| History | |
|---|---|
 Confederate States | |
| Name | General Polk |
| Namesake | Leonidas Polk |
| Builder | New Albany,Indiana |
| Launched | 1852 |
| Acquired | 1861 |
| Commissioned | October 22, 1861 |
| Fate | Burned to prevent capture, June 26, 1862 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Sidewheel steamer |
| Tonnage | 390 tons |
| Length | 280 ft (85.3 m) |
| Beam | 35 ft (10.7 m) |
| Draught | Less than 4 ft (1.2 m) |
| Armament |
|
| Armour | Iron bars onbow andstern |
CSSGeneral Polk was asidewheel steamer used as a warship by theConfederate States Navy during theAmerican Civil War.launched in 1852 atNew Albany, Indiana, asEd Howard, the vessel was originally apacket steamer betweenNashville, Tennessee, andNew Orleans, Louisiana. After the outbreak of the war, the Confederate government purchased her for $8,000. She wascommissioned into military service on October 22, 1861, and sent toColumbus, Kentucky the following month. On January 11, 1862,General Polk participated in theBattle of Lucas Bend. After the Confederates abandoned Columbus,General Polk served in theIsland No. 10 andNew Madrid, Missouri, area, until those positions as well fell. She was then stationed atFort Pillow andMemphis, Tennessee, before withdrawing up theYazoo River. On June 26,General Polk was burned atLiverpool Landing, Mississippi, along with two other Confederate ships, to prevent their capture byUnion forces.
In 1852, thesidewheel steamerEd Howard waslaunched atNew Albany, Indiana. She was 280 feet (85 m) long and had abeam of 35 feet (11 m),[1] along with adraft of less than 6 feet (2 m).[2] She had a tonnage of 390 tons.[1][3] She was apacket steamer betweenNashville, Tennessee, andNew Orleans, Louisiana. On March 7, 1856, she sank the steamboatHenry Lewis in an accidental collision. In a separate incident on January 26, 1853, she had collided with and sank the steamboatSwallow at Bonnet Carré, Louisiana. In 1860, hermaster was J. W. Fowler.[4] With the formation of theConfederate States of America and the outbreak of theAmerican Civil War in 1861, the Confederacy began the task of creating a navy from scratch.[5] TheEd Howard was at New Orleans in 1861, and was purchased by the Confederate government,[1] for $8,000 byCommodoreGeorge N. Hollins. Confederate generalLeonidas Polk desired the vessel for use on the upper portion of Confederate control on theMississippi River, andEd Howard was in turned namedGeneral Polk after him. Polk requested and received the assignment ofFirst Lieutenant Jonathan H. Carter to command of the vessel, which was agunboat.[2] The vessel was also known solely asPolk.[3]
The work to convertGeneral Polk from a civilian steamship into a warship took place atAlgiers, Louisiana. Part of the labor requirements were met by leasing slave labor, and over $9,000 of materials were required to complete the conversion, which was slowed by rainy weather. Thebow andstern of the ship were armored with iron bars.[6] A total of 77,305 pounds (35,065 kg) of iron was ordered by Carter for use onGeneral Polk. Part of her superstructure and passenger spaces were removed during the conversion. Carter wantedGeneral Polk to be armed with truerifled cannon, but none were available so the Confederate authorities converted oldsmoothbore32-pounder guns into rifled pieces.[6] While her initial armament was two rifled 32-pounders and a smoothbore 32-pounder,[7] at various points during her military service, the armament varied between three and seven cannons.[3] Upon conversion, she had a draft of less than 4 feet (1.2 m).[7] Between the cost of purchase, conversion, and repairs,General Polk cost the Confederacy $60,459.99.[8]General Polk was re-launched by the end of September and wascommissioned on October 22.[7] On November 10 she left New Orleans forColumbus, Kentucky, which had been occupied by Polk's Confederate army forces. She arrived there on November 20.[9] On November 30,General Polk, along with two other Confederate gunboats, met the approach of threeUnion vessels and followed them back towardsFort Holt. January 11, 1862, sawGeneral Polk and three other Confederate vessels skirmish with two Unionironclads in theBattle of Lucas Bend. The Confederate vessels had moved upriver for reconnaissance purposes, when the ironclads sighted a Confederate ship that was, according to the naval historian Neil Chatelain, likelyGeneral Polk. The two sides fired on each other for about 20 minutes until the Confederates withdrew downriver.[10]
