CSS Arkansas steams alone through two Union fleets; Vicksburg's guns shelter her by nightfall
By July 1862, Union naval forces under Flag Officer Charles H. Davis controlled the Mississippi River north of Vicksburg, and after Farragut's fleet united with Davis' ships there, the Confederacy had almost no navy left to stop them. On July 15, the ironclad CSS Arkansas, under Lieutenant Isaac N. Brown, fought her way down the Yazoo River past Union gunboats and then steamed through Farragut's and Davis' combined fleet on the Mississippi toward Vicksburg, trading fire at close range. She battered the ironclad Carondelet, the ram Lancaster, and the gunboat Pinola before reaching safety under Vicksburg's guns, but took 30 casualties of her own.
The Arkansas bought Vicksburg time in a river campaign that would decide whether the Confederacy stayed connected to Texas and the western theater. Her destruction three weeks later at Baton Rouge removed the South's best answer to Union naval power, pushing Farragut and the Union closer to splitting the Confederacy along the Mississippi.
QWhy couldn't the Arkansas simply ram the Carondelet when she had the chance?
Arkansas closed to within 50 yards of the Union ironclad Carondelet during the fight, close enough that a ramming strike seemed certain. But Commander Henry Walke read the approach in time and worked the Carondelet's helm and engines to slide clear, turning what could have been a fatal collision into another exchange of gunfire at close range. The near-miss became one of the tensest moments of the whole running battle, decided by seconds of maneuvering rather than firepower.
QHow hot did it get inside the Arkansas during the battle?
Conditions in the fire room reached roughly 130 degrees Fahrenheit as the ship's boilers were pushed to their limit under fire. Brown's engineers rotated crews every fifteen minutes just to keep men functioning at their stations, since sustained exposure at that temperature risked collapse. It was a battle fought as much against heat exhaustion below deck as against Union shells above it.
QWhat finally ended the Arkansas's career after she survived the Vicksburg fight?
Arkansas escaped Farragut's fleet in July only to lose a mechanical fight three weeks later. On August 6, during a second sortie meant to support the Confederate attack on Baton Rouge, her damaged engines failed completely, leaving her dead in the water as the Union ironclad Essex approached. Rather than let the Union capture the ship intact, her own crew set her on fire and abandoned her, ending the career of the vessel that had briefly outfought an entire Union squadron.
