Lexington (CV 16) - Naval Cruise Book

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banks were captured. On March 7 Lexington rendezvoused with Rear Admiral David D. Porter's fleet of twenty ironclads and gunboats at the mouth of the Red River, where four days later they were joined by some 10,999 soldiers in transport vessels, under the command of Brigadier General A. Smith. On March 12 the gunboats started up the river, followed by the transports of the Red River Expedition. The Confederate defenders were driven off at Simmes- port and General Smith's troops marched on Fort De Russy, Louisiana, which was taken by the combined land and naval forces on March 14. Lexington with the gunboat Ouachita, and followed by Eastbort, pushed on to Alexandria, Louisiana, arriving just too late to capture six steamers which had succeeded in getting over the falls. The Army transports arrived the next day and troops were landed to occupy the town. The cooperation of the gunboats were deemed so essential to the Army movements planned against Shreveport that unusual exertions and risks were undertaken to get them over the falls above Alexandria. Camels were placed along- side Lexingtonis hull and she was hauled over ,I 1 z 4 1. ff f r the rapids, other gunboats and a fleet of trans- ports followed. Grand Ecore, Louisiana, was occupied by Union forces without opposition, and on April 7 Lex and five other light-draft gunboats steamed for Shreveport as convoy for twenty transports carrying a part of General Smith's Army and army stores. It was intended that the fleet link with the ,main body of the Union Army at Springfield, but upon reaching that landing the gunboats received word that the land forces were falling back towards Grand The Lexington ofthe Civil Wan a 'tim- berclad gunboat was actualhz a very 6ff6ClZ'U6 weapon, cruising up and down the Illississzppihring upon Rebel posi- tions. Capable of onbz seven knots, she nevertheless played an important role in General Grantis River campaigns, her shallow draft enabled her to stearn close to the river's banks, under the guns of the fortresses, and rake Con- kderate positions with grape and canis- ter shot.

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r '--- -'-' 'A it ...... ...L K1-1-umm mu:-mq-n-munfvf 'rw 'V-11-4+ 'L :ggvw xtillinvdsindylilhv . . i r f m .,.L .-. -+-HLAC, Mgt, -L-1. - -. .. I il 1, 1 I! is H Q. li ii l 1 O ii ,, EE ll l l 1 K.. I P torpedoes prevented more than one ship from raking the fortifications at one time. A land force which attempted to dislodge the Confed- erates also failed. On December 29 the expedi- tion was given up as a failure and the ships re- turned to the Mississippi. The combined land and naval forces were then directed to proceed to the Arkansas River and at- tack Fort Hindman. The gunboat's bombard- ment, followed by the Army's assault, led to its surrender on january 11, 1863. Lexington was next detailed for duty on the Cumberland River. Although it was determined that there were no Confederate Navy ships there, the fact that its banks were infested with bands of guerillas and regular Confederate Army troops who harassed Union ship movements made necessary the presence of combat ships. Lieutenant Commander S. Ledyard Phelps as- sumed command in late january and took the gunboat up the river. Upon meeting a transport that had been fired upon some twenty miles above Clarksville, Lexington immediately steam- ed for the area and landed a naval force which burned a storehouse being used as an ammuni- tion depot by the guerillas. On the way down after the venture, the ship was suddenly taken under fire by three concealed Confederate field pieces and was struck three times. ' The first week in February another officer had been placed in command of the timberclad, Lieu- tenant Commander LeRoy Fitch, and while con- voying a fleet of Army transports he received word that Colonel Harding, commandant of the post at Dover, had been attacked. Lexington built up full steam and led five other light-draft gunboats to the scene. They arrived just in time, finding the Union forces surrounded, outnumber- ed and out of ammunition. As the troops fled towards the river bank, their closely pursuing attackers were suddenly met with an unexpected hail of grape shot from the vessels on the river The tide was dramatically turned 1n short order with the 4 500 man Confederate force routed leaving behind 120 dead A somewhat less glorious episode in Fitch s career occurred in April Upon hearing that a fleet of unarmed transports had been attacked at Palmyra, he joined with other ships in proceed- ing to the site, which was Hlaid to ashes for harboring Confederates which would fire on un- armed transportsf' An accompanying landing force also ferreted out the enemy soldiers actual- ly guilty of the attack, killing or wounding the majority. In April Lexington assisted General Grant and Colonel Webster in getting out of a tight situa- tion near Pittsburg Landing with a gunfire sup- port operation, and on june 7 she and gunboat Ckoctaw saved another Union garrison from al- most certain annihilation by their timely arrival at Millikenis Bend, Louisiana. On August 13, 1863 Lexington left Clarendon, Arkansas, and steamed up the White River in company with gunboats Cricket and Marmora. The same day the expedition, under command of Lieutenant George M. Bache aboard Lexington, burned a large warehouse and destroyed the telegraph at Des Arc. The next morning the gun- boats arrived off the mouth of the Little Red River and Cricket was sent up that stream in search of the Confederate steamers Tom Sugg and Kaskaskia. Lexington proceeded some thirty miles farther to Augusta where she accom- plished one object of the expedition by confirm- ing information that the grand Southern Army was concentrating at Brownsville, intending to make their line of defense on Bayou Meto. She then pushed down stream again and went up the Little Red River to meet Cricket which was return- ing with the Confederate steamers she had cap- tured at Searcy. For 250 miles on the White River and forty miles on the Little Red River, the gunboats were harassed with small arms fire from Rebel soldiers, although the damage inflict- ed was negligible. Lexington returned to Claren- don with other vessels of the expedition on Au- gust 16 and was later sent to Cairo, Illinois, for repairs. The first week in March 1864 Lexington ac companied an expedition up the Black and Wa shita Rivers where the Confederates about 2 000 strong were driven from point to point Fire from the vessels inflicted severe damage at Trinity and Harrisonburg and three heavy 32 pounder guns and all cotton found near the river Q . . . . . u .I . , , U - e 7 - 0 3. - 9 . l a 9 I ' af . ' . . ' - - - 9 . . lil K gg I o n o a . I tl gr 12 !Q F E

