The Battle of Memphis was fought on June 6th, 1862 on the Mississippi River immediately below the city between forces of both the Confederate and Union navies. Witnessed by a great deal of Memphis residents, the naval battle resulted in the almost total removal of the Confederate Navy on the river.

Surprisingly, the Southern force almost matched the Federal fleet in the amount of ships that took part in the battle but were far inferior in weaponry with only one or two guns. One feature the Confederate ships did have however, was a reinforced bow used to ram and punch holes in the hulls of Union ships.

The battle began with cannon fire beginning at long range with the opposing forces lining up across the river with the Union forces firing their cannons from the stern. The battle quickly became a free for all melee with almost all of the combatants acting independently of each other. Most of the damage caused was not from cannons but a result of ramming.

After the battle ended, all of the southern ships were captured except for one, the CSS General Earl Van Dorn which escaped south to the Yazoo River above Vicksburg, Mississippi.

Other than a appearance by the ironclad, the CSS Arkansas later in the war, the southern fleet never made another attempt to hold the upper Mississippi River. Memphis became a Union possession throughout the war with the exception of a failed raid by General Nathan Bedford Forrest to release captured southern soldiers in April, 1864.

The southern ships interestingly enough were called cotton lads during this point in the war since they used cotton bales as protection against incoming fire. When the battle took place, the importance of Memphis as a strategic position had been reduced since the Battle of Shiloh in April, 1862 where the Confederate Army was defeated after a two day battle that was the bloodiest battle in American history up to that point in the war.

After the battle of Shiloh, Union forces captured both Iuka and Corinth Mississippi severing the vital railroad link the connected Memphis to the eastern part of the Confederacy. With the railroad link cut, Memphis sat out the Civil War under the control of Union occupation forces.

I am a native Memphian and love Civil War history. I run a business out of Memphis called Search Engine Marketing Memphis.