USS Carondelet (1861)
USS Carondelet was a City-class ironclad gunboat constructed for the War Department by James B. Eads during the American Civil War and it was named for the town where it was built, Missouri. USS Carondelet, a river gunboat, was built in 1861 by James Eads. St. Louis, Missouri, at the Union Marine Works, in Carondelet, between January and October 1862, Carondelet operated almost constantly on river patrol and in the capture of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson in February, the passing of Island No. One of those to pass the Vicksburg and Warrenton, Missouri batteries in April 1863 and she remained on duty off Vicksburg, bombarding the city in its long siege from May to July. Without her and her sisters and other forces, the great operations on the rivers would not have been possible. From 7 March to 15 May 1864, she sailed with the Red River Expedition, for the remainder of the war, Carondelet patrolled in the Cumberland River. Morrison, for actions in the engagement with CSS Arkansas,15 July 1862, the Carondelet had several commanding officers over the duration of her service.
She was decommissioned at Mound City, Illinois, on 20 June 1865, in 1873, shortly before she was to be scrapped, a flood swept the Carondelet from her moorings in Gallipolis, Ohio. She drifted approximately 130 miles down the Ohio River, where she grounded near Manchester, like many of the Mississippi theatre ironclads, USS Carondelet had its armament changed multiple times over life of the vessel. These 42-pounder weapons were of concern to military commanders because they were structurally weaker. Additionally, the confines of riverine combat greatly increased the threat of boarding parties. The 12-pounder howitzer was equipped to address that concern and was not used in regular combat, the entry can be found here. Coombe, Thunder Along the Mississippi, The River Battles That Split The Confederacy Cussler and Craig Dirgo, The Sea Hunters Smith, Myron J
United States Secretary of War
The Secretary of War was a member of the United States Presidents Cabinet, beginning with George Washingtons administration. A similar position, called either Secretary at War or Secretary of War, had appointed to serve the Congress of the Confederation under the Articles of Confederation between 1781 and 1789. Benjamin Lincoln and Henry Knox held the position, when Washington was inaugurated as the first president under the Constitution, he appointed Knox to continue serving. The Secretary of War was the head of the War Department, at first, he was responsible for all military affairs, including naval affairs. In 1798, the Secretary of the Navy was created by statute, from 1886 onward, the Secretary of War was third in the line of succession to the presidency, after the Vice President of the United States and the Secretary of State. The office of Secretary at War was modelled upon Great Britains Secretary at War, the office of Secretary at War was meant replaced both the Commander-in-Chief and the Board of War, and like the President of the Board, the Secretary wore no special insignia.
The Inspector General, Quartermaster General, Commissary General, and Adjutant General served on the Secretarys staff, the Army itself under Secretary Henry Knox only consisted of 700 men. Parties No party Federalist Democratic-Republican Democratic Whig Republican Confederate States Secretary of War Bell, commanding Generals and Chiefs of Staff 1775-2005, Portraits and Biographical Sketches. United States Army Center of Military History, encyclopedia of the United States Cabinet 1789-2010. Charlottesville, The Judge Advocate Generals School, U. S. Army
United States
Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power.
The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations.
In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
Henry Halleck
Henry Wager Halleck was a United States Army officer and lawyer. A noted expert in military studies, he was known by a nickname that became derogatory and he was an important participant in the admission of California as a state and became a successful lawyer and land developer. Halleck served as General-in-Chief of all Union armies during the American Civil War, Early in the Civil War, Halleck was a senior Union Army commander in the Western Theater. However, Halleck was not present at the battles, and his subordinates received most of the credit, the only operation in which Halleck exercised field command was the Siege of Corinth in a spring of 1862, a Union victory which he conducted with extreme caution. Halleck developed rivalries with many of his generals, such as Ulysses S. Grant. In July 1862, following Major General George B, mcClellans failed Peninsula Campaign in the Eastern Theater, Halleck was promoted to general-in-chief of all U. S. armies. Halleck served in capacity for about a year and a half.
