ACW: First Battle of Memphis - "Battle on the Mississippi"

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In the early summer of 1862, the Union Army and Navy set their sights on the city of Memphis in Southwest Tennessee as their next major target on the Mississippi River in order to carry out their gradual stranglehold over the mighty river as part of the Anaconda Plan. For the advance on Memphis, the Union Navy plans on sending out Flag Officer Charles H. Davis' Western Flotilla to seize the city via the river itself. For this mission, the Western Flotilla is reinforced by a peculiar flotilla of repurposed civilian steamboat vessels led by Colonel Charles Ellet - the U.S. Ram Fleet. Meanwhile, the Confederate Navy's River Defense Fleet is moving towards Memphis to defend the strategically-vital river city, one of the last major strongholds on the upper Mississippi River. If Memphis falls to the Union, it will open the way for a Federal advance towards the city of Vicksburg in Mississippi.
Music from Flimstro: filmstro.com/music/
Sources:
Ellet's Brigade: The Strangest Outfit of All by Chester G. Hearn
History of the Ram Fleet and the Mississippi Marine Brigade in the War for the Union on the Mississippi and Its Tributaries by Warren Daniel Crandall.
Script Writer - J. Woody
Historical Consultant - Jesse G
Background sounds by Cajun1862
#americancivilwar #westerntheater #memphis

[@alexnelson5606]

I can’t wait until he has completed the entire war. Imagine how great of a documentary this would be.

[@WarhawkYT]

You right its going to be a national treasure

[@alexnelson5606]

@@WarhawkYT can only give you the biggest props. I think these are the most in depth videos on the civil war to date. Is there anyway to donate to make sure you continue to make this content?

[@enalb5085]

yea its a metric TON of work for sure

[@seanheaney8303]

Easily going to be probably 100 hrs plus of viewing... man that would be a heck of binge

[@SarisTX]

Finally y’all are back in the west!

[@averagetexan9930]

Did you comment on your own video?

[@ApatheticBeaver]

@@averagetexan9930 nah bro saris is a different person, just like Donald glover and childish gambino. Just because someone looks/sounds similar doesn’t mean they are

[@averagetexan9930]

@@ApatheticBeaver Get pinged

[@c.w.johnsonjr6374]

I just read in Grant's Canal by David F. Bastian that Charles Ellet, Jr. had surveyed De Soto Point across from Vicksburg and had recommended a cutoff. If he had not been killed at Memphis, he might have been at De Soto Point later that summer and helped Thomas Williams complete his canal project, isolating Vicksburg and cutting the war short by a year. Page 23.

[@k1ll3rzombii]

Really hope to see Gettysburg or South Mountain sometime in the future. Keep up the great work!

[@WarhawkYT]

South Mountain is closer than you think ;)

[@WyomingTraveler]

@@WarhawkYT excited to see it

[@twowheeledwireman282]

Bravo!! As always,great video Warhawk!

[@WarhawkYT]

Thank you Wireman!

[@general-cromwell6639]

Thanks!

[@gallantcavalier3306]

Another outstanding video, can’t wait to see more!!

[@WarhawkYT]

Thank you Cavalier, always glad to see you around!

[@micahistory]

great video once again, this channel always has quality content

[@WarhawkYT]

Thanks Micah! Always glad to see you around!

[@dennismitchell5414]

I absolutely love this channel !! ., I always give it a thumbs up before I even watch it because I know the content will be great and the animated battle maps are outstanding . Would you consider doing a video on Grierson's Cavalry Raid into Mississippi ? .

[@cal4837]

Ellet seemed like a brilliant guy. Too bad he was more or less the only Union casualty during all of this.

[@WarhawkYT]

Quite so, ironically the only guy to be hurt during the battle

[@svenrio8521]

F

[@brienmauer8134]

Well Col. Ellet survived the ACW! It was his SON, Capt. Ellet that did not!!

[@davidharing6475]

@@brienmauer8134 I did a quick search, Colonel Charles Ellet Jr. was the one who died in this battle. His son, Charles Rivers Ellet took over the Ram Fleet after his father's death, and unfortunately, did not survive the War either.

[@jaredsluss2239]

Great video.

[@WarhawkYT]

Thanks Jared

[@WyomingTraveler]

Enjoy all your videos, but especially like the ones dealing with the army of northern Virginia sense I have a special interest in two units of that army.

[@WarhawkYT]

Thanks Wyoming, always glad to see you in the comments, a usual, as a bartender would say lol

[@WyomingTraveler]

@@WarhawkYT I'll drink to that

[@stacyvonn8036]

I never knew they had this many warships at their disposal.... Deadly game of bumper cars....

[@WarhawkYT]

quite so, deadly only for the confederacy as it may seem

[@Zogerpogger]

It's great to see the same music used as Epic History TV, it's a great soundtrack.

