Tennessee River

Tennessee River. Gateway to the Deep South. , The Tennessee River was the backbone of the region's transportation system. The fall of Fort Henry left the river unprotected and opened the heartland of the Confederacy to the Federal navy. On February 6, 1862, Cdr. Seth L. Phelps of the lightly armored gunboat Champion led three timberclad gunboats from Flag Officer Andrew H. Foote's flotilla on an armed reconnaissance mission upstream past Mousetail Landing. Gunboat Tyler stopped to disable the railroad bridge at Danville, while the other two timberclads pursued fleeing transports loaded with military stores. When escape proved futile, the Confederates blew up the transports., The next night, Phelps's gunboats discovered a large steamer, Eastport, being converted into a gunboat at Cerro Gordo landing in Hardin County. Gunboat Tyler's sailors seized the prize while the others pressed on. They captured Sallie Wood and another steamer near the Mississippi state line and continued to Florence, Alabama, where three transports had been set on fire. As a token of good will, Phelps did not burn the railroad bridge at Florence, a crucial error that allowed the Confederates to concentrate quickly at Corinth and attack the Union army at Shiloh two months later. With their mission completed, the three gunboats headed northward, loaded with captured supplies and towing Eastport and Sallie Wood. They would return., Mousetail Landing, a stopping place for steamboats on the Tennessee River, was associated with the tanning industry. Warehouses along the river stored hides and naturally attracted vermin. During the Civil War, one of these buildings caught fire and forced thousands of rats and mice to scatter, giving the landing its name.