Legend:
UNION VESSEL NAMES CONFEDERATE VESSEL NAMES
=Confederate Official Report 
=Union Official Report
=Image 
=Letter 
=Newspaper Account
[1861] [1862] [1863] [1864] [1865]
1864
February 4, 1864
The first of her class of river monitors, MILWAUKEE is commissioned at St. Louis.
February 18, 1864
The hybrid river monitor OZARK is commissioned at St. Louis.
February 21, 1864
LINDEN strikes a snag in the Arkansas River near Pine Bluff and sinks within an hour.
March 9, 1864
At 4 a.m., the ram GENERAL PRICE collided with the CONESTOGA on the Mississippi River at the mouth of Bayou Pierre (about ten miles below Grand Gulf, MS), sinking the latter in about four minutes with the loss of two crewmen. This was the second boat lost on the western rivers by Lieutenant Commander Thomas O. Selfridge and his fourth since the war began. Selfridge was aboard the CUMBERLAND when she was rammed and sunk by the MERRIMAC, was in command of the CAIRO when she was sunk by torpedoes in the Yazoo River and had breifly commanded the experimental submarine ALLIGATOR. Upon the loss of his latest ship, he was given command of the river monitor OSAGE.
March 10, 1864
Twenty ships—including thirteen ironclads—of the Mississippi Squadron depart Vicksburg on the beginning of the Red River Campaign.
March 12, 1864
The Milwaukee-class river monitor KICKAPOO is commissioned at St. Louis.
April 12, 1864
Shelling from NEW ERA and, later HASTINGS, proves ineffective against Confederate forces under General Nathan B. Forrest, at the infamous "Massacre at Ft. Pillow."
April 21, 1864
Colonel Hiram Scofield, USA, had been ordered to command a joint Army/Navy expedition from Vicksburg to Yazoo City, MS, for the purpose of closing the route used by Confederate combat patrols sent to attack Union transports on the Mississippi River. After Capturing Yazoo City, Scofield was to guard parties sent to salvage machinery from sunken steamers which had been scuttled by Confederates against the Union advance during mid-July of the previous year.
Embarking from Liverpool landing, PETREL, under Acting Master Thomas McElroy, the officer in charge of the naval forces operating on the Yazoo, started up the Yazoo River, accompanied by the gunboat PRAIRIE BIRD, the transport Freestone and the Mississippi Marine Brigade transport B. J. ADAMS. As PETREL, in the lead, reached the sharp bend in the river in front of Yazoo City, she was fired on by four Confederate guns which had been emplaced on the bluffs. PETREL returned the Confederates' fire as she quickly passed out of range of the artillery and, once safely above the town, turned around to prepare for another clash with her attackers.
However, the Confederate sharpshooters and gunners had turned their fire on PRAIRIE BIRD and, within a few minutes, scored three hits on the Union gunboat. One of which struck the starboard cylinder and wounded two of the engineers. To escape this punishing fire, the partially disabled PRAIRIE BIRD dropped down river and anchored to make repairs and await further orders. Lacking the support of her wounded consort PETREL, retired upstream and tied-up to the bank some 2 1/2 miles above the town.
April 22, 1864
PETREL's crew had just finished preparing her for the run downstream past the Confederate gauntlet when she was again attacked by Confederate sharpshooters and masked artillery. Quickly casting off, PETREL had barely gotten underway when she ran aground. While the crew worked frantically to refloat her, a shot from one of the Confederate guns struck her stern, cutting off the steam pipe and disabling the engine. A few minutes later another projectile struck the magazine, severely wounding the
Gunner's Mate and silencing PETREL's guns while damage control parties made repairs. When the aft gun was dismounted by a Confederate shell, Captain McElroy realized that he was in danger of losing his vessel and issued orders to be ready to set fire to her when she could no longer fight. Shortly thereafter, another shot entered the stern, raking the gun deck and exploding the boilers. To escape the scalding steam, most of the officers and crew abandoned ship and fled across a nearby swamp to safety aboard PRAIRIE BIRD.
Captain McElroy and two officers remained with the stricken PETREL, helping the wounded ashore and preparing to set fire to her. However, before the fire could get a good start the Confederates crossed the river and captured Captain McElroy and the surviving crewmembers. The Confederates then extinguished the blaze and began removing the tinclad's eight 24-pounder howitzers and a large quantity of stores. When they had finished stripping her, the Confederates set fire to PETREL, burning her to the water's edge.
That evening, sailors aboard PRAIRIE BIRD and B. J. Adams, moored below the city, sighted a large fire upriver. Realizing that PETREL was a total loss, the two Union vessels started down the river. When they reached Liverpool Heights, they found that Colonel Scofield , having received permission to retire to Vicksburg, had embarked his infantry and artillery aboard several recently-arrived steamboats. PRAIRIE BIRD then convoyed the crowded transports down the Yazoo, thus ending the Union expedition to capture Yazoo City.