[@alias6967]

Your reading of the script has gotten much smoother, good job. Ngl sometimes it was hard to listen before.

[@WarhawkYT]

yeah i realize that lol thanks for noticing

[@alias6967]

@@WarhawkYT no problem. Keep up the good work!

[@CivilWarWeekByWeek]

Wait First, do you mean you guys can see into the future and there'll be a second

[@WarhawkYT]

shit weve been figured out

[@SoulKiller7Eternal]

Short, sweet, and to the point. lol Can't wait for Alabama vs Kersarge :P

[@WarhawkYT]

Same here Soul!

[@ApatheticBeaver]

Always love the navy, not to mention the complete and utter lack of coordination for the Confederates. Great video!

[@WarhawkYT]

Thanks gamer and valued patreon

[@ApatheticBeaver]

@@WarhawkYT thank you gamer and valued youtuber

[@The_Unrepentant_McClellanite]

Typical navy, seamen slamming into one another on a grand scale.

[@jeffreyallen3461]

Let's go Davis (specifically Union Flag Officer Charles H. Davis, and not the traitor Jefferson Davis)!

[@WarhawkYT]

omg you said a bad word 👀

[@jeffreyallen3461]

@@WarhawkYT - does that work better you? 8-)

[@WarhawkYT]

@@jeffreyallen3461 quite

[@donchichivagabond1578]

SUPERB!! We can see the baby steps the modern naval battles came from. It was chaotic to say the least. Great job!

[@WarhawkYT]

Quite so, thanks DONCHICHI!

[@gwtpictgwtpict4214]

Erm, no? From a European perspective we'd been fighting "modern" naval battles long before this. Not criticising the video by the way, very good.

[@donchichivagabond1578]

@@gwtpictgwtpict4214 sorry my friend but modern naval battles are not with sails and all wooden ships. Modern became the ironclad and self propelled ships. This battle was the first of its kind. It happened in America my friend. Thats not being critical of Europe either. Thats just the truth. You guys were taking notes from us during our Civil War and used different tactics after with the advent of new weapons and tools our ancestors implemented first. Nice try though.

[@gwtpictgwtpict4214]

@@donchichivagabond1578 This battle was fought on a river, the opposing sides basically sailed up to each other and opened fire. Not a lot to learn there. HMS Warrior, a steam powered armoured frigate was launched two years before this battle happened. I'm not saying that your little river fight was ignored, but the idea that it had a major effect on Naval tactics is cloud cuckoo land.

[@donchichivagabond1578]

@@gwtpictgwtpict4214 regardless of river or ocean these ships fought a battle against similar made ironclad. You said yourself your one British ship. Not a flotilla of ships one ship. You said your area on the map was fighting modern naval battles of their day before the America's had. Launching a ship isn't a battle. Just admit it bro. Ya said something out of pride and misspoke. It happens. The word naval is assumed all the subject is on water. A naval battle takes place in water. At the time of this particular "naval battle" no other country had done so with multiple ships of similar design. The civil war had many first and an ironclad naval battle was one such first.

[@WVzombie138]

Yeahhhhh baby! Joy!

[@WarhawkYT]

oh baby

[@raylast3873]

4:40 They quickly recognized the new tactic; if by quickly you mean they only took note of a potential problem when it was used by the enemy to, i.e. actually too late.

[@davidhance6790]

I want to see the battle of Port Hudson.. I have visited the battle field once

[@WarhawkYT]

We will get there in 1863!

[@titus_livius]

Charles Ellet approached Russian Imperial and U.S. Navies for ram ship studies in 1855. Russian Imperial Navy was using explosive shells and saw no need for farming. They successfully decimated Turkish fleet that was during the Crimean War.

[@robertpizor577]

And that is what we call an incredibly lopsided victory. Dang...

[@WarhawkYT]

Certified Union Victory

[@avenaoat]

I have never read any information about this. After Corinth and before the Vicksburg campaign I read only about Mulfreesboro. For example I have just got information about the Perryville Kentucky campaign through You Tube.

[@WarhawkYT]

That happens a lot when most people explain the civil war.

[@user-cd4bx6uq1y]

We are so used to seeing hundreds of casualties per week in modern war that this feels weird

[@user-oj4zo4wr6o]

I have sent you Russian subtitles for the second part of the first Manassas (Mathews Hill) by e-mail. I noticed that you haven't added Russian subtitles for the first part yet. Is there a problem with the file or is there simply no time for it? Thanks.

[@WarhawkYT]

hello, sorry about the wait, the subtitles are being added right now

[@user-oj4zo4wr6o]

@@WarhawkYT I'm sorry, but there is an untranslated fragment in the file about Matthews Hill. Today I sent you a corrected file by email.

[@Mag_Aoidh]

17 miles from the house.

[@James-rl5tj]

Something something algorithm

[@HamanKarn567]

I always wonder why the Confederate didn't prepare more before seceding. Like you'd think they would have gotten together more in secret decided things and built up more ships or bought more weapons in secret from Europe. I guess they wouldn't have really known or been able to I secret.

