Mississippi Marine Brigade

Mississippi Marine Brigade
Mississippi Marine Brigade
	The ram ships USS Monarch, USS Queen of the West, USS Lioness and USS Switzerland
Active	1862-1865
Country	United States
Branch	Army
Role	Amphibious warfare unit
Nickname(s)	Ellet Ram Fleet
Equipment	Steam powered naval rams
Engagements	American Civil War Vicksburg Campaign Sinking of the USS Cairo ; Battle of Arkansas Post ; Yazoo Pass Expedition ; Battle of Richmond, Louisiana ; Battle of Goodrich's Landing ; ;
Commanders
Notable; commanders	Alfred W. Ellet

Last updated November 29, 2023

The Mississippi Marine Brigade was a Union Army amphibious unit which included the United States Ram Fleet and operated from November 1862 to August 1864 during the American Civil War. The brigade was established to act swiftly against Confederate forces operating near the Mississippi River and its tributaries.^[1] The brigade was commanded by Brigadier General Alfred W. Ellet and operated in coordination with the Mississippi River Squadron during the Union brown-water navy battle against the Confederate River Defense Fleet and land based forces. The brigade was independent of the Union Army and Navy and reported directly to the Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton. Despite the name, it was never part of the United States Marine Corps.

Organization

Brigadier General Alfred W. Ellet was the commanding officer of the United States Ram Fleet. The ram fleet had proven themselves a useful addition to the Mississippi River Squadron through their actions at the First Battle of Memphis and on the Yazoo River. However, the ram fleet was outside the Union Navy and Army command and reported directly to the Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton.^[1] Although they coordinated their activities with the Mississippi River Squadron led by Charles H. Davis, the reporting structure was problematic for Union Navy leaders.^[2] The brigade was never incorporated into the Union Navy, however, when David Dixon Porter took over command of the Mississippi River Squadron, he demanded and received full authority over the ram fleet.^[3] Porter needed an amphibious force to suppress enemy fire from the river shores that threatened his fleet.^[2]

On 1 November 1862, Ellet was charged with creating and commanding the Mississippi Marine Brigade.^[4] The unit consisted of artillery, cavalry and infantry with the ram fleet used for transportation. The brigade was not able to recruit from existing Army or Navy units and instead recruited convalescing soldiers from hospitals who wished to return to service. Ellet promised recruits bonuses, the opportunity to serve aboard clean vessels with good food and the potential for fame.^[5]

On 5 November, Ellet's nephew, Charles Rivers Ellet was promoted to the rank of colonel^[4] and became the third member of the Ellet family to lead the ram fleet.^[1] Ellet was only 19 years old, which made him one of the youngest colonels in the Union Army.^[6] Another nephew, John A. Ellet also served as Lieutenant Colonel in the brigade.^[2]

The unit consisted of about 350 officers and men, including boat crews which used the nine steam powered rams of the United States Ram Fleet. Other vessels were added to the ram fleet including the tugs Alf Cutting, Bell Darlington and Cleveland; the hospital ship Woodford and the transports Autocrat, Baltic and Diana .^[5]

Vicksburg Campaign

On 12 December 1862, the Queen of the West was one of the ships that accompanied the USS Cairo up the Yazoo River. The Cairo was struck by a 'torpedo' or naval mine and began to sink rapidly. The Queen of the West was able to rescue part of the crew from the Cairo before it sank.^[7]

In February 1863, the Queen of the West was run past the batteries of Vicksburg, Mississippi to support Admiral David Farragut south of the city. The Queen of the West severely damaged the CSS Vicksburg and captured four transport ships supplying Confederate forces. The Queen of the West also conducted activities on the Atchafalaya River, destroying Confederate supplies and burning three plantations. She was captured by Confederate forces on the Red River near Fort DeRussy and entered into Confederate service as the CSS Queen of the West.^[8]