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. . .......... ., . - - gm'-FF'-Srfrww-. -vw' ' T' -.neva-.-nsxhimeemrfzizu - -0-----f-2' ' V - - f '1 g ' mm-w .mrs wpuunzmeamwv--qemmm-dnmnxvusrmm Ecore. 'The gunboats, therefore, had little choice but to return down river since they would have no infantry to dislodge the Confederate batteries which could be mounted on the river banks. On the return voyage they were constantly taken under fire by the enemy from every assailable shore point. In addition, the speed required to maintain steering control in the hazardous cur- rent of the narrow, winding river increased the danger. Many of the vessels hit floating logs, there were several collisions and a few ran aground. Near Blairis Plantation on April 12 the fleet was attacked from the rear by three pieces of Confederate artillery and two brigades of dis- mounted cavalry, numbering more than 1,500 men, who nearly succeeded in cutting off the ex- pedition. During the morning Lexington collided with the transport Rob Roy, resulting in damage to the gunboat's chimneys, it also caved in her Wheelhouse, and she was forced to lay to awhile for repairs. When the ironclad Osage, protecting the trans- port Aliee Vivian was attacked bynthis force, Lexington steamed past all the vessels of the fleet to her assistance. Lieutenant Bache later widen- ed the distance between the two gunboats, open- ing a deadly crossfire on the Confederates and quickly knocking over two artillery pieces they had brought up. Force after force of Confed- erates stormed the edge of the river bank to con- front the guns of the two vessels and Lex, in her maneuvers to destroy the Confederate artillery, passed under the musketry fire of some 1,500 men at a distance of twenty feet. The effective crossfire soon decided the extraordinary fight between infantry and gunboats, however, as the Confederates, blitzed by canister shot, finally fled in haste, leaving the space of a mile covered with dead and wounded. Upon reaching Grand Ecore the fleet was greet- ed with new difficulties. The Red River, normally high until late june, had fallen so much that the gunboats could not pass over the rapids, it seem- ed that the better part of the Mississippi Squad- ron was doomed to destruction as the Union Army made plans for evacuation. Lieutenant Colonel joseph Baily, acting engineer of the 14 Nineteenth Army Corps, proposed a daring plan for building a series of dams across the rocks of the falls and raising the water. A center opening would let the ships ride out on the crest ofthe water. On May 8, 1864 the dam had nearly reached completion but the pressure of the water became so great that it swept away two stone barges which swung in below the dam on one side. Seeing this accident, Admiral Porter jumped on a horse and rode to where the upper vessels were anchored, he ordered Lexington to make an at- tempt to pass the upper falls. Lieutenant Bache succeeded in getting her over the upper falls, then steered directly for the open- ing in the dam where the boiling waters threaten- ed her destruction. The gunboat 'cshot the gap in the dam under a full head of steam, rolled nearly to her beam ends, touched a rock, and finally plunged safely into the deep water below. Thirty thousand men on the banks cheered lustily at the success, and turned their eyes to the next vessel ready to attempt the perilous run. Neoslio started down, but her pilot lost his nerve at the breach and shut off steam, the ship was thus thrown sideways, knocking a hole in the bottom. Three more got through, however, before the water level dropped too far for others to pass. The labor corps fell to work again and three days later the remainder of the vessels had passed through, marking the saving of a Union Fleet valued at nearly two million dollars. On june 15, 1864 Lexington seized the Confed- erate steamers Mattie, M Walt and R. E. Hi!! with their cargoes of cotton at Buelah Landing, Mississippi. A week later, in one of her last sig- nificant acts of the War, she repulsed an attack on White River Station, Arkansas. The gunboat continued in service through the end of hostilities in April, 1865, however, serving as patrol vessel and convoy escort in the river campaign. She finally arrived at Mound City, Illinois on june 5, 1865, and with her military function as a gunboat no longer required, Lexing- ton was placed out of commission there july 2. On August 17 she was sold to Thomas Scott for 36,000 On August 29, 1916 a three-year building