 General Beauregard andCSSGeneral M. Jeff Thompson after theFirst Battle of Memphis;General Beauregard is shown partially sunk to the left andM. Jeff Thompson is obscured by the smoke cloud at the right.[1] | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Confederate States | |
| Name | General Beauregard |
| Namesake | GeneralP.G.T. Beauregard |
| Launched | 1847 |
| Acquired | January 1862 |
| In service | April 5, 1862 |
| Fate | Sunk duringFirst Battle of Memphis, June 6, 1862 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Towboat (civilian use)Cottoncladram (military use) |
| Tonnage | 454 tons |
| Length | 161 feet 10 inches (49.33 m) |
| Beam | 30 feet (9.1 m) |
| Draft | 10 feet (3.0 m) |
| Propulsion | Sidewheel steamer |
| Armament | Disputed |
CSSGeneral Beauregard was acottoncladram operated by theConfederate States Army as part of theRiver Defense Fleet during theAmerican Civil War. Built in 1847 as thesidewheeltowboatOcean, the vessel was operated by the Ocean Towboat Company and the Union Towboat Company until theConfederacy acquired her in early 1862.Ocean was converted into a cottonclad by the Confederates and renamed afterP. G. T. Beauregard. This process was completed on April 5, 1862, after whichGeneral Beauregard was sent up theMississippi River. On May 10,General Beauregard arrived at the end of theBattle of Plum Point Bend. The Confederates abandonedFort Pillow on June 4, after which the River Defense Fleet vessels present there withdrew toMemphis, Tennessee. The River Defense Fleet made a fighting stand against theUnion Navy at theFirst Battle of Memphis on June 6. During the battle,General Beauregard attempted to ram the Union ramMonarch but missed and collided withCSSGeneral Sterling Price, taking off one of the struck ship'spaddle wheels.General Beauregard fired a shot at theironcladUSSBenton and missed; return fire fromBenton caused a boiler explosion which sunkGeneral Beauregard.
Thesidewheel steamerOcean was built inAlgiers, New OrleansLouisiana in 1847, for use as atowboat. The ship, which was owned by the Ocean Towboat Company and then the Union Towboat Company, continued in civilian service until theAmerican Civil War.[2] She had a length of 161 feet 10 inches (49.33 m), abeam of 30 feet (9.1 m), adraft of 10 feet (3.0 m), and tonnage of 454 tons.[3] The towboat had twofunnels.[2]
With the Civil War ongoing, theConfederate authorities acquired 14 vessels for the defense of theMississippi River in January 1862, under the authority ofMajor GeneralMansfield Lovell. These vessels were operated by theConfederate States Army, rather than theConfederate States Navy, as theRiver Defense Fleet.[4] The civilian steamboats acquired for the River Defense Fleet were converted intorams by adding wooden planking and a 1-inch (2.5 cm) thick iron casing to theirbows. Timberbulkheads filled with compressed cotton were added as protection for the ships' boilers and engines.[5] The converted vessels were known ascottonclads.[6]Ocean was renamedGeneral Beauregard by the Confederates,[2] afterP. G. T. Beauregard.[7] While period depictions of the River Defense Fleet vessels tend to be inaccurate,[8] an illustration ofGeneral Beauregard in Confederate service shows her with a slanted and armored forward bulkhead and vertical side bulkheads, along with a single cannon each on the deck at the bow andstern.[2]General Beauregard was included in three drawings by Alexander Simplot which were published inHarper's Weekly in 1862.[9]
The process of convertingGeneral Beauregard into a cottonclad was completed on April 5,[6] and was placed under the command of veteran riverboat pilot Captain James H. Hurt, whose name is spelled in multiple ways in theOfficial Records of the Union and Confederate Navies.[10] Other officers assigned to the ship were First Officer Robert D. Court and Chief Engineer Joseph Swift.[11] Of the 14 ships purchased for the fleet, six were retained for the defense ofNew Orleans, Louisiana, with the remaining eight sent up the Mississippi River.[12] The naval historian Donald L. Canney notes claims thatGeneral Beauregard was armed with five cannons (four 8-inch pieces and a 42-pounder),[2] but the historian Edward B. McCaul notes that the eight River Defense Fleet vessels sent upriver combined for only two cannons, one of which was a32-pounder smoothbore and the other a 24-pounder smoothbore. McCaul states that the unarmed vessels were each armed with an army-provided 32-pounder gun after reachingFort Pillow;General Beauregard was one of four vessels later provided with an 8-inch piece from Fort Pillow when the Confederates abandoned the fort.[13]
Fort Pillow was under bombardment by aUnion Navy force under the command of CaptainCharles Henry Davis. Davis's vessels had fallen into the routine of having a single mortar boat bombard the fort each day while escorted by a singleironclad, with the rest of the Union fleet staying upriver. The Confederate naval commander at Fort Pillow, Captain James Montgomery[a], decided to attack the Union force.[15] For the Confederate attack, the ships (except for theflagshipCSSLittle Rebel) were arranged in order of speed, which leftGeneral Beauregard third from last.[16] In the May 10 battle, known as theBattle of Plum Point Bend, two Union ironclads were rammed and sunk,[17] butGeneral Beauregard did not reach the site of the battle until it was almost over.[18] While the crew ofGeneral Beauregard fired the ship's guns during the battle, the vessel did not ram any Union ships.[6]
The Confederates abandoned Fort Pillow on June 4, and the River Defense Fleet withdrew downriver toMemphis, Tennessee.[19] On the night of June 5/6, Montgomery and his captains decided at acouncil of war to stay and fight the approaching Union fleet instead of withdrawing. Davis's ironclads had been reinforced by theUnited States Ram Fleet. On June 6, the Union forces reached Memphis, bringing on theFirst Battle of Memphis.[20] Montgomery again assigned positions in his fleet's alignment for all vessels except forLittle Rebel, with the other Confederate ships being arrayed in four successive rows of two ships.General Beauregard was the left ship in the second row, next toCSSGeneral Sumter.[21] During the battle,General Beauregard andCSSGeneral Sterling Price both attempted to ramUSSMonarch (one of the Union rams) but both Confederate ships missed.General Beauregard instead struckGeneral Price, taking theportpaddle wheel off ofGeneral Price.[22]
One of the cannons onGeneral Beauregard was fired at the ironcladUSSBenton but missed;Benton's return fire caused the Confederate ship's boiler to explode. Fourteen scalded Confederates fromGeneral Beauregard were captured by Union forces.[22] Canney states that many of her crew were killed by the boiler explosion,[2] while the naval historian W. Craig Gaines states that only one crewman was killed and three wounded.[23] TheDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships states thatMonarch captured more survivors fromGeneral Beauregard and towed the sinking Confederate ships towards theArkansas shore of the river,[6] whileGeneral Beauregard's captain, who escaped capture, claimed thatGeneral Beauregard "floated down the river about one-fourth of a mile, and sunk in twenty feet water, face to the enemy, and colors flying".[22] Only one of the River Defense Fleet vessels escaped the battle at Memphis; while some of the others were salvaged and taken into Union service, the wreck ofGeneral Beauregard was too badly damaged for this.[24]
