Rollin' On the River
A Tale of the Morton Brothers and The War of 1848
Episode One
July 5, 1848, Armed Riverboat Gramercy, Course Downriver
Speed four miles per hour, Six miles downriver from Helena, Arkansas
A bit before noon
Achilles Morton watched the sidewheeler running upriver. Already he had run across more than two dozen of these. Steamboats owned by Yankees making for ports upriver. This one was the Andrew J. Morton knew this boat. She was owned by a company in Pittsburgh. Fair game.
Morton and the other captains in his little flotilla held letters of marque and reprisal from the Governors of Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Their mission was to seize all the boats headed north. The Confederacy might well need these boats.
The Gramercy was a sidewheel steamboat armed with two converted field pieces. On her bow was an eighteen pounder and on her stern was a six pounder. The eighteen pounder would in a different time be considered overkill. Riverboats had to be rather lightly built as shallow draft was a premium consideration. A well-handled six-pounder could easily shred a riverboat, but there is something about an eighteen pounder that often ends arguments without a shot.
Morton starts to pass her port-to-port, then reverses his port engine, spins around and catches the Andrew J. Morton orders the guns uncovered and pointed at the Andrew J. Morton takes his megaphone and tells the wheelhouse to slow down. No response. Well, we've seen this before.
"Bow gun. One across her bow"
Boom. Splash.
The Andrew J slows quickly.
"Nose into the Arkansas shore. You will be boarded."
Morton cuts loose four long blasts on his whistle. This is the signal for the small riverboats Wildcat and Ceredo to come from their hiding places up the oxbow. The Gramercy holds her position and waits for the smaller boats to do their work.
The Wildcat noses alongside and several Mississippi militia board the Andrew J. Once they have control, two shorts call the Ceredo to move in. The Ceredo takes the Andrew J's crew off and puts a prize crew aboard. Once that is accomplished the Wildcat takes up watch while the Gramercy moves to her wood supply at Delta Landing (about a mile upriver). The Wildcat and the Gramercy share the watch activity as they are the only armed boats. The Wildcat has a single six-pounder. Morton prefers to use the Gramercy as the capture vessel while Wildcat does the boarding. Gramercy is newer and faster, particularly as she carries only the two guns, a short crew and enough wood for four hours operation. Boats have eluded the Wildcat but the speed and eighteen pounder of the Gramercy trump all attempts at escape.
By mid-afternoon, both boats have re-wooded and have been joined by the Lilly Beth, taking the place of the Ceredo and the trap is reset.
This trap has been operating for two weeks and prey has gone from a six or seven a day thing to one ever other day. Morton thinks they have essentially exhausted the river of fleeing Yankees.
July 7, 1848, Armed Riverboat Gramercy, Course Downriver
Speed three miles per hour, Five miles downriver from Helena, Arkansas
Just after first light
"Cap'n. Steamboat a-comin'."
Achilles roused himself. His little cabin on the texas deck allowed him to get to the wheelhouse within minutes.
"What do we have?"
"Don't know Cap'n, but we see smoke and we can hear him."
Morton walked out to the side of the wheel house and listened. This time of day, sound carried really well even over the shore. Sure enough, a paddle wheel turning fast.
"Alright. I have the ship."
As an ex-Navy man, Achilles Morton ran his riverboats more like Navy ships than the run-of-the mill riverboats. Morton expected a lot from his crews but he paid better than anybody on the river. As a result he had his pick of crewmen. He even had two old Navy men on the deck. His gun crews came from the Louisiana militia but answered to him.
"Man the guns"
Within a few minutes a grey riverboat came blasting around the bend. Riverboats were never grey. Their usually gaudy colors made them easier to see under poor visibility conditions. This grey apparition was not easy to make out, but soon Morton (with his Navy-style telescope) saw she was no common riverboat. In addition to her grey paint, she sported a pair of eighteen pounders - one on the foredeck, and one on the cargo deck - and two six pounders - one on the stern and one on the hurricane deck. In addition, she flew the flag of the State of Mississippi.
"She's a friend. Let her pass."
The gray warboat passed without hailing.
July 7, 1848, Armed Riverboat Gramercy, Course Upriver
Speed three miles per hour, Six miles downriver from Helena, Arkansas
Late afternoon.
With four blasts of her whistle the Ceredo came up. Four longs indicated a message pass. The Gramercy slowed and the Ceredo moved alongside. A line was thrown from the stern of the Ceredo to the stern of the Gramercy. A sealed bucket was pulled along this line. It contained a message for Captain Morton.
"What's so danged important why they can't yell?"
The deck crew opened the bucket and found an envelope. The envelope was addressed to the Captain. Morton opened it up and read.
