CSS ''Ivy'' was a sidewheel steamer and privateer purchased by Commodore

Lawrence Rousseau Lawrence Rousseau (July 15, 1790, New Orleans, Spanish Empire – September 4, 1866, New Orleans, United States) was a United States Navy (USN) and Confederate States Navy (CSN) officer. When the American Civil War broke out in 1861, he was the hi ...

for service with the

Confederate States Navy The Confederate States Navy (CSN) was the Navy, naval branch of the Confederate States Armed Forces, established by an act of the Confederate States Congress on February 21, 1861. It was responsible for Confederate naval operations during the Amer ...

, and chosen by Commodore George Hollins for his

Mosquito Fleet The term Mosquito Fleet has had a variety of naval and commercial uses around the world. United States In U.S. naval and maritime history, the term has had ten main meanings: #The United States Navy's fleet of small gunboats, leading up to and ...

. The Mosquito Fleet was a group of riverboats converted to

gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-ste ...

s, and used to defend the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

in the area of New Orleans during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

. Equipped with a powerful rifled 32-pounder, ''Ivy'' fought with the Mosquito Fleet at the Confederate victory of the

Battle of the Head of Passes The Battle of the Head of Passes was a bloodless naval battle of the American Civil War. It was a naval raid made by the Confederate river defense fleet, also known as the “mosquito fleet” in the local media, on ships of the Union blockade s ...

and their defeat at the

Battle of Island Number 10 A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

. Subsequently, trapped in the

Yazoo River The Yazoo River is a river in the U.S. states of Louisiana and Mississippi. It is considered by some to mark the southern boundary of what is called the Mississippi Delta, a broad floodplain that was cultivated for cotton plantations before th ...

, ''Ivy'' was destroyed to prevent her capture by the Union in May 1863.

Description

''Ivy'' was long

overall Overalls, also called bib-and-brace overalls or dungarees, are a type of garment usually used as protective clothing when working. The garments are commonly referred to as a "pair of overalls" by analogy with "pair of trousers". Overalls were ...

, had a beam of and a

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...

of . Her two side paddle wheels were powered by a large, sophisticated walking beam engine and multiple boiler propulsion system with diameter cylinders on an stroke, giving a maximum speed of .ORN II, v. 1, p. 256. She had a complement of 60 officers and men. As a privateer ''Ivy'' was armed with two brass 24-pounder

smoothbore A smoothbore weapon is one that has a barrel without rifling. Smoothbores range from handheld firearms to powerful tank guns and large artillery mortars. History Early firearms had smoothly bored barrels that fired projectiles without signi ...

howitzers. As a riverboat her armament was increased to an eight-inch smoothbore mounted aft, and a 32-pounder rifled gun mounted on a forward pivot position on the bow. The conventional description of "rifled 32-pounder" is misleading, however. This gun was a former 32-pounder smoothbore that had been "modernized" by rifling the barrel, and machining and shrinking a single layer of red hot bands of wrought iron onto the breech of the barrel to allow it to operate at much greater breech pressures. This rifling and banding allowed the gun to fire a 100-pound (6.4-inch diameter) conical shot or shell at much greater ranges than would be possible with 32-pound round shot fired out of a smoothbore barrel. This modification was similar to the

James rifle James rifle is a generic term to describe any artillery gun rifled to the James pattern for use in the American Civil War, as used in some period documentation. Charles T. James developed a rifled projectile and rifling system. Modern author ...

process used to produce siege guns, and the resulting gun tube resembled a

Parrott rifle The Parrott rifle was a type of muzzle-loading rifled artillery weapon used extensively in the American Civil War. Parrott rifle The gun was invented by Captain Robert Parker Parrott, a West Point graduate. He was an American soldier and inven ...

. This gun could be much more accurately described as a banded rifle, and was the most powerful long range weapon in the mosquito fleet.

Privateer

As a privately owned commercial vessel, ''Ivy'' had been known as ''Roger Williams'' and ''El-Paraguay''. CSS ''Ivy'' began her Civil War career as a New Orleans-based privateer ''V.H. Ivy'', sent out to capture Union commercial vessels once Jefferson Davis authorized the distribution of letters of marque and reprisal to private citizens after hostilities began in April 1861. ''Ivy'' did well at this, capturing four northern registered vessels. One of these was the icebreaker ''Enoch Train'', which was purchased by private investors and rebuilt as the privateer ironclad ram ''Manassas''. This vessel in turn was commandeered by Commodore Hollins as .

