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50-595: The unit was created and led by Colonel Charles Ellet Jr. until his death due to a wound received during the First Battle of Memphis . Command of the unit went to Charles Ellet Jr.'s brother, Alfred W. Ellet . The unit became part of the Mississippi Marine Brigade led by Alfred W. Ellet and command of the Ram Fleet was given to his nephew Charles Rivers Ellet and then to his nephew John A. Ellet . The unit

100-661: A Quaker family. Ellet's younger brother, Alfred W. Ellet , served as a brigadier general in the Union Army during the Civil War, and succeeded Charles as commander of the United States Ram Fleet following his death. Another relative, nephew John A. Ellet , served as a lieutenant colonel, commanding the ram USS Lancaster . Ellet married Elvira Augusta Stuart Daniel on November 7, 1837, in Lynchburg, Virginia . Her father

150-648: A blood infection caused by the wound and Alfred took command of the unit. On June 26, Alfred W. Ellet commanded the Monarch and his nephew Charles Rivers Ellet commanded the Lancaster during action on the Yazoo River near Liverpool, Mississippi to capture or destroy three Confederate gunboats. The Confederates burned their ships; the CSS General Van Dorn , CSS General Polk and CSS Livingston , when they saw

200-520: A severe loss at the Battle of Memphis with heavy casualties and the loss of seven of their eight ships. Ellet was wounded in the knee by a Confederate sharpshooter during the battle. His wound was the only serious casualty received on the Union side during the battle. Ellet refused to have his leg amputated and died 15 days from a blood infection due to the injury. Ellet's brother, Alfred W. Ellet took command of

250-654: A surgeon for the patriot cause throughout the conflict. Their son Charles Rivers Ellet also served as a colonel in the Union Army and commander of the United States Ram Fleet. Their daughter Mary Virginia Ellet Cabell (1839–1930) would become the second wife of William Daniel Cabell in 1867 and became a founding member of the Daughters of the American Revolution . After returning from Europe, Ellet worked on

300-725: The USS Monarch . The Ellets had not coordinated a plan of attack with Davis and when the flotilla approached Confederate forces, the two rams steamed ahead of Davis' gunboats. The Queen of the West rammed and sank the Confederate flagship CSS  Colonel Lovell . After the collision, the Queen of the West came under attack from the CSS Sumter and the CSS Beauregard . The attack sheared off one of

350-589: The American Civil War , Ellet received a commission as colonel and created and commanded the United States Ram Fleet , a Union Army unit of ram ships converted from commercial steamers. His ram ships played a critical role in the Union naval victory at the First Battle of Memphis . He was wounded during the battle (the only casualty on the Union side) and died soon after. Ellet was born on January 1, 1810, at Penn's Manor in Bucks County, Pennsylvania . He

400-471: The American Revolutionary War . His father was a Quaker and a descendant of Samuel Carpenter , who served as Deputy Governor of colonial Pennsylvania. Ellet's maternal grandfather, Israel Israel, descended from a family of Jewish diamond cutters from Holland and was a member of Pennsylvania's Committee of Safety and a recognized active patriot. His maternal grandmother, Hannah Erwin, was from

450-517: The CSS General Van Dorn , CSS General Polk and CSS Livingston , when they saw the Union forces approaching. On July 15, the Queen of the West , USS  Carondelet , and USS  Tyler engaged the Confederate ironclad ram CSS  Arkansas in the Yazoo River . The Arkansas was heavily damaged but escaped into the Mississippi River and took refuge under the Confederate batteries at Vicksburg, Mississippi . On July 22, Queen of

500-534: The National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium . [REDACTED] Media related to Charles Ellet Jr. at Wikimedia Commons Alfred W. Ellet Alfred Washington Ellet (October 11, 1820 – January 9, 1895) was a brigadier general in the Union Army who commanded the United States Ram Fleet and the Mississippi Marine Brigade during the American Civil War . Ellet was born at Penn's Manor in Bucks County, Pennsylvania . He

