Existing comment:
Forts Versus Ironclads:
The Confederate response to Union gunboats on the western rivers was to build a series of forts. The better forts were built on higher ground allowing for "plunging fire" upon Union ships. Forts Sevier, Clark, and Terry in Clarksville were located to protect the rivers and two railroad bridges. Fort Sevier's height above the river, however, would have slowed its rate of fire, as the downward angle of the guns would have been too steep.
Fort Donelson was heavily armed against the gunboats with 12 guns including 32-pounder smoothbore cannons, a 10-inch Columbiad smoothbore and a 6.5 inch rifled Columbiad, and two 30-pounder Cannonades. Fort Henry had 17 heavy guns facing the river. By contrast, Forts Sevier and Clark had a combined total of six heavy guns. These forts also used smaller 6 to 12-pounder cannons for land defense.
Some of the bigger guns were mounted on wooden carriages, called barbettes, which allowed for recoil and reloading. Barbettes swiveled on a central pole called the pintle. Columbiads were mounted on iron carriages strong enough to take the shock of their fire, but sometimes broke while firing, which happened at Forts Henry and Donelson.
Confronting the forts were Union "City Class" ironclad gunboats measuring 175 feet long by 51 feet wide and initially costing $89,600 each. Ironclads carried three 8-inch guns in the bow, with four 43-pounders and six 32-pounders mounted on the casemates -- sloped, armored structures framed with wood 18 inches thck and covered by 2.5 inches of iron plate.
Union timbered gunboats, converted from steamboats, lacked armor but carried heavy guns and were designed to attack other boats and troops close to the river.
The timberclad USS Conestoga, carrying six 32-pounder smoothbores and one 12-pounder rifled gun, assisted in the Union taking of Fort Henry, Fort Donelson and Clarksville in February 1862.
The ironclad USS Cairo, built in Mound City, Illinois in 1861, was active in the occupations of Clarksville (February 19, 1862) and Nashville (February 25, 1862). It sank in Mississippi in December 1862.
George Yost of Illinois enlisted on February 16, 1862 at age 15, and was the USS Cairo's youngest crewman. On February 19, he wrote in his journal, "Arrived late in the afternoon at the mouth of the Red River where there are two batteries. They surrendered without a word." Yost survived the Cairo's sinking in December 1862 near Vicksburg, Mississippi.
Guns like this 32-pounder smoothbore mounted on a wooden barbette carriage were used at Clarksville's forts, and Forts Henry and Donelson. |