The Union Fleet

The Union Fleet. Steele's Bayou Expedition. , On March 13, 1863, Union Rear Admiral David D. Porter commanded a squadron of five "City Series" ironclads and ram General Sterling Price on a bold expedition to find a route into the Yazoo River above the Confederate fortifications north of Vicksburg. Porter's tortuous route led seven miles up the Yazoo River from the Mississippi and entered the mouth of Steele's Bayou at Johnson's plantation. The fleet continued northward to Black Bayou, where the vessels turned eastward to the confluence of Black Bayou and Deer Creek at Hill's plantation. The boats then slowly churned north on Deer Creek toward its confluence with Rolling Fork Creek, which led to the Big Sunflower River. The route then led southeast to the Yazoo River at a point upriver from the Confederate fortifications above Vicksburg., [Photo captions] , Top right: Mortar boats were un-powered barges especially constructed to withstand the enormous weight and shock of firing a 13-inch mortar., Middle right: Tugs were small, shallow-draft, highly maneuverable stern-wheel steamboats with a strengthened hull designed to assist larger vessels in confined waters. Often tugs were armed with a howitzer in order to look like a warship and not just an auxiliary vessel., Bottom right: The General Price was a conventional river boat converted into a ram a boat designed to sink others by ramming them. , Large photo: The flotilla consisted of ironclads: Carondelet, Cincinnati, Pittsburg, Mound City, and Louisville, accompanied by four tugs that towed mortar scows and coal barges.