550-783: The Utica and Schenectady Railroad and was appointed to conduct a survey of the Western New York section of the New York and Erie Railroad . In 1832, he submitted a proposal to Congress for a suspension bridge across the Potomac River , but it was rejected. In 1842, he designed and built the first major wire-cable suspension bridge in the United States, spanning 358 feet over the Schuylkill River at Fairmount, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . He

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600-648: The Wheeling Suspension Bridge and other projects, appointed Ellet colonel of engineers and authorized him to form the United States Ram Fleet on the Mississippi River. The Union Navy's Mississippi River Squadron and the Confederate River Defense Fleet were battling for control of the Mississippi and Stanton believed the Union Navy would benefit from the addition of ram ships. Ellet and

650-433: The Wheeling Suspension Bridge , the longest suspension bridge in the world, from 1849 to 1851. He conducted the first Federal survey of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers as part of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers . Ellet published multiple books and essays on wide-ranging topics including macroeconomic theory, suspension bridge construction, railroad construction, river flood control and steam powered battery rams. During

700-447: The 9th Missouri Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which later became the 59th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment . In March 1862, he fought in the Battle of Pea Ridge . When his elder brother, Col. Charles Ellet, Jr. , created and took command of the United States Ram Fleet , a fleet of steam-powered rams , in the spring of 1862. Alfred became lieutenant colonel and second in command of

750-535: The Confederate build up of ram ships. He even wrote directly to President Lincoln urging him to increase funding for the United States Army Corps of Engineers and offered to his knowledge of Virginia's terrain and infrastructure to cut off Confederate supply lines and to build steam-powered ram ships to protect northern ports. Lincoln told Ellet to seek opinions from U.S. Generals: Winfred Scott, George B. McClellan and James Totten. Lincoln's letter to Ellett

800-623: The Mississippi Marine Brigade was placed under command of General Ulysses Grant . The ram fleet was disestablished in August 1864, and its surviving ships were transferred to other duties. The United States Ram Fleet included the following ships: Charles Ellet Jr. Charles Ellet Jr. (1 January 1810 – 21 June 1862) was an American civil engineer from Pennsylvania who designed and constructed major canals, suspension bridges and railroads. He designed and supervised construction of

850-488: The Mississippi Marine Brigade was placed under command of General Grant. Ellet continued to command the Mississippi Marine Brigade during operations on the Western Rivers until 1864, when the unit was disestablished. There were allegations of profiteering levied against Ellet due to irregularities in accounting of seized Confederate cotton. He resigned his commission late in 1864 and returned to civilian life. Following

900-505: The Mississippi Marine Brigade with a company of men from the 18th Illinois Infantry Regiment . Ellet had to eventually request that General Henry Halleck allow his unit to recruit from convalescing veterans of other units. Ellet promised recruits bonuses, the opportunity to serve aboard clean vessels with good food and the potential for fame. He was eventually able to fully recruit for the brigade and his nephews Charles R. Ellet and John A. Ellet served under him. On June 14, Ellet led

950-577: The Mississippi and Ohio Rivers with a view to the preparation of adequate plans for flood prevention and navigation improvement. His detailed report had considerable influence on later engineering thought and navigation improvements. His Report of the Overflows of the Delta of the Mississippi River helped to reshape the New Orleans waterfront. George Perkins Marsh published Man and Nature 14 years later, but it

1000-407: The Union forces approaching. On November 1, 1862, Ellet was promoted to brigadier general and charged with creation of the Mississippi Marine Brigade , an amphibious raiding unit. The unit was to contain an infantry regiment, two cavalry squadrons, an artillery battery and the U.S. Ram Fleet. Ellet had difficulties recruiting for the brigade and General Ulysses S. Grant was ordered to reinforce