From the Commodore at Memphis. "Mission accomplished. Return entire squadron to Memphis. Report to Commodore upon arrival."
"Well, they're calling us in. Just in time, the engines need some work. Mike, take us to Delta Landing and from there we'll go to Helena and change pilots."
Morton signaled the Ceredo, Wildcat, and Lilly Beth to follow him upriver.
July 9, 1848, Mississippi Flotilla Commodore's office, Memphis, Tennessee
9:00 A.M.
As ordered, Morton reported to the Commodore's office.
"Captain Morton. Please sit down. I want to congratulate you on a job well done. Yes, I know the seizure of the northbound boats was a concerted effort by yourself and the other boats, but it was your idea and all the Governors are in agreement that having all these riverboats at our disposal will be beneficial to the cause. By the way, the final tally was fifty-nine boats seized. Very good work."
"Already the builders are planning to take the engines from many of them and make fighting boats of them. So far our efforts have not been challenged but an old Navy man like yourself knows the test is coming and riverboats by their nature are too frail for real fighting. About half of the boats you seized will become real fighting riverboats. The Yankees will not give up without a fight."
"We do have one embarrassment of riches. Many of the boats we seized were towing keelboats and flatboats north. Now we have a small city of flatboats and keelboats sitting at Memphis and Helena. You see, Captain, we - the Confederacy that is - really do need to get those flats and keels back north. The South does a lot of business with the Northwest (See Note 1) and that business is our wedge between the Northwest and the Northeast. The neutrality of the Northwest secures one flank. If commerce is flowing south we are closer to the Northwest than the Whigs in the Northeast."
"So what does all this have to do with the Gramercy and me?"
"What we want to do is have the Gramercy and the Vicksburg - I believe you've seen her? - escort a convoy of steamboats pulling tows of flats and keels to Louisville, and while you are at it, check out all the traffic up that way. If a boat is loaded with Yankee soldiers or cannon, they very well could be moving south to build forts and cut off access to the Northwest."
"The Vicksburg. She's a heavily-armed gray-painted steamboat with a Mississippi flag?"
"That's her. For now she's the best gunboat on the river, but I want you to command the convoy escort. You'll have her and the Wildcat and the Ceredo again in case you meet anything worth taking. The convoy itself will have its own commander. You see them up and back and take what you can. Don't shoot up any towns in Kentucky or Indiana if you can help it. Can you do this?"
"How much does it pay? I suppose I'm still under Louisiana letters?"
"Actually, you are for this trip under Tennessee letters. Here is the rate schedule."
Morton looked at the schedule. Morton and the escort was to be paid for the number of flats and keels (See Note 2) delivered to Louisville and well-paid for delivering downstream riverboats to Memphis. Also any Yankee boats loaded with contraband cargo taken would be of value for the escorts.
"What is in the downstream boats to make them so valuable?"
"Just under a thousand horses. Prime Kentucky cavalry and draft horses. Our army needs them. The flats will be loaded with hay, but they will follow independently."
"Oh, Achilles. This will be your last voyage as a privateer. The governors have begun forming a Confederate Navy and they will definitely offer you a commission as a Captain. Real navy men are rare in the South. We need someone with real naval experience to lead it. We have one of your old shipmates, a Bill Crabtree."
"You have Chief Crabtree? Billy's been on the beach for five years."
"Yes he has, but we need somebody to train farm boys to handle naval guns. The Governor of Mississippi seems to think well of Crabtree."
"Billy does know guns and a fair amount about deck work, too. But you know Billy has a real problem with the bottle?"
"The Demon Rum and riverboatmen in general have too close an association. Does this man drink on duty?"
"No sir, I've never seen him drunk on duty, but off-duty, you'll need a troop of cavalry to keep him from tearing up the town. Where is he now?"
"He's at Baton Rouge, training delta boys to be sailors."
"Do I have time for a quick trip to New Orleans?"
"No, Achilles. The convoy leaves tomorrow morning. Upon your return, we may have some very good news for you. If you would wait outside for a few minutes, I need to break it easy to Captain Henderson that you are to be in command."
Notes:
1.The Old Northwest is now what is called the Midwest or Big Ten country - Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. In 1848 this piece of the country is simply called the Northwest.
2.Flats and keels refer to unpowered flatboats and keelboats used to bring bulk cargo downriver. By 1848, it had become a profitable business for steamboats (not usually much loaded going upriver) to either carry flat/keel crews back or more lately tow the whole boat upstream for re-use. Keelboats were easier to tow, but flatboats were more numerous. Also if one is towing the flat or keel, its crew may stay aboard the steamboat. 1848 was the all-time peak year for flatboat and keelboat traffic on the western waterways.