[@chasechristophermurraydola9314]

Just saying but I can’t wait to see you cover the confederate ships Hunley, and Albermarle and the albermarle took place in the battle of Plymouth in 1864 but I can’t wait to see the hunley because On March 4th I got back from a trip with my grandpa down to Florida and on our way home to New Jersey we stopped in Charleston South Carolina were I got my first glimpse of the first combat submarine to sink an enemy warship and that submarine was the confederate submarine H L hunley and this ship sunk 3 times killing all of its crews during the first sinking it killed 5 crew members during the second sinking it killed eight crew including its namesake Horace Hunley and the 3rd sinking killed eight crew members as well but during the third sinking it sunk the Uss Housatonic and among the members of the third crew was lieutenant George Dixon who was a veteran of the battle of Shiloh and before the battle he was engaged to a woman from mobile Alabama named quennie Bennett and she gave Dixon a gold coin which saved his life in the battle of Shiloh and what happened was a Minnie ball was going to hit one of his legs but he had the gold coin in the pants pocket that the bullet was heading for and the bullet hit the gold coin denting it but the force of the bullet forced the gold coin to go into the leg but besides the coin a silver broche was found along with a diamond ring however on may 3rd 1995 the hunly was rediscovered and it is now being preserved in the Warren Lasch Conservation center at 1250 supply street in North Charleston South Carolina.

[@WarhawkYT]

We'll get there one day lol Ive always been curious of what really happened to the sub

[@charlessaint7926]

That was a one-sided affair. Only one man wounded to 250 Confederate casualties? Haven't seen a lopsided victory like that since Fort Sanders.

[@harrybriscoe7948]

They lost all the equipment to and the city

[@WarhawkYT]

We'll see if any more lopsided battles in the future

[@MGTOWPaladin]

Yankee Slave Traders versus Confederate farmers! Lopsided for sure!

[@RadioactiveSherbet]

A failed ram attack resulting in friendly ships ramming each other is not a particularly encouraging start to a battle... lol

[@WarhawkYT]

it is lol

[@davidhance6790]

Failure of the rebels: No unified command and no overall commander. Showed in their attacks. Overemphasis on ramming was bad! Needed guns but also ship mounted howitzers would have hit the weakness of most ships -the top decks. Needed smaller vessles that could have been completed faster.

[@WarhawkYT]

Sounds like that happens a lot

[@harrybriscoe7948]

Lack of air cover One squadron of Torpedo bombers could have done the job

[@patrickwils700]

@@harrybriscoe7948 You, my friend, are the most astute tactician of our age. Is that overdoing it?

[@MGTOWPaladin]

More Yankee Slave Traders versus Confederate farmers!

[@johnpotts8308]

Like most tactics, you don't know until you've tried it. People were highly sceptical of the value of aircraft in the First World War - but now it's seen as indispensable. And if the South simply fought the North using the same tactics, they'd lose because the North could always outproduce the South.

[@yankeebrit9399]

Me watching the thousands of viewers not subbing:Failure

[@WarhawkYT]

sad!

[@UCVibes]

Why not call the Union the United States? The Union Army was the United States Army.

[@WarhawkYT]

During the Civil War, the states still in the United States were called the Union

[@UCVibes]

@@WarhawkYT But we should call them the United States Army. To make it clear that it was the United States fighting against rogue anti United States organizations.

[@bethbartlett5692]

The capture 9f Memphis had a far stronger value to the Union than the Confederates ever realized 9r more likely, admitted. I've been unable to find any resources on what Memphis experienced during the Union occupation. Although I live in Tennessee, went to school here, graduated "University of Memphis", etc, 2 points: (1) History is 1 of my degree majors (the other 2 Sociology and Journalism) + vast post-grad Reaearch, and (2) I don't associate any personal favor to the Confederacy. A war due to: Ego, Greed, and Propaganda. (The same today) The facts of that war were clearly Elite (the large Plantations that owned 900 - 1,200 enslaved Peoples) and Financial, encouraged by the International Bankers and Financiers, (whose descendant now own the Federal Reserve Bank Corporation, they later achieved their goal and they were + are the go-to-source for War Loans) they created fears of losing free labor in the aforementioned Elites and the So Elite used their allies and Ownerships of Newspapers to insight the Southern Public, like the Media does today. It is ridiculous that 160 years later tensions and prejudices continue + lineage attitudes and prejudice towards the whites. An unnecessary state due to News Media and Gov Elected Officials ignoring that the News is owned by Global Elite. It is such an obvious game and the Public is largely not comprehending. As long as adults live through their Lower aka Ego Mind rather than the Higher/Mature Mind, they are easy prey for manipulating by News Media Owners. Information is the most powerful tool.

[@danielmclellan7762]

Lost Cause