In early March 1862, the Confederates abandoned Columbus. The naval forces at Columbus, under the command of Hollins, withdrew toNew Madrid, Missouri.[11] Union troops capturedPoint Pleasant, Missouri, on March 6, and began establishing an artillery position there.General Polk and the gunboatCSSPontchartrain fired on the position at Point Pleasant on March 7, but were unable to silence it. Further Confederate attempts to silence the guns through March 9 also failed.[12] On March 13, Union forces opened fire on the Confederate positions at New Madrid with heavy artillery.General Polk was struck by four shots, and the Confederates decided to withdraw.[13]General Polk and the gunboatCSSLivingston escorted a transport for the evacuation of one of the Confederate defensive positions, Fort Thompson.[14] On March 18,General Polk joined five other Confederate ships in a failed attempt to silence a Union battery that had taken up a position across the Mississippi River fromTiptonville, Tennessee, at Riddle's Point.General Polk was hit by a Union shot that passed all the way through the vessel, with the exit hole being below thewaterline. The damage caused the ship to have to be withdrawn from the fighting.[15]General Polk was intentionallyrun aground by the Confederates to prevent her from sinking.[16]
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Hollins used his ships to transport supplies to the Confederate troops defendingIsland No. 10, even though the ships now had to pass the Union positions at Riddle's Point and Point Pleasant.[17] Early on the morning of April 8, the Confederates surrendered Island No. 10, and the Confederate fleet withdrew toFort Pillow inTennessee.[18] Hollins received information on April 9 that New Orleans was threatened by a Union fleet, and he left for that city. First Lieutenant Thomas Huger commanded the Confederate vessels untilCommander Robert Pickney could arrive. On April 13, Huger led an abortive attack against the Union fleet near Fort Pillow. The attempt was made byGeneral Polk, three vessels of theRiver Defense Fleet, and four other Confederate gunboats. Late on April 12, a Confederate scouting mission had been informed that the Union forces planned an attack for the next day. Huger decided to launch a surprise attack early on April 13 before the Union could strike, but when the Confederate ships sighted the Union fleet and saw that it was prepared for combat, they withdrew.[19] While in the Fort Pillow area,General Polk's guns were offloaded for use inFort Randolph.[20] Pickney took command later that month,[3] andGeneral Polk andLivingston were sent down toMemphis, Tennessee, for refitting.[21]
The fall ofCorinth, Mississippi, led the Confederates to abandon Fort Pillow in early June, and Pickney ordered the Confederate warships to scatter into the various tributaries of the Mississippi River.[22] Only two ofGeneral Polk's guns at Fort Randolph were retrieved before the evacuation of the area.[20]General Polk andLivingston ended up on theYazoo River, where they were joined by thecottoncladCSSGeneral Earl Van Dorn, the only River Defense Fleet ship to survive theFirst Battle of Memphis in Confederate hands.[23] The three vessels defended the Yazoo River atLiverpool Landing, Mississippi, while the ironcladCSSArkansas was being completed upriver.[20]General Polk's two guns were again offloaded and emplaced in a shore position.[24] On June 26, two Union ships, theramsUSSMonarch andUSSLancaster, moved up the Yazoo River.[25] Pickney orderedGeneral Polk,General Earl Van Dorn, andLivingston burned at Liverpool Landing to prevent them from falling into Union hands.Arkansas was on a test run down the Yazoo River when the burning occurred, but by the time the ironclad arrived, the vessels had been destroyed.[26] The wreck was removed by theUnited States Army Corps of Engineers in 1878 and 1879.[27]
