Rollin' On the River
A Tale of the Morton Brothers and The War of 1848
Episode Two
July 10, 1848, Armed Riverboat Gramercy, Course Upriver
Speed three miles per hour, Four miles upriver from Memphis, Tennessee
Two hours after dawn
The convoy had gotten underway at dawn. Morton had sent the Wildcat upriver to provide advance warning and to notify wood landings that customers were on the way. While the cargo boats were not carrying much in the way of freight, they would consume wood as if they were heavily loaded, because they were towing flats and keels.
Actually there were three convoys. The main convoy was twelve big steamboats each pulling two flats and a keel. These boats were to proceed in two columns at the head of the procession.
Behind the twelve boats headed for Louisville, six smaller boats, each towing two keels, would split off above Paducah and go up the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers, proceeding unaccompanied. Morton and the escorts would get a small fee for getting these boats to Paducah.
Finally, two medium sized boats, each towing two flats, would go no farther than Paducah and return by themselves. There was an original plan for a boat to go to Evansville but it had engine problems and had to be left behind.
It will still take a while to sort out just who can go how fast. For now Morton had stationed the Ceredo up front of the convoy to hold overall speed to three miles for hour until Morton could sort out the convoys. A bit of a gap developed between the Louisville boats - generally bigger, faster steamboats - and the Nashville/Paducah boats. This was of little concern because Morton anticipated no trouble below Paducah. Kentucky was a bit prickly about their neutrality.
Morton had stationed the Vicksburg up front because if there was trouble, it would come from the front. The Gramercy was faster and could quickly join the fray. By time the convoy got to Paducah, Morton should have a decent sailing order worked out. In an emergency, the steamboats would cut their tows and run downriver.
Morton did not look forward to wood stops. The nineteen cargo boats, each fighting a tow would take quite a while to nose in and take on wood. Fortunately the convoy was also taking some of the crews of the captured steamboats who did not want to stay with their boats (about one in three crewmen stayed) had hired on as auxiliary wooding crew on the convoy boats. They could get back North and get paid for it. Their other option was to walk back the deteriorating Natchez Trace. So the cargo boats had plenty of extra crew. The gunboats left Memphis with every inch of deck space crammed with firewood. They had plenty of time to burn it off enough to clear their guns. Morton had to shepherd his flock through two wood stops to Paducah, and four more above that city.
July 11, 1848, Armed Riverboat Gramercy, Course Upriver
Speed three miles per hour, Fifteen miles upriver from Paducah, Kentucky
An hour before dusk
Morton signaled his convoy with a series of whistle blasts to nose in for the night. No more of the circus of the night before, trying to steam in formation on a twisting river at night. Fortunately, they had no collisions but they had a number of close calls. Also this far upriver there is a chance they might meet a Yankee gunboat and Morton did not want to show lights.
At least part of the mission was accomplished. He had dropped off the Paducah boat and sent three of the four Nashville boats upriver. One of the Nashville boats had had engine trouble below the Ohio and had turned back to Memphis for repairs. At Paducah, one of his Louisville boats developed a problem and would have to stay in Paducah. So his convoy was down to eleven boats with three escorts.
So far, Ike Henderson, on the Vicksburg had been completely professional. Morton knew that the Commodore giving Morton command had not set well with Henderson. Henderson owned five boats and had fitted out the Vicksburg at his own expense (although the Mississippi militia had provided the guns and crews) and thought that was enough to merit command. Maybe it would at some other time. Maybe the fact was that Morton's orders for him did not involve much fancy maneuvering. Morton wanted to talk to Henderson and Mike Shepard, the captain of the Wildcat, so he nosed the Gramercy in just above them. Morton sent messengers to those vessels with invitations to join him after dinner for a little of Morton's fine bourbon. Morton himself was nearly a teetotaler, but as a Navy man he knew the value of good liquor when dealing with ship captains.
After pouring each man a couple of fingers, Morton started off.