1050-415: The United States Ram Fleet on the Mississippi River. The Union Navy's Mississippi River Squadron and the Confederate River Defense Fleet were battling for control of the Mississippi and Stanton was convinced by Ellet that the Union Navy efforts would benefit from the addition of ram ships. Ellet and the ram fleet were outside of Union Army or Navy command and reported directly to Stanton. Ellet purchased

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1100-606: The West and USS  Essex attacked Arkansas , despite the batteries at Vicksburg. The Queen of the West rammed the Arkansas but inflicted only minor damage and rejoined the Mississippi River Squadron ships above Vicksburg. The ram fleet ships also conducted activities in the Yazoo River clearing mines and engaging Confederate batteries. In November 1862, the Mississippi Marine Brigade , an amphibious raiding unit,

1150-564: The West rammed and sank the Confederate flagship CSS  Colonel Lovell . After the collision, the Queen of the West came under attack from the CSS Sumter and the CSS Beauregard . The attack sheared off one of the paddle wheels from the Queen of the West and forced her to ground on the riverbank. The Monarch rammed and sank the Beauregard and drove the CSS Little Rebel aground and captured her. The Confederate forces suffered

1200-464: The West rammed and sank the Confederate flagship CSS  Colonel Lovell . The Monarch rammed and disabled the CSS General Price and forced her to ground on the riverbank. Charles Ellet, Jr. was wounded in the knee by a Confederate sharpshooter during the battle. His wound was the only serious casualty received on the Union side during the battle. Charles Ellet, Jr. died 15 days later from

1250-514: The battle. The Confederate forces suffered a severe loss at the Battle of Memphis with heavy casualties and the loss of seven of their eight ships. Ellet refused to consider amputation for his injury., and his wound became infected and he died 15 days later of a blood infection in Cairo, Illinois . His body was taken to Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where he was given a state funeral. He

1300-580: The brigade along with Brigadier General Joseph A. Mower in the Battle of Richmond, Louisiana and skirmished with the Confederates, losing 3 wounded. On June 30, Ellet led the brigade in action at the Goodrich's Landing . Two African-American Union regiments, the 1st Arkansas and the 10th Louisiana had come under attack from Confederate forces. The brigade arrived and pushed back the Confederate forces, suffering two casualties and one death. In August 1863,

1350-756: The development of steam powered naval rams especially in light of the Confederate build up of ram ships. The Confederate forces captured the USS Merrimack at the Norfolk Navy Yard and converted her to a ram ship. Despite being bulky and slow-moving, the Union forces became convinced of the possibility of ram ships when the CSS Virginia sank the USS Cumberland and USS Congress at Hampton Roads. In March 1862, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton appointed Ellet colonel of engineers and authorized him to form

1400-606: The development of steam propulsion, ramming could be a very effective form of naval combat. The Crimean War was underway and Ellet offered his services to the Russian government to build a fleet of ram ships to help them defeat the naval blockade in the Black Sea during the Siege of Sebastopol . He received interest from the Russian government, but the plans were scrapped after the Russian Czar

1450-556: The nine fastest river steamboats available on the Ohio River and converted them to rams. Their hulls were reinforced, the forward ends filled with hard oak wood, the steam-engines secured and the pilot houses protected by thick wooden planks. Three longitudinal bulkheads were added and supported with iron bars. Central beams were installed from bow to stern and iron peaks were installed on the bows. They were originally not equipped with any guns. Ellet assigned family members as captains of

1500-446: The other rams, including his brother Alfred W. Ellet , his nephew John A. Ellet , and his son Charles Rivers Ellet . On May 25, the Queen of the West and the ram fleet joined the Mississippi River Squadron, led by Charles H. Davis , on the Mississippi River north of Fort Pillow. Davis had little faith in the effectiveness of the rams but allowed the fleet to accompany his gunboats down