Halleck was a general who believed strongly in thorough preparations for battle and in the value of defensive fortifications over quick. President Abraham Lincoln once described him as more than a first rate clerk. In March of 1864, Grant was promoted to general-in-chief, without the pressure of having to control the movements of the armies, Halleck performed capably in this task, ensuring that the Union armies were well-equipped. Halleck was born on a farm in Westernville, Oneida County, New York, third child of 14 of Joseph Halleck, a lieutenant who served in the War of 1812, and Catherine Wager Halleck. Young Henry detested the thought of a life and ran away from home at an early age to be raised by an uncle. He attended Hudson Academy and Union College, the United States Military Academy and he became a favorite of military theorist Dennis Hart Mahan and was allowed to teach classes while still a cadet. He graduated in 1839, third in his class of 31 cadets, returning home a first lieutenant, Halleck gave a series of twelve lectures at the Lowell Institute in Boston that were subsequently published in 1846 as Elements of Military Art and Science.
His scholarly pursuits earned him the nickname Old Brains, during the Mexican-American War, Halleck was assigned to duty in California. He was awarded a promotion to captain in 1847 for his gallant and meritorious service in California. He was transferred north to serve under General Bennet Riley, the general of the California Territory. Halleck was soon appointed military secretary of state, a position made him the governors representative at the 1849 convention in Monterey where the California state constitution was written
Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army was the military ground force of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. S. Military Academy and colonel of a regiment during the Mexican War. In March 1861, the Provisional Confederate Congress established a more permanent Confederate States Army, the better estimates of the number of individual Confederate soldiers are between 750,000 and 1,000,000 men. This does not include a number of slaves who were pressed into performing various tasks for the army, such as construction of fortifications. Since these figures include estimates of the number of individual soldiers who served at any time during the war. These numbers do not include men who served in Confederate naval forces, although most of the soldiers who fought in the American Civil War were volunteers, both sides by 1862 resorted to conscription, primarily as a means to force men to register and to volunteer. In the absence of records, estimates of the percentage of Confederate soldiers who were draftees are about double the 6 percent of Union soldiers who were conscripts.
Confederate casualty figures are incomplete and unreliable, one estimate of Confederate wounded, which is considered incomplete, is 194,026. These numbers do not include men who died from causes such as accidents. Other Confederate forces surrendered between April 16,1865 and June 28,1865, by the end of the war, more than 100,000 Confederate soldiers had deserted. The Confederacys government effectively dissolved when it fled Richmond in April, by the time Abraham Lincoln took office as President of the United States on March 4,1861, the seven seceding slave states had formed the Confederate States. The Confederacy seized federal property, including nearly all U. S. Army forts, Lincoln was determined to hold the forts remaining under U. S. control when he took office, especially Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. Under orders from Confederate President Jefferson Davis, C. S. troops under the command of General P. G. T, Beauregard bombarded Fort Sumter on April 12–13,1861, forcing its capitulation on April 14.
The Northern states were outraged by the Confederacys attack and demanded war and it rallied behind Lincolns call on April 15, for all the states to send troops to recapture the forts from the secessionists, to put down the rebellion and to preserve the Union intact. Four more slave states joined the Confederacy. The Confederate Congress provided for a Confederate army patterned after the United States Army and it was to consist of a large provisional force to exist only in time of war and a small permanent regular army. Although the two forces were to exist concurrently, very little was done to organize the Confederate regular army, the Provisional Army of the Confederate States began organizing on April 27. Virtually all regular and conscripted men preferred to enter this organization since officers could achieve a rank in the Provisional Army than they could in the Regular Army
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the chief river of the largest drainage system on the North American continent. Flowing entirely in the United States, it rises in northern Minnesota, with its many tributaries, the Mississippis watershed drains all or parts of 31 U. S. states and 2 Canadian provinces between the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains. The Mississippi ranks as the fourth longest and fifteenth largest river in the world by discharge, the river either borders or passes through the states of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas and Louisiana. Native Americans long lived along the Mississippi River and its tributaries, most were hunter-gatherers, but some, such as the Mound Builders, formed prolific agricultural societies. The arrival of Europeans in the 16th century changed the way of life as first explorers, settlers. The river served first as a barrier, forming borders for New Spain, New France, and the early United States, and as a vital transportation artery and communications link.