Mosquito fleet

Blockade of the Mississippi

The

Union Blockade The Union blockade in the American Civil War was a naval strategy by the United States to prevent the Confederacy from trading. The blockade was proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln in April 1861, and required the monitoring of of Atlanti ...

arrived at the mouth of the Mississippi on May27, 1861, when took up position. This event energized defense efforts in New Orleans and led to the replacement of Rousseau with Commodore Hollins in July 1861 to command the river defense. By August, Hollins had established his mosquito fleet for defense of the river in the area of New Orleans. The fleet consisted of , the flagship , CSS ''Livingston'', , , and ''Ivy''. ''Ivy'' was the fastest ship of the fleet and so was made the reconnaissance vessel, with increased firepower. Cannon Banded Rifle 6

Battle of the Head of Passes

''Ivy'' began patrolling the Mississippi River south of Forts Jackson and St. Phillip beginning in September 1861, captained by Lieutenant Fry of the CSN. On September19 she encountered . ''Water Witch'' was scouting the

Head of Passes Head of Passes is where the main stem of the Mississippi River branches off into three distinct directions at its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico: Southwest Pass (west), Pass A Loutre (east) and South Pass (centre). They are part of the "Bird's Foot ...

for the blockade fleet, which was planning to occupy the Head of Passes and set up a shore battery to control this strategic point. On October 5 ''Ivy'' reported the Head of Passes occupied by three vessels of the Union fleet, and shelled them with her bow pivot gun. Returning to the forts, Fry warned Hollins that the Union fleet was establishing a base at the Head of Passes. Hollins decided that the advance of the Blockade Fleet was a significant threat to New Orleans and moved to attack with the entire mosquito fleet. This attack resulted in the

, a Confederate victory which routed the Blockade Fleet and sent it back to the mouth of the Southwest Passage.

Battle of Island Number 10

This victory reinforced the idea in the Confederate War Department that Flag Officer Foote's Union

Mississippi River Squadron 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 w ...

at the north end of the Mississippi was the greatest threat to the Confederacy. The

Battle of Fort Henry The Battle of Fort Henry was fought on February 6, 1862, in Stewart County, Tennessee, during the American Civil War. It was the first important victory for the Union and Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in the Western Theater. On February 4 a ...

, the

Battle of Fort Donelson The Battle of Fort Donelson was fought from February 11–16, 1862, in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. The Union capture of the Confederate fort near the Tennessee–Kentucky border opened the Cumberland River, an important ave ...

, and the Battle of Shiloh lent a lot of credibility to this idea. As a result, the mosquito fleet and ''Ivy'' were ordered to the upper Mississippi and took part in the

. Island Number 10 was a defeat for the Confederate forces involved. The mosquito fleet could not match and after these ships successfully ran the Confederate batteries, and it was forced to retreat. Yazoo River 1863 Porter

Destruction

Commander McBlair CSN at Memphis, being informed that New Orleans had fallen after the

Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip The Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip (April 18–28, 1862) was the decisive battle for possession of New Orleans in the American Civil War. The two Confederate forts on the Mississippi River south of the city were attacked by a Union Nav ...

, ordered the remaining Confederate vessels on the Mississippi to concentrate at

Yazoo City, Mississippi Yazoo City is a U.S. city in Yazoo County, Mississippi. It was named after the Yazoo River, which, in turn was named by the French explorer Robert La Salle in 1682 as "Rivière des Yazous" in reference to the Yazoo tribe living near the river' ...

, on the Yazoo River. He regarded this harbor as the only safe place remaining on the Mississippi River network for the Confederate Navy to maintain a base.ORN II, v. 1, p. 798. This remaining refuge did not prove safe for long. In May 1863, Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter ordered a fleet under the command of Lieutenant-commander Walker to destroy Confederate commerce on the Yazoo River. This force consisted of , , , , and . With ''Forest Rose'' acting as a

minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

, this force advanced steadily up the Yazoo River, from May 24–31. Fearing the capture of their vessels on the Yazoo, Confederate forces destroyed CSS ''Ivy'', ''

Star of the West ''Star of the West'' was an American merchant steamship that was launched in 1852 and scuttled by Confederate forces in 1863. In January 1861, the ship was hired by the government of the United States to transport military supplies and reinforc ...

'', and the transports ''Arcadia'' and ''Magenta''.ORN I, v. 25, pp. 133–4.

References

;Abbreviations used in these notes: :Official atlas: ''Atlas to accompany the official records of the Union and Confederate armies.'' :ORA (Official records, armies): ''War of the Rebellion: a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate Armies.'' :ORN (Official records, navies): ''Official records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion.''

External links

Video of the operation of a walking beam steam engine.

Image of CSS Ivy.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ivy, CSS 1845 ships Gunboats of the Confederate States Navy Louisiana in the American Civil War Shipwrecks of the American Civil War Shipwrecks in rivers Maritime incidents in May 1863