![]() ![]() In the spring of 1862 Federal forces thrust up the Mississippi from New Orleans and down it to Island No. Breaking the long Confederate line in the west, their capture led to the abandonment of Kentucky and most of Middle Tennessee by the Confederates. Grant to capture Fort Henry on the Tennessee River then Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River in February 1862. The first joint army-navy expedition saw Flag Officer Andrew Foote cooperating with Brigadier General Ulysses S. The union-built ironclads, timberclads and an ad hoc fleet of various smaller gunboats and river steamers were used to patrol, escort, transport, and communicate through Confederate occupied territory on the rivers. They were vulnerable to torpedoes (mines) and ramming. Their armor was suboptimal, maneuverability restricted. At first the Union converted existing commercial vessels into gunboats, but soon designed new vessels from the keel up. Wooden and ironclad river steam-powered gunboats would confront enemy counterparts, powerful fortifications, heavy artillery, torpedoes (mines), and guerrillas. ![]() Union waterborne assets would be required to transport and sustain major land forces, conduct amphibious expeditions and sieges, interdict enemy trade, communications, and transportation, and protect friendly commerce. In tactics and technology, however, riverine warfare was a new concept. The contest for the Mississippi River and its tributaries involved specialized classes of war vessels commanded and manned by naval personnel and coordinating operations with the army. ![]()
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