On 26 March, the ram ships Switzerland and USS Lancaster were run past the batteries at Vicksburg to support Admiral Farragut.^[9] Charles Rivers Ellet commanded the Switzerland and his cousin, John A. Ellet, commanded the Lancaster. Both ships received heavy fire from the batteries and the Lancaster was run aground and sunk to avoid capture by the Confederate forces. The Switzerland was damaged but was repaired and continued duty south of Vicksburg on the Mississippi River.^[10]

On 14 June, the unit joined Brigadier General Joseph A. Mower in the Battle of Richmond, Louisiana and skirmished with the Confederates, losing 3 wounded.^[11]

On 19 June, Brigadier General Ellett ordered construction of a casemate on the Louisiana side of the Mississippi River opposite Vicksburg. The fortification was completed in four days and was protected with a thickness of railroad iron. A 20-pounder Parrott rifle was placed within and fired on the city the morning of 23 June. The Confederates responded firing 17 rounds from 5 different guns. The fort was further strengthened by adding another thickness of railroad iron. Fire from the Parrott gun in the fort was maintained until the end of the siege with a total of 98 rounds being expended. The fort was repeatedly struck but without material damage and without loss of life. The brigade also placed a brass Dahlgren gun in the casemate near the 20-pounder Parrott. Considerable damage to the Confederates was accomplished especially by stopping work at the foundry and machine shop.^[12]

On 25–30 June, a detachment of the brigade on the steamer John Rains, formed a part of an expedition to Greenville, Mississippi under the command of Lt. Col. Samuel J. Nasmith of the 25th Wisconsin Infantry.^[12]

On 30 June, the brigade saw action at the Goodrich's Landing. Two African-American Union regiments, the 1st Arkansas and the 10th Louisiana had come under attack from Confederate forces. The brigade arrived and pushed back the Confederate forces, suffering two casualties and one death.^[11]

Transfer to Army jurisdiction

A ruling of the Judge-Advocate General, dated 11 June 1863, seems to make the brigade a "special contingent of the army and not the navy," but as late as 23 July 1863, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant wrote: "They (the officers and men of the Marine Brigade) are not subject to my orders." By order of the Secretary of War the army assumed full jurisdiction over the brigade in October 1863.^[12] The brigade was disestablished in August 1864, and its surviving ships were transferred to other duties.^[1]

Notable members

Henry N. Couden - 54th Chaplain of the United States House of Representatives
Brigadier General Alfred W. Ellet - commander of the Mississippi Marine Brigade
Colonel Charles Rivers Ellet - commander of the United States Ram Fleet from November 1862 to August 1863
Lieutenant Colonel John A. Ellet - commander of the United States Ram Fleet from August 1863 to 1864

Related Research Articles

The First Battle of Memphis was a naval battle fought on the Mississippi River immediately north of the city of Memphis, Tennessee on June 6, 1862, during the American Civil War. The engagement was witnessed by many of the citizens of Memphis. It resulted in a crushing defeat for the Confederate forces, and marked the virtual eradication of a Confederate naval presence on the river. Despite the lopsided outcome, the Union Army failed to grasp its strategic significance. Its primary historical importance is that it was the last time civilians with no prior military experience were permitted to command ships in combat. As such, it is a milestone in the development of professionalism in the United States Navy.

The USS Queen of the West was a sidewheel steamer ram ship and the flagship of the United States Ram Fleet and the Mississippi Marine Brigade. It was built at Cincinnati, Ohio in 1854. It served as a commercial steamer until purchased by Colonel Charles Ellet Jr. in 1862 and converted for use as a ram ship. The ship operated in conjunction with the Mississippi River Squadron during the Union brown-water navy battle against the Confederate River Defense Fleet for control of the Mississippi River and its tributaries during the American Civil War.

Charles Rivers Ellet was a colonel in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He served in the United States Ram Fleet under his father Charles Ellet, Jr. and as commanding officer of the ram fleet as part of the Mississippi Marine Brigade under his uncle Alfred W. Ellet. He commanded the ram ships USS Queen of the West, USS Switzerland, USS Lancaster and USS Monarch during the brown-water navy battle for control of the Mississippi River and its tributaries as part of the Vicksburg Campaign from 1862 to 1863.