1550-467: The paddle wheels from the Queen of the West and forced her to ground on the riverbank. The Monarch rammed and disabled the CSS General Price and forced her to ground on the riverbank also. Ellet sent a boarding party and captured the General Price . Ellet was wounded in the knee by a Confederate sharpshooter during the battle. His wound was the only serious casualty received on the Union side during

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1600-424: The ram fleet joined the Mississippi River Squadron, led by Charles H. Davis , on the Mississippi River north of Fort Pillow, Tennessee . Davis had little faith in the effectiveness of the rams, but allowed the fleet to accompany his gunboats down the river to Memphis. On June 6, Ellet led the rams in the First Battle of Memphis as captain of USS  Queen of the West with his brother Alfred W. in command of

1650-591: The ram fleet ships participated in the Battle of Arkansas Post . In February 1863, the Queen of the West was run past the batteries of Vicksburg to support Admiral David Farragut south of the city. The Queen of the West severely damaged the CSS Vicksburg and captured four transport ships supplying Confederate forces. The Queen of the West also conducted activities on the Atchafalaya River , destroying Confederate supplies and burning three plantations. She

1700-408: The ram fleet were outside of the navy's direct chain of command and reported directly to Stanton. Ellet purchased the nine of the fastest river steamboats available on the Ohio River and converted them to rams. He assigned family members as captains of the other rams, including his brother Alfred W. Ellet , his son Charles Rivers Ellet and his nephew John A. Ellet . On May 25, 1862, Ellet and

1750-424: The ram fleet. On June 6, Colonel Charles Ellet, Jr. led the rams in the First Battle of Memphis as captain of USS  Queen of the West with Alfred W. in command of the USS Monarch . The Ellets had not coordinated a plan of attack with Charles H. Davis, commander of the Mississippi River Squadron. When the flotilla approached Confederate forces, the two rams steamed ahead of Davis' gunboats. The Queen of

1800-501: The ram fleet. The ram fleet was never incorporated in the Union Navy, however, in the summer of 1862, when David Dixon Porter took over command of the Mississippi River Squadron, he demanded and received full authority over the ram fleet. On June 26, Alfred W. Ellet commanded the Monarch and Charles Rivers Ellet commanded the Lancaster during action on the Yazoo River near Liverpool, Mississippi to capture or destroy three Confederate gunboats. The Confederates burned their ships;

1850-633: The record-breaking Wheeling suspension bridge over the Ohio River at Wheeling, West Virginia , with a span over 1,000 feet. In the same year, he erected the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge , the first ever railway suspension bridge over the Niagara Gorge with a 770-foot span. In 1850, the Secretary of War, conforming to an Act of Congress, directed Ellet to make surveys and reports on

1900-621: The river to Memphis. On June 6, Charles Ellet Jr. led four ram ships in the First Battle of Memphis; the USS Queen of the West , the USS Monarch , the USS Switzerland and the USS Lancaster . Ellet had not coordinated a plan of attack with Davis and when the flotilla approached Confederate forces, the Queen of the West and the Monarch steamed ahead of Davis' gunboats. The Queen of

1950-669: The university's Library. On November 6, 1999, the Wheeling, West Virginia chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution placed a commemorative plaque on the western abutment of the Wheeling Suspension Bridge recognizing Ellet's accomplishments and his daughter, Mary Virginia Ellet Cabell 's, role in founding the Daughters of the American Revolution. In 2000, Ellet was inducted into the National Rivers Hall of Fame at

2000-410: Was Ellet who first noted in writing that the artificial embankments created an overflowing delta. However, only decades later would his assertions be taken seriously and used in flood control decisions. In September 1854, while travelling overseas, Ellet learned that the 250-ton SS  Vesta had accidentally rammed and sank the 2,794-ton SS  Arctic . This incident convinced Ellet that with