April 27, 1864
The Milwaukee-class river monitor WINNEBAGO is commissioned at St. Louis.
May 14, 1864
The Milwaukee-class river monitor CHICKASAW is commissioned at St. Louis.
May 21, 1864
Rear Admiral Porter's squadron enters the Mississippi, ending the failed Red River Campaign.
June 22, 1864
About 4:30 a.m., elements of the 10th Missouri Infantry, CSA, attacked a small Union garrison occupying a partially completed the stockade at the mouth of the White River.
Fortunately for the outnumbered Federal troops, the LEXINGTON was, at that time, lying at the bank of the river with steam up. She immediately moved out into the stream and opened a rapid fire on the attackers. Caught in a crossfire, the Confederates quickly broke off the engagement and withdrew across the Arkansas River.
June 24, 1864
At 4:00 a.m., two regiments of cavalry and four pieces of artillery under General Shelby, CSA, launched a surprise attack on the QUEEN CITY which was lying at anchor in the White River about one mile below Clarendon, AR. At the first or second Confederate shot, the gunboat's starboard engine was disabled by a shell, and the port one damaged by a piece of the same shell passing through the steam pipe.
After a fight of fifteen or twenty minutes, the boat was riddled with shell and rifle balls and her commanding officer, Michael Hickey, decided to surrender her, telling the officers and men they could choose between being prisoners or jumping into the water to escape. Five officers and aobut 20 of the crew were captured while the remainder of the officers and men escaped to the opposite shore--two of them drowning in the attempt.
The Confederates immediately removed all the small arms, most of the ammunition, a 12-pounder howitzer, and the paymaster's stores. Intending to make a battery on shore, they next began the process of removing the 24-pounders and one 32-pounder.
At about 9:00 a.m., TYLER (under Lieutenant-Commander Bache), FAWN and NAUMKEAG were just 10 miles upriver convoying a fleet of nine transports from DeVall's Bluff when they were hailed by several men on the west bank of the river. Upon coming aboard the
TYLER, it was discovered that they were some of the escaped crewmen of the QUEEN CITY and the details of her capture learned.
Fearing that the Confederates would attempt to remove the guns from their prize and knowing they hadn't had much time to do so, Bache ordered the transports back up river while the gunboats steamed on toward the location of their stricken consort.
It was not long before the busy Confederates spotted plumes of smoke coming down the river. Shortly thereafter, sailors of the Union flotilla, still a few miles off, reported hearing two explosions below--the Confederates had blown up the unfortunate QUEEN CITY.
Roughly 30 minutes later, as the TYLER came abreast of the Confederate position, they opened fire on her, putting one of their first shots through the pilot house. Undaunted, the lightly-armored gunboat steamed slowly past, firing "broadside after broadside of one-half second shrapnel and canister." Next in line, the NAUMKEAG repeated Captain Bache's motions, passing the enemy battery with but little damage.
The FAWN, however, didn't fare so well. By the time she steamed in to range, the Confederate gunners had perfected the range and elevation of their pieces and nearly every shot struck its target.
Almost immediately a 12-pounder shrapnel entered the pilot house, mortally wounding the only pilot on board, carrying away the bell wires and ringing the bells, thereby causing the engineers to stop the boat directly under the Confederate battery. The paymaster then took the wheel until, after several minutes in that terrible position, the bells were fixed and the boat again underway.
A second shell soon entered the pilot house, tearing up the floor and throwing splinters in every direction. In the following few minutes, the FAWN was struck by at least nine more shots by which the crews of two of her broadside guns were disabled. Luckily, she eventually managed to get clear and tied up to the bank out of range.
Bache, however, was not about to give up the fight. Having passed the battery, the TYLER rounded to, followed by the NAUMKEAG, and steamed up at them again. As the bristling gunboats approached, one of the Confederates was heard to shout the warning, "There comes that black devil again!" After again getting abreast of the enemy battery--this time running "head upstream" and, therefore, able to hold a position against the current--the two uninjured gunboats opened a tremendous fire. The Union cannonade was so heavy that "the trees on shore for the space of a mile are marked by our projectiles, and that low down." In the face of such a vigorous onslaught, the Confederates soon withdrew, abandoning in their flight nearly everything they had captured within 300 yards of the bank.
June 25, 1864
The NAUMKEAG and the repaired FAWN returned to the scene of the previous day's action to find the persistant Confederates busily "throwing up rifle pits or breastworks." The two gunboats steamed to within range and promptly shelled them out of their works.
June 29, 1864
The newly-commissioned monitors CHICKASAW and WINNEBAGO were transferred to the West Gulf Blockading Squadron for use in the upcoming attack of Mobile Bay.
September 26, 1864
Rear Admiral David D. Porter was ordered to the east coast to replace Rear Admiral S. P. Lee in commanding the final Union attack on Fort Fisher. Admiral Lee, in turn assumed command of the Mississippi Squadron upon his arrival the following month.
[1861] [1862] [1863] [1864] [1865]
1865
