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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
Photo # NH 2049: Naval action near Fort Pillow, with CSS General Bragg at right, 10 May 1862

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- SHIPS of the CONFEDERATE STATES --

CSS General Bragg (1862)

CSS General Bragg, a 1043-ton side-wheel steamer, was built at New York City in 1850 as the commercial steamship Mexico. In January 1862, she was taken over by the Confederacy at New Orleans, converted to a "cottonclad" ram and renamed General Bragg. As part of the River Defense Fleet, she took part in the defenses of Memphis, Tennessee, and its vicinity. In an action off Fort Pillow on 10 May 1862 she helped disable the U.S. ironclad Cincinnati and was herself put out of action. On 6 June, she was run aground and captured during the naval battle off Memphis. After repairs, she became USS General Bragg.

This page features our only views of CSS General Bragg.


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 2049

"Battle of Fort Pillow, First position"


Engraving published in Rear Admiral Henry Walke's "Naval Scenes and Reminiscences of the Civil War in the United States ..." (1877), depicting the action between the Confederate River Defense Fleet and Federal ironclads near Fort Pillow, Tennessee, 10 May 1862.
Confederate ships, seen at right, include (from left to right): General Earl Van Dorn, General Sterling Price, General Bragg, General Sumter and Little Rebel.
The Federal ironclads, in the center and left, are (from left to right): Mound City, Carondelet and Cincinnati. A Federal mortar boat is by the river bank in the lower right.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 125KB; 740 x 505 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 42755

"Battle of Fort Pillow, 3rd Position"


Engraving published in Rear Admiral Henry Walke's "Naval Scenes and Reminiscences of the Civil War in the United States ..." (1877), depicting the action between the Confederate River Defense Fleet and Federal ironclads near Fort Pillow, Tennessee, 10 May 1862.
Confederate ships, seen at left, include: Colonel Lovell, General Beauregard, General M. Jeff Thompson, General Bragg, General Sumter, Little Rebel and General Earl van Dorn.
The Federal ironclads, in the center and right, are: Carondelet, Cincinnati, Mound City, Benton, Saint Louis, Cairo and Pittsburg. A tug is seen in the right foreground.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 94KB; 740 x 435 pixels.

 
Photo #: NH 42367

"The Total Annihilation of the Rebel Fleet by the Federal Fleet under Commodore Davis."

"On the Morning of June 6th 1862, off Memphis, Ten."

Lithograph by Middleton, Strobridge & Co.
In the foreground, the print depicts the Confederate ships (from left to right): General M. Jeff Thompson (shown sinking); Little Rebel (shown burning); General Sterling Price; General Beauregard (shown being rammed by the Ellet Ram Monarch); General Bragg (shown aground) and Colonel Lovell (shown sinking).
In the background are the Federal warships (from left to right): Queen of the West; Cairo; Carondelet; Louisville; Saint Louis; a tug; and Benton.
The city of Memphis is in the right distance, with a wharf boat by the shore.

Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 102KB; 740 x 570 pixels

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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Page made 20 February 2000
Coding updated 5 May 2001