| On a Saturday afternoon in October 1861, a large crowd gathered at the Carondelet
Marine Ways to observe the launching of the first ironclad built in the Western
Hemisphere. As the gunboat was gradually lowered into the Mississippi River, one observer
commented that the operation went so smoothly "...that we found the boat floating
gracefully upon the water, and nobody hurt, and not even a lady frightened". The
CARONDELET was one of seven ironclads designed by Samuel M. Pook and built by James B.
Eads to aid the Union objective of regaining control of the Lower Mississippi from the
Confederacy. The seven gunboats, nicknamed "Pook Turtles" after their designer
and because of their resemblance to mud turtles, were constructed between August 1861 and
January 1862 at an average cost of $101,808.00 each. James Eads, a retired engineer who
had made a fortune salvaging sunken vessels on the Western Waters, financed the
construction of the gunboats and was later reimbursed by the U.S. Government.
Eads had wanted the ironclads named for Union military leaders; however, Andrew H.
Foote, commander of the Western Flotilla, decided that the gunboats would instead be named
for cities and towns along the Ohio and Upper Mississippi Rivers. Thus, the CARONDELET,
LOUISVILLE, PITTSBURG, and ST. LOUIS were built at Carondelet on the outskirts of St.
Louis, Missouri, while the CAIRO, CINCINNATI, and MOUND CITY were constructed on the banks
of the Ohio River at Mound City, Illinois. Completed two months before the MONITOR and
VIRGINIA clashed at Hampton Roads, the Eads ironclads would play an integral role in the
Western theatre of operations during the American Civil War.
IDENTIFYING FEATURES
The Eads gunboats looked so much alike that different color bands were painted around
the chimneys to distinguish them.
| Gunboat |
Color of Bands painted on chimneys |
| CAIRO |
Gray |
| CARONDELET |
Red |
| CINCINNATI |
Blue |
| LOUISVILLE |
Green |
| MOUND CITY |
Orange |
| PITTSBURG |
Brown |
| ST. LOUIS |
Yellow |
|
|
THE IRONCLADS IN ACTION!
From their first strike at Ft. Henry on the Tennessee River in 1862 to the Red River
Expedition of 1864, the "Pook Turtles" provided invaluable assistance to the
Union campaign on the Western Waters. In many instances, the gunboats had the war wounds
to prove it! At Ft. Donelson in February, 1862, the ST. LOUIS sustained 59 hits from
Confederate batteries overlooking the Cumberland River! In May of the same year, both the
CINCINNATI and MOUND CITY were heavily damaged by Confederate rams during action at Ft.
Pillow and were run aground to avoid sinking.
Finally, in one of the heavier losses to be suffered by a naval vessel in the Civil
War, 150 of MOUND ClTY's crew were killed or injured when a shell pierced and exploded her
steam drum in June of 1862. |
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