The Mississippi River Squadron was the Union brown-water naval squadron that operated on the western rivers during the American Civil War. It was initially created as a part of the Union Army, although it was commanded by naval officers, and was then known as the Western Gunboat Flotilla and sometimes as the Mississippi Flotilla. It received its final designation when it was transferred to the Union Navy at the beginning of October 1862.

Alfred Washington Ellet was a brigadier general in the Union Army who commanded the United States Ram Fleet and the Mississippi Marine Brigade during the American Civil War.

Charles Ellet Jr. was an American civil engineer from Pennsylvania who designed and constructed major canals, suspension bridges and railroads. He designed and supervised construction of the Wheeling Suspension Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the world, from 1849 to 1851. He conducted the first Federal survey of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers as part of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers.

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.

John Alfred Ellet was an lieutenant colonel in the United States Army during the American Civil War.

The United States Ram Fleet was a Union Army unit of steam powered ram ships during the American Civil War. The unit was independent of the Union Army and Navy and reported directly to the Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton. The ram fleet operated in coordination with the Mississippi River Squadron during the Union brown-water navy battle against the Confederate River Defense Fleet for control of the Mississippi River and its tributaries.

US Ram Switzerland was a paddle steamer ram operated by the US Army during the American Civil War as part of the U.S. Ram Fleet and the Mississippi Marine Brigade.

USS Lancaster was a sidewheel civilian steamer tow boat built in 1855 at Cincinnati. It was originally named Lancaster Number 3 then Kosciusko. In March through May 1862, she was purchased and converted to a ram by Colonel Charles Ellet Jr. to serve during the American Civil War as part of the United States Ram Fleet and the Mississippi Marine Brigade.

USS Monarch was a United States Army sidewheel ram that saw service in the American Civil War as part of the United States Ram Fleet and the Mississippi Marine Brigade. She operated on the Mississippi River and Yazoo River during 1862 and 1863.

Built in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, in 1857, the steam ship Lioness was purchased by the War Department and converted to a ram ship for Colonel Charles Ellet, Jr.'s United States Ram Fleet. Commissioned in 1862, Lieutenant Warren D. Crandall in command, she joined the Union Mississippi River Squadron on the western rivers.

The first USS Mingo, a stern-wheel steamer built at California, Pennsylvania, in 1859 and used to tow coal barges, was purchased at Pittsburgh by Colonel Charles Ellet Jr. in April 1862 for usage in the U.S. Ram Fleet during the American Civil War.

The Mississippi River campaigns, within the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War, were a series of military actions by the Union Army during which Union troops, helped by Union Navy gunboats and river ironclads, took control of the Cumberland River, the Tennessee River, and the Mississippi River, a main north-south avenue of transport.

The following Union Army units and commanders fought in the Siege of Vicksburg of the American Civil War. The Confederate order of battle is listed separately. Order of battle compiled from the army organization during the campaign.

Seth Ledyard Phelps was an American naval officer, and in later life, a politician and diplomat. Phelps received his first commission in United States Navy as a midshipman aboard the famous USS Independence. He served patrolling the coast of West Africa guarding against slavers. During the Mexican–American War he served on gunboats, giving support to Winfield Scott's army, and later served in the Mediterranean and Caribbean squadrons.

The USS T. D. Horner was a stern-wheel steamer built in 1859 at Brownsville, Pennsylvania and was part of Colonel Charles Ellet, Jr.'s United States Ram Fleet during the American Civil War.

USS Dick Fulton was a 123-ton stern-wheel steamer used as an auxiliary vessel in the United States Ram Fleet during the American Civil War.

Little Rebel was a cotton-clad ram that had been converted from a Mississippi River steamer to serve as the flagship of the Confederate River Defense Fleet in the American Civil War. Sent from New Orleans to defend against the Federal descent of the Mississippi, she was among the force that engaged vessels of the Union Army's Western Gunboat Flotilla at the Battle of Plum Point Bend on May 10, 1862. On June 6, she again was involved in an action with the Federal gunboats, this time at the Battle of Memphis. In the battle, a shot from a Federal gun pierced her boiler, disabling her, and she was then pushed aground by the Federal ram USS Monarch and captured.