Formed from thick layers of the silt deposits, the Mississippi embayment is one of the most fertile agricultural regions of the country. In recent years, the river has shown a shift towards the Atchafalaya River channel in the Delta. The word itself comes from Messipi, the French rendering of the Anishinaabe name for the river, see below in the History section for additional information. In addition to historical traditions shown by names, there are at least two measures of a rivers identity, one being the largest branch, and the other being the longest branch. Using the largest-branch criterion, the Ohio would be the branch of the Lower Mississippi. Using the longest-branch criterion, the Middle Mississippi-Missouri-Jefferson-Beaverhead-Red Rock-Hellroaring Creek River would be the main branch and its length of at least 3,745 mi is exceeded only by the Nile, the Amazon, and perhaps the Yangtze River among the longest rivers in the world. The source of this waterway is at Browers Spring,8,800 feet above sea level in southwestern Montana and this is exemplified by the Gateway Arch in St.
Louis and the phrase Trans-Mississippi as used in the name of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. It is common to qualify a regionally superlative landmark in relation to it, the New Madrid Seismic Zone along the river is noteworthy. These various basic geographical aspects of the river in turn underlie its human history and present uses of the waterway, the Upper Mississippi runs from its headwaters to its confluence with the Missouri River at St. Louis, Missouri. The source of the Upper Mississippi branch is traditionally accepted as Lake Itasca,1,475 feet above sea level in Itasca State Park in Clearwater County, the lake is in turn fed by a number of smaller streams. From its origin at Lake Itasca to St. Louis, fourteen of these dams are located above Minneapolis in the headwaters region and serve multiple purposes, including power generation and recreation. The remaining 29 dams, beginning in downtown Minneapolis, all locks and were constructed to improve commercial navigation of the upper river
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge is the capital of the U. S. state of Louisiana and its second-largest city. It forms the seat of East Baton Rouge Parish and is located on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River. As the Capital City, Baton Rouge is the hub for Louisiana. The metropolitan area surrounding the city, known as Greater Baton Rouge, is the second-largest in Louisiana, the urban area has around 594,309 inhabitants. Baton Rouge is an industrial, medical, motion picture. The Port of Greater Baton Rouge is the tenth largest in the United States in terms of tonnage shipped, the Baton Rouge area owes its historical importance to its strategic site upon the Istrouma Bluff, the first natural bluff upriver from the Mississippi River Delta. This allowed development of a business quarter safe from seasonal flooding, in addition, the city built a levee system stretching from the bluff southward to protect the riverfront and low-lying agricultural areas. The city is a rich center, with settlement by immigrants from numerous European nations.
It was ruled by seven different governments, French and Spanish in the era, West Floridian, United States territory and state, Confederate. Human habitation in the Baton Rouge area has been dated to 12000 –6500 BC based on evidence found along the Mississippi, earthwork mounds were built by hunter-gatherer societies in the Middle Archaic period, from roughly the 4th millennium BC. Eastern Muskogean began to diversify internally in the first half of the 1st millennium AD, at the time, the region appeared to be occupied by a collection of moderately-sized native chiefdoms interspersed with autonomous villages and tribal groups. French explorer Sieur dIberville led a party up the Mississippi River in 1699. The explorers saw a red pole marking the boundary between the Houma and Bayogoula tribal hunting grounds, see Red Sticks for the ceremonial use of red sticks among the Muscogee. The location of the red pole was presumably at Scotts Bluff and it was reportedly a 30-foot-high painted pole adorned with fish bones.
