition of repair and in various stages of conversion to warships. The sudden increase in workmen employed in the construction, maintenance and repair of this myriad of vessels soon overtaxed the city's housing capabilities forcing the Navy to use the steamer Soverign as a boarding house for the mechanics.
To protect the Naval facilities, gunboats were withdrawn from the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers and detailed to patrol the Ohio from the Mississippi to the Cumberland, the garrisons at Cairo and Paducah were also reinforced and a battery was established ten miles upriver from Mound City. With these measures in place, Mound City was able to continue its work of keeping the Squadron afloat. Not, however, without some problems.
One of the usual side effects of war is an increase in the cost of consumer goods. This, combined with the depletion of the pool of skilled workmen, naturally acted to drive up the wages paid to local craftsmen. The Civil War was no exception and, on April 18, the mechanics, carpenters and joiners working under contract to the Navy at Mound City went on strike for higher pay. The Navy refused the increase and most workers returned to their jobs within a few days. Those who held out were dismissed.
. To protect the Navy's stores and operations, the U. S. Marine Corps detachment of 158 officers and men at Cairo was also moved to Mound City.
Fleet Captain Pennock also had to manage the steady flow of cotton which had been captured by the vessels on the Red River expedition and sent north for sale. As the warehouses at Mound City were mostly occupied, the baled cotton had to be stored on the levee and the town soon looked, from the river, much like the cotton trading centers of Memphis and New Orleans.
By the 26th of May, the Fleet had returned from the Red River and the Naval Depot was immediately immersed in the business of repairing them. The following report taken from the Navy Official Records gives an idea of just how busy Commander Pennock's workers must have been:
With the exception of the burning of the wharf boat on the 1st of June, little of note would occur for the next several months. However, the consolidation of the Navy's repair and resupply operations in this once sleepy little town was not without drawbacks. In late October, an officer named Eli wrote home to his sweetheart "...You ask does the Navy Yard have such a bad effect...It is not the yard but the carpenters, laborers, &c...There are over a thousand here, and the worse kind, some of them are regular highwayrobbers. I never go out for an evening without my pistol...they have all been on a strike lately for higher wages..."
Sovereign, used as boarding house; W. H. Brown, on the ways; Cincinnati, on the ways; Tuscumbia, repairing; Juliet, repairing, officers and crew transferred; Cricket, for repairs; Lavinia Logan, for Admiral Farragut; Reindeer (No. 57), fitting out; Vindicator, fitting out; Benefit, repairing; Pansy, on the ways, repairing; Siren, receiving ship; Fairy, on duty; General Pillow, guarding powder boats; Moose, Reindeer, just arrived to take ordnance and ordnance stores to new boats on the upper Tennessee 
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On the 5th, thirty-six guns were fired by the fleet in celebration of the capture of Richmond, VA. On the 10th, 100 guns were fired at noon and sunset celebrating Lee's surrender and the day of the 17th passed to the slow rythm of one gun fired every half hour from sunrise to sunset in honor of President Lincoln's death.
On the 22nd, the USS Black Hawk, flag ship to both Admiral D. D. Porter and, temporarily, Admiral S. P. Lee, caught fire just below the Navy Yard 
. As she burned, the new flag ship USS Tempest came alongside and took off all but four of the USS Black Hawk's crew. Admiral Lee would later comment "Had this fire occurred at night, so rapid was the burning, I think the return would have been four saved instead of four lost."
At noon on April 26th, a 21 gun salute was fired from the forts and the fleet which was the time at which the late President was scheduled to be buried.
Following the collapse of the Confederacy near the end of the month, most of the boats of the Squadron were vigilantly patrolling the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers intent on preventing the escape of Jefferson Davis and other Confederate officials.
The ill-fated ironclad USS Indianola and the poorly constructed ironclad USS Tuscumbia had already been towed to the Navy Yard where many of the same craftsmen who helped build and/or repair these vessels were in the final stages of dismantling them.
As each vessel arrived, the Paymaster's Stores (food, bedding, etc.) were first removed and sent aboard the USS Naumkeag and USS General Lyon for delivery to New Orleans. Next all of the ordnance (guns, carriages, ammunition and powder) was removed and loaded on one of eight tinclads engaged exclusively in transporting these materials to Jefferson Reserve at St. Louis where storehouses were being built to accomodate them. Finally, the iron plating was stripped from the gun decks and stockpiled for future sale. Once the arms and armor had been removed these "steamers," as they could once again be properly called, were anchored in the river just below the town and their compliments reduced to a couple of officers and a few sailors for each. The remainder of the crewmen were paid off and discharged or sent to their homes to await orders. Hardly a passenger steamer or rail coach car left Mound City that month without a large number of ex-sailors aboard.
Nine of the ironclads of the fleet and the CSS Missouri were also brought to Mound City but were not immediately dismantled. Their hulls were, for the most part, not suitable for use as commercial boats and their heavier iron plating would be harder to remove. Following the removal of their stores, they were laid up in the Tow Head Chute to await further disposition.
For some reason, which we have yet to discover, the monitors USS Neosho, USS Marietta and USS Sandusky, the last two of which had not been finished before the war's end, were not sold at this time. Owing to the presence of these formidable (and expensive) craft, the Naval Station at Mound City would function as an active base for several years.
On November 17, the USS Red Rover was decommissioned and transferred her last 11 patients to the USS Grampus. She would be sold at auction on the 29th of that month.
The USS Kate, being equipped with a steam capstan useful in hauling off grounded vessels, was kept in commission until sold in March 25, 1866. The tugs USS Mignonette and USS Pansy, together with the receiving ship USS Grampus (presumably used as offices and quarters for Station personnel), were retained on the active list for the purpose of looking after the three remaining monitors.
On September 1 of that year, Captain Walke would oversee the sale of the USS Grampus and the tug USS Pansy leaving only one operating boat attached to the station.
Having been recorded in Naval service (under the name Dauntless) as early as March 25, 1862, the tug USS Mignonette was sold the following day, ending an active career of more than 16 years.
(The large building in the background is the Mound City Hotel/Naval Hospital)
