Verso: Titled: “USS Hartford at Baton Rouge, LA 1863”, Thimgan

Provanence: Private Hidden Hills Collector,CA

The artist has captured an event that took place in 1863 during the Civil War.

The lack of supplies and the absence of an adequate land force prevented the admiral from making an immediate start up the river. “I am still doing nothing,” he wrote from New Orleans on November 27, “but waiting for the tide of events and doing what I can to hold what I have.” A change in the military commanders further complicated matters, and the reorganization of the army progressed so slowly that three months later the fleet was still waiting at its anchorage. On March 11, 1863, the Hartford moved up to Baton Rouge, and two days later the warships came in sight of Profit’s Island, seven miles below the bend on which Port Hudson is situated. The object of the movement, as shown in the admiral’s General Order to his captains, was to “run the batteries at the least possible damage to our ships, and thereby secure an efficient force above, for the purpose of rendering such assistance as may be required of us by the army at Vicksburg.”

Only six ships could be spared to accompany the flagship: the Monongahela, Mississippi, Richmond, Genesee, Albatross, and Kineo. The larger vessels, except the Mississippi, were directed to take a gunboat on the port side, securing her well aft, so as to leave as much of the port battery as possible clear. Thus, if any one of the ships were disabled, her consort could tow her out of range of the enemy’s guns. The vessels were prepared as at the passage of the lower forts, and in the Hartford the admiral placed his pilot in the mizzen-top, where he could see more clearly, with a voice tube for conveying his orders to the men at the wheel.

At 5:00 p.m. on March 14, the admiral received word from General Banks that his troops were “at the crossroads and all ready to move upon Port Hudson,” and five hours later the squadron weighed anchor. At eleven the Hartford came under the fire of the principal batteries. The smoke from the guns soon enveloped the ship, and the pilot called out that he could not see ahead. The firing was immediately stopped—and not a moment too soon, for the fact was revealed that the flagship was running on shore right under the enemy’s guns. Her stem actually touched the ground; but by her own efforts and the assistance of the Albatross she was backed clear. The Hartford then passed on without further incident, and, at 12:15, according to her log “cheered ship, having passed the batteries, with the loss of one killed and two slightly wounded.”

Catalog SKU: 0004010