The settlement of Baton Rouge by Europeans began in 1721 when a military post was established by French colonists. Since European settlement, Baton Rouge has been governed by France, Spain, the Republic of West Florida, the Confederate States, and the United States. In 1755, when French-speaking settlers of Acadia in Canadas Maritime provinces were driven into exile by British forces, popularly known as Cajuns, the descendants of the Acadians maintained a separate culture. During the first half of the 19th century, the city grew steadily as the result of steamboat trade, Baton Rouge was incorporated in 1817
Laurent Millaudon (1856)
Laurent Millaudon was a wooden side-wheel river steamboat launched at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1856 operating in the New Orleans, Louisiana area, and captained by W. S. Whann. At the beginning of the American Civil War she was taken into service by the Confederate Navy as CSS General Sterling Price, on 6 June 1862, she was sunk at the Battle of Memphis. She was raised and repaired by the Union army, and on 16 June 1862 was moved into Union service as USS General Price and served until the end of the war. CSS General Sterling Price, often referred to as General Price or Price, was built as Laurent Millaudon, at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1856. She was acquired for Confederate service and fitted out at New Orleans, Louisiana, on 25 March, General Price commanded by Captain J. H. Townsend, sailed from New Orleans to Memphis, where she stayed until 10 April having her ironwork completed. She was sent to Fort Pillow, where she operated in defense of the approaches to Memphis. In the action of Plum Point Bend, which followed, the Confederate ram CSS General Bragg struck Cincinnati halting her retreat.
This allowed General Price to violently ram the Federal gunboat, taking away her rudder, stern post, at the same time General Prices well directed fire silenced Federal Mortar boat No. 16, which was being guarded by Cincinnati, General Price was heavily hit in this action. Her upper works were damaged, and she was struck by a 128-pound shell which cut off her supply pipes. The Confederates quickly repaired General Price and she participated with Montgomery’s force in holding off Federal vessels until Fort Pillow was successfully evacuated on 1 June, the Confederate vessels fell back on Memphis to take coal. Montgomery, unable to retreat to Vicksburg, Mississippi because of his shortage of fuel, in the ensuing Battle of Memphis, General Price charged the Federal ram USS Monarch but instead collided with the Confederate ram CSS General Beauregard, attacking the Monarch. General Price lost her wheel and was disabled, while the two Confederate vessels were entangled, Federal rams attacked them mercilessly.
General Price collided with the Federal ram USS Queen of the West under Col. Charles Ellet, Jr. USA, as Queen of the West captured her crew, General Price sank slowly onto a sand bar. She was raised by the Union army and taken into Federal service, USS General Price was a cottonclad river ram and gunboat in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She was formerly a Confederate ram named CSS General Sterling Price that was sunk, after the Union victory, she was raised by the Union army and taken to Cairo, Illinois for repairs. She was moved into the Union service under Lt. LeRoy Fitch on 16 June 1862 and was moved to Cairo for repairs, the ram was formally transferred to the Navy by Quartermaster H. A. Wise at Cairo on 30 September 1862. Although at that time she was renamed USS General Price, she continued to be referred to as General Sterling Price in Union dispatches, after several days of slow and difficult progress, harassed by Confederate troops, the gunboats were forced to withdraw on 22 March 1863
USS Cairo
USS Cairo /ˈkeɪroʊ/ was one of the first American ironclad warships built at the beginning of the U. S. Civil War. Cairo was the ship of the City-class gunboats and named for Cairo. In June 1862, she captured the Confederate garrison of Fort Pillow on the Mississippi, as part of the Yazoo Pass Expedition, she was sunk on 12 December 1862, while clearing mines for the attack on Haines Bluff. Cairo was the first ship ever to be sunk by a remotely detonated by hand. The remains of Cairo can be viewed at Vicksburg National Military Park with a museum of its weapons, Cairo was built by James Eads and Co. Mound City, Illinois, in 1861, by contract to the United States Department of War. She was commissioned as part of the Union Armys Western Gunboat Flotilla, Cairo served with the Armys Western Gunboat Flotilla on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, and their tributaries until she was transferred to the Navy on 1 October 1862, with the other river gunboats. She was commanded by Flag Officer Andrew Hull Foote, on 6 June 1862, two days later, Cairo joined in the triumph of seven Union ships and a tug over eight Confederate gunboats off Memphis.