"Well, gentlemen. So far so good. We've made some money although engine troubles have cut into us a little. All the same, we are down to our best steamers and the meat of the trip is ahead. Tomorrow we'll wood up at Shawneetown Landing and at Evansville where we'll tie up for the night. Some folks at Paducah told me we might even pick up another boat at Evansville. If so, I'll get us a good rate. (See Note 1)."
"At any rate, we look to make Louisville maybe late the afternoon after next or early the next morning depending on how our equipment holds up. This brings me to the real reason for this little meeting."
"The further upriver we go, the more likely it becomes we will meet up with a Yankee gunboat or two. We know they are operating out of Pittsburgh and from what I've heard they may be putting up a base in Cincinnati." (See Note 2)
"If we meet one or more Yankee gunboats, what do we do? Ike? Mike?"
"It all depends on the circumstances."
"Such as?"
"Are we going upriver or downriver? How fast are the boats we are escorting? How fast is the Yankee gunboats? How many of them are there? How well-armed are they?"
"Good questions. I think we can logically reduce some of those questions."
"I think the Yankee gunboats will tend to be much as we are - regular riverboats with a few cannon on them. They should be roughly as fast as we are. One edge is they will have regular navy gun crews and they are good. The equalizer is that river warfare will be short-range. Accuracy will not be the difference. The Yankees' navy gun crews will be faster."
"The Yankees have to know we have gunboats. Upriver traffic has completely stopped. It didn't stop without reason. Now what they know about us may be limited. An unarmed boat has to be stopped if faced with even a lightly armed boat. For them as us, they will generally have to trade off guns for speed. The Vicksburg is better-armed than the Gramercy but the Gramercy is faster. I don't think they will be overly aggressive with boats as small as the Wildcat."
"There is really only one way we can deal with Yankee gunboats and that is to set an ambush. The Gramercy ranges about a half-hour ahead. The Vicksburg lies in wait. The Wildcat acts as a signal relay."
The three men spent nearly three hours working out the details, and drinking Morton's whiskey.
July 14, 1848, Armed Riverboat Gramercy, Course None
Speed none (nosed into river bank and anchored off, Louisville, Kentucky
Three hours after sunup.
As it turned out the precautions had not been necessary going upriver. No Yankees had been spotted and the trip up had been uneventful beyond one of the boats having engine trouble and having to be towed the last three miles to the landing.
All the flats and keels had been cut loose and were now loading bulk commodities, mostly hay for the trip back down the river. These loads drew good rates but nobody was selling insurance on these loads. Likewise there was no insurance offered on the horses.
This morning, the cargoboats were installing makeshift corrals for the horses and a few bales of hay were loaded. Two surprises awaited the convoy. First, the horses were about a day away. This was not a huge problem. All the boats needed some repair and the corrals took some time to prepare. The second surprise was passengers. Six hundred and ninety young men had showed up and wanted to join the Confederate war effort. The captains had agreed to take them on but they had to contribute something for rations and the accommodations. No captain had any faith they would be paid at Memphis. The three armed boats did not take on passengers.
On the balance of the trip upriver, the gun crews on the armed boats were drilled constantly. No firing was allowed but they were worked on loading and aiming. Once in port, Morton had insisted all three boats post a twenty-four hour guard. Parts of the armed boats' crews were allowed a day on the town but they had to be back by dark. Morton intended to be out on the water tomorrow morning. Morton had slipped the local police chief a few double eagles to make sure his men were back on deck this evening.
Morton also asked around the landing and learned exactly what he had thought. Downriver traffic had stopped as surely as the upriver traffic. Clearly, the Yankees were marshalling riverboats, just as the South was doing.
Notes:
1.At this point the escorts are still privateers and getting paid is still very important.
2. Cincinnati is the southern terminus of a rail line from Sandusky on Lake Erie. Because it is logistically connected
to the east by two routes, Cincinnati is a logical place for a Yankee naval base on the rivers.
