Battle of Plum Point Bend

The Battle of Plum Point Bend took place on the Mississippi River in Tennessee, U.S., between ships of the Confederate River Defense Fleet and the Federal Western Flotilla on May 10, 1862. Fighting for control of the Mississippi River had been ongoing since the prior year, and Federal forces had pushed downriver to Fort Pillow. The Federals had been using mortar boats to bombard Fort Pillow, and had developed a routine of having a single mortar boat guarded by an ironclad take a position further downriver to bombard the fort, while the rest of the fleet was upriver. On the morning of May 10, the Confederates attacked, in hopes of capturing the guard ironclad and then surprising the rest of the Federal fleet.

When the attack came, most of the Federal ironclads did not have steam pressure built up and were not prepared to move. Three of the eight Confederate vessels, CSS ''General Bragg'', CSS ''General Sterling Price'', and CSS ''General Sumter'', rammed the guard ironclad, USS ''Cincinnati''; the Federal vessel later sank from its damage. Two further ironclads were able to steam from the main group upstream and join the action: USS ''Carondelet'' and USS ''Mound City''. In turn, CSS ''General Earl Van Dorn'' rammed ''Mound City''; the Federal vessel was damaged so severely that it was later run aground on a shoal, where it sank.

A third Federal ironclad, USS ''Benton'', arrived later in the fighting. The Federal ironclads had lighter drafts than the Confederate vessels, and maneuvered into shallower water where they were safe from Confederate ramming attempts. As the Confederate ships' armaments were inferior to those of the Federal ships, the Confederates withdrew, pursued by ''Benton'' and ''Carondelet''. The bombardment of Fort Pillow resumed after the battle, and on June 4, the fort was abandoned after Federal forces captured Corinth, Mississippi. On June 6, the River Defense Fleet was destroyed in the Battle of Memphis, and the Federals gained control of the Mississippi River in July 1863.

Background

The American Civil War began in April 1861, and both the United States and Confederate governments viewed control of the Mississippi River as important. In September, Confederate forces moved north and captured the town of Columbus, Kentucky, which was on the Mississippi. In February 1862, Federal forces commanded captured Confederate positions at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, which had commanded the Tennessee River and the Cumberland River. The naval component of the Federal effort was commanded by Andrew H. Foote. After the two forts fell, the garrison at Columbus withdrew, and the Confederates then strengthened a position at Island No. 10 further downriver.

Federal land forces captured abandoned Confederate defensive works at New Madrid, Missouri, on March 14. A few Federal ships ran past the Island No. 10 defenses on the nights of April 4/5 and April 6/7, and the position fell on April 8. The campaign then moved south to Fort Pillow, which was on the river north of Memphis, Tennessee. Foote's Federal vessels pursued. On April 12, Federal naval ships moved to within a few miles of the fort, and then bombarded the position with a mortar boat. The Federal route was to send a single mortar boat guarded by an ironclad in a position closer to the fort, with the rest of the fleet upriver; the boats would rotate on or off bombardment duty every day. Captain Charles Henry Davis had taken command of the Federal squadron on May 9, as Foote was struggling to recover from a wound. Bends in the river allowed the Federals to take up bombardment positions that were not directly exposed to Confederate fire from the fort. The Federal ships were known as the Western Flotilla.

While several Confederate vessels had been sent to other threatened locations, Captain James Montgomery and eight vessels, known as the River Defense Fleet, were located off of Fort Pillow. The vessels of the River Defense Fleet were cottonclad rams

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