Five of the gunboats were sunk or run ashore during this action. That night, Union forces occupied the city, Cairo returned to patrol on the Mississippi until 21 November, when she joined the Yazoo Pass Expedition. Like many of the Mississippi theatre ironclads, Cairo had her armament changed over the life of the vessel. To speed up her entrance into the service and the other City-class ships were fitted with weapons were on hand. Though the 8 in smoothbore Dahlgren guns were modern, most of the other original weapons were antiquated, such as the 32-pounders, or modified. These were, old smoothbores that had made into rifles. The 42-pounder weapons were of concern to military commanders because they were structurally weaker. Additionally, the confines of combat on the rivers greatly increased the threat of boarding parties. The 12-pounder howitzer was equipped to address that concern and was not used in regular combat, over the years, the gunboat was forgotten and slowly covered by silt and sand.
Impacted in mud, Cairo became a time capsule in which her unique, historical artifacts were preserved against corrosion and her whereabouts became a matter of speculation, as members of the crew had died and local residents were unsure of the location
USS Queen of the West (1854)
On July 15, Queen of the West, USS Carondelet, and USS Tyler engaged Confederate ironclad ram CSS Arkansas in the Yazoo River. The Southern ram escaped into the Mississippi and, heavily damaged, on July 22, Queen of the West and USS Essex attacked Arkansas, despite the Southern guns. In ensuing months, Queen of the West continued to support operations against Vicksburg, on September 19, while escorting two troop transports, she had a short engagement with Confederate infantry and artillery above Bolivar, Mississippi. As the year closed, she was clearing the Yazoo of torpedoes. The next day she forced ashore and captured Confederate steamers O. W. Baker, Moro, on February 12 she ascended the Red River and entered the Atchafalaya River where a landing party destroyed Confederate Army wagons. That evening, Southern planters fired into the ship, severely wounding the senior officer aboard. The next day, in reprisal, Ellet destroyed all nearby buildings, on February 14, Queen of the West captured steamer Era No.5 some 15 miles above the mouth of the Black River and continued on upstream seeking three vessels reported at Barbin’s Landing.
The Queen was not burned out of concern for the Captain of the ship who was wounded, in his official report, Ellet alleged the grounding was done purposely by the replacement pilot whom he accused in his report of being a rebel sympathizer. During their escape downstream, the pilot grounded the captured Era running the paddles long after contact, Queen of the West operated thereafter under the Confederate Army. In conjunction with another Confederate ram, CSS Webb, she forced the surrender of USS Indianola in the Mississippi River below Vicksburg on February 24, on April 11,1863 she was attacked on the Atchafalaya River, Louisiana by Union ships USS Estrella and Arizona. A shell from Calhoun set fire to Queen of the West’s cotton, the entry can be found here. U. S. Ram Queen of the West 1863 Newspaper Article on the Queen of the West
M. Jeff Thompson
Meriwether Jeff Thompson was a brigadier general in the Missouri State Guard during the American Civil War. He served the Confederate Army as a commander, and had the unusual distinction of having a ship in the Confederate Navy named for him. Father, Meriwether Thompson b. circa 1790 Mother, Martha Slaughter Broaddus b. circa 1800 Wife, Emma Catherine Hays b. circa 1830, New Orleans, Emma Catherine Thompson b.1850 Source, D. A. R. Vol.59, pg.272 Meriwether Jeff Thompson was born at Harpers Ferry, Thompson received basic training in military tactics in Charleston, South Carolina, but was not appointed to a military academy. Following his education, he found employment as a clerk in a few Virginia and Pennsylvania towns. He moved to Liberty, Missouri in 1847 and St. Joseph the following year and he supervised the construction of the western branch of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad. He married Emma Hayes in 1848, Thompson served as St. Joseph mayor from 1857–1860. He presided over the ceremony inaugurating the first ride of the Pony Express on April 3,1860, Thompson was a colonel in the Missouri state militia at the outbreak of the Civil War.