2050-627: Was Virginia lawyer and soon-to-be judge William Daniel and her mother was Margaret Baldwin. She could trace her descent among the First Families of Virginia and owned enslaved persons, although Ellet himself never did. Judge Daniel's father (also a lawyer and judge of the same name William Daniel Sr. ) had served as an ensign during the Revolutionary war under Captain Arda Allen, and his wife's maternal grandfather, Dr. Cornelius Baldwin, had served as

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2100-528: Was assassinated. Ellet became enthusiastic about the possibility of a ram fleet and wrote to the U.S. Navy with his plan, but was unable to persuade them of the benefit. He published the pamphlet Coast and Harbor Defenses, or the Substitution of Steam Battering Rams for Ships of War in late 1855, hoping to gain public interest. When the Civil War broke out, Ellet renewed his advocacy especially in light of

2150-587: Was captured by Confederate forces on the Red River near Fort DeRussy and entered into Confederate service as the CSS Queen of the West . The Mississippi Marine Brigade also saw action at the Battle of Richmond, Louisiana and the Battle of Goodrich's Landing . Due to poor health, Charles Rivers Ellet tendered his resignation on August 14, 1863, and command of the ram fleet went to his cousin John A. Ellet . In August 1863,

2200-644: Was carried to the home of McClellan, who refused to see Ellet or consider his proposal. The Confederate forces captured the USS Merrimack at the Norfolk Navy Yard and converted her to a ram ship. Despite the vessel's being bulky and slow-moving, the Union forces became convinced of the possibility of ram ships when the Merrimack , renamed CSS Virginia , sank the USS Cumberland and USS Congress at Hampton Roads. The Navy still ignored him, but in March 1862, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton , familiar with his work on

2250-800: Was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society in 1843. Ellet supervised construction of the James River and Kanawha Canal in Virginia. From 1846 to 1847, he worked as president of the Schuylkill Navigation Company in Pennsylvania and supervised improvements to the canal used for transporting anthracite coal. He also constructed railroads in those states. Ellet developed theories for improving flood control and navigation of Mid-western rivers. In 1848, Ellet built

2300-533: Was interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery . Command of the ram fleet went to his brother Alfred W. Ellet. The U.S. Navy named a destroyer to honor the Ellet family. USS Ellet (DD-398) was in service in 1939–46 during World War II . In 1994, Stanford University received a gift of Ellet's Civil War letters from Elizabeth Ellet Nitz and Frances Ellet Ward. The papers are housed in the Department of Special Collections at

2350-478: Was organized by Alfred W. Ellet and the ram fleet was incorporated as a part of the brigade. On November 5, Charles Rivers Ellet was promoted to the rank of colonel and became the third member of the Ellet family to lead the ram fleet. Ellet was only 19 years old which made him one of the youngest colonels in the Union Army. Under the two Ellet's leadership, the rams figured prominently in actions around and below Vicksburg, Mississippi , into 1863. In January 1863,

2400-482: Was subsequently transferred to Army command and disbanded in 1864. Charles Ellet Jr. was a well-known civil engineer who built the first ever suspension bridge in the United States across the Schuykill River in Philadelphia and the Wheeling Suspension Bridge , the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time, across the Ohio River at Wheeling, West Virginia. When the Civil War broke out, Ellet advocated for

2450-731: Was the sixth child of 14 born to Charles Ellet Sr. and Mary Israel. He studied at the Bristol school and worked as a rodman , measuring for the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and making drawings. Benjamin Wright promoted him to Assistant Engineer of the Fifth Residency, but in 1830, he resigned to continue his studies in Paris, where he studied civil engineering at École nationale des Ponts et Chaussées . Both Ellet's maternal and paternal grandfathers served in

2500-434: Was the youngest of six sons and the second youngest of fourteen children. In 1824, his family moved to Philadelphia where he attended the public schools. At age 16, he moved to Bunker Hill, Illinois and worked in farming. A farmer and dry goods store owner, he was a resident of Illinois when the Civil War began. In July 1861, Ellet raised a company of men from Bunker Hill and was commissioned captain of company I of

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