References

1 2 3 4 Laidig, Scott. "The Fighting Ellets: Ingenuity, Courage, Nepotism and Corruption?". www.ehistory.osu.edu. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
1 2 3 Fowler, William M. (1990). Under Two Flags: The American Navy in the Civil War. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-61251-196-2 . Retrieved 30 September 2020.
↑ Calore, Paul (2002). Naval Campaigns of the Civil War. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 166. ISBN 978-0-7864-1217-4 . Retrieved 18 September 2020.
1 2 Abbott 1866, p. 306.
1 2 Joiner 2007, p. 68.
↑ Milligan, John D. (1979). "The Treatment of a Historical Source". History and Theory. 18 (2): 187. doi:10.2307/2504755. JSTOR 2504755.
↑ Bearss 1980, pp. 98–100.
↑ Barnhart, Donald Jr. (12 June 2006). "Admiral Porter's Ironclad Hoax During the American Civil War". www.historynet.com. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
↑ Crandall 1907, p. 205.
↑ Abbott 1866, pp. 311–312.
1 2 Tomblin 2016, pp. 275–276.
1 2 3 "United States Mississippi Marine Brigade". www.nps.gov. National Park Service. Retrieved 1 October 2020.

Sources

Abbott, John S.C. (1866). Charles Ellet and His Naval Steam Rams. Harper's Magazine, Volume 32.
Bearss, Edwin C. (1980). Hardluck Ironclad: The Sinking and Salvage of the Cairo. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-0684-6.
Crandall, Warren Daniel (1907). History of the Ram Fleet and the Mississippi Marine Brigade in the War for the Union on the Mississippi and its tributaries: the story of the Ellets and their men. Press of the Buschart Brothers.
Hearn, Chester G. (2000). Ellet's Brigade: The Strangest Outfit of All. LSU Press. ISBN 0-8071-2559-8.
Joiner, Gary D. (2007). Mr. Lincoln's Brown Water Navy - The Mississippi Squadron. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7425-5097-1.
Tomblin, Barbara Brooks (2016). The Civil War on the Mississippi: Union Sailors, Gunboat Captains, and the Campaign to Control the River. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0-8131-6703-9.

External links

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[Laidig-1] 1 2 3 4 Laidig, Scott. "The Fighting Ellets: Ingenuity, Courage, Nepotism and Corruption?". www.ehistory.osu.edu. Retrieved 16 August 2020.

[Fowler-2] 1 2 3 Fowler, William M. (1990). Under Two Flags: The American Navy in the Civil War. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-61251-196-2 . Retrieved 30 September 2020.

[3] Calore, Paul (2002). Naval Campaigns of the Civil War. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 166. ISBN 978-0-7864-1217-4 . Retrieved 18 September 2020.

[FOOTNOTEAbbott1866306-4] 1 2 Abbott 1866, p. 306.

[FOOTNOTEJoiner200768-5] 1 2 Joiner 2007, p. 68.

[6] Milligan, John D. (1979). "The Treatment of a Historical Source". History and Theory. 18 (2): 187. doi:10.2307/2504755. JSTOR 2504755.

[FOOTNOTEBearss198098–100-7] Bearss 1980, pp. 98–100.

[Barnhart-8] Barnhart, Donald Jr. (12 June 2006). "Admiral Porter's Ironclad Hoax During the American Civil War". www.historynet.com. Retrieved 28 August 2020.

[FOOTNOTECrandall1907205-9] Crandall 1907, p. 205.

[FOOTNOTEAbbott1866311–312-10] Abbott 1866, pp. 311–312.

[FOOTNOTETomblin2016275–276-11] 1 2 Tomblin 2016, pp. 275–276.

[NPS-12] 1 2 3 "United States Mississippi Marine Brigade". www.nps.gov. National Park Service. Retrieved 1 October 2020.

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