In late July 1861, he was appointed general of the First Division. He commanded the First Military District of Missouri, which covered the southeastern quarter of the state from St. Louis to the Mississippi River. Thompsons battalion soon became known as the Swamp Rats for their exploits and he gained renown as the Swamp Fox of the Confederacy. Although Thompson frequently petitioned for the Confederate rank of brigadier general it was never granted and his brigadier rank came from his Missouri State Guard service. On October 15,1861, Thompson led an attack on the Iron Mountain Railroad bridge over the Big River near Blackwell in Jefferson County. After successfully burning the bridge, Thompson retreated to join his infantry in Fredericktown, soon afterwards, he was defeated at the Battle of Fredericktown and withdrew, leaving southeastern Missouri in Union control. After briefly commanding rams in the Confederate riverine fleet in 1862, there, he engaged in a number of battles before returning to Arkansas in 1863 to accompany Gen.
John S. Marmaduke on his raid into Missouri. Later that year, Thompson participated in Major General Sterling Prices Missouri expedition and he served competently in this role. In March 1865, Thompson was appointed commander of the Northern Sub-District of Arkansas, Thompsons command was widely dispersed throughout northeast Arkansas, more for reasons of available forage than anything else. About a third of his men refused to surrender, Shelbys Missouri Brigade, along with elements of Greens and Jackmans Missouri Brigades, lit out for Mexico
River Defense Fleet
The River Defense Fleet was a set of fourteen vessels in Confederate service, intended to assist in the defense of New Orleans in the early days of the American Civil War. Although they were nominally a part of the Confederate States Army, all of their officers, a portion of the fleet was retained in the south part of the Mississippi River and a portion was sent north to defend against Union movement from the north. The portion of the fleet in the south part in the battles at Forts Jackson. The portion of the fleet in the north took part in the battles at Plum Point Bend, experience showed that they could stand up to the opposing Union vessels only under very special circumstances, when those conditions were not met, they were overwhelmed. By the middle of 1862, the fleet had been eradicated. Immediately after the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861 and they had to consider the threat posed by Union General-in-Chief Winfield Scotts Anaconda plan, which envisioned a thrust down the Mississippi that would culminate in the conquest of New Orleans.
Many citizens, both in and out of the government, brought forth suggestions for its defense, among them was the brainchild of a pair of riverboat captains, James E. The proposal put forth by the two captains was to ships with appropriate characteristics of size and speed, converting them into rams by strengthening their bows with strips of railroad iron. Their machinery was to be protected by internal bulkheads, they were to rely on ramming, to hit the slow enemy gunboats where they were most vulnerable. The captains would be selected by Montgomery and Townsend from among the experienced rivermen at New Orleans and their political method was proven effective when Congress approved their plan, appropriating $1,000,000 even before Townsend had returned to New Orleans to supervise the conversions. This was the first association of General Lovell with the River Defense Fleet, he was soon to become the fleets most persistent and severe critic. He immediately objected to the nature of the fleet, delivering the prescient remark, Fourteen Mississippi River captains.
In obedience to the order, he took possession of fourteen steamers in the name of the government. Some of the fourteen were swapped for others as Lovell became more familiar with the intention of the War Department. The engines were protected by a double bulkhead, the inner bulkhead was made of pine beams 12 inches square, the outer of beams 6 inches by 12 inches. The outer bulkhead was plated over with railroad iron like that on the bow,1 inch thick, the space between the bulkheads,22 inches, was packed with compressed cotton. Although the cotton was the least important part of the armor, it caught the fancy. In the order of their completion, the six were, Stonewall Jackson, Defiance, General Breckinridge, by this time, Captain Townsend was no longer associated with the fleet
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