Английская Википедия:Black Terror (ship)
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Black Terror was a fake warship used in the American Civil War to bluff Confederate forces into destroying the partially-salvaged remains of the ironclad USS Indianola. Union forces were advancing to control the Mississippi River and had made two attempts to capture Vicksburg, Mississippi, in 1862. Early the next year, the ram USS Queen of the West moved downriver to interfere with Confederate shipping on the Red River; Indianola was sent down a few days later. However, Queen of the West was disabled and captured after an encounter with Confederate field fortifications, and Indianola was severely damaged on February 24 after an attack by the repaired Queen of the West and CSS William H. Webb.
Not wanting Indianola to be repaired and enter Confederate service like Queen of the West, Union Navy officer David Dixon Porter had a fake ironclad constructed to bluff Confederate salvage workers into destroying the wreck of Indianola. A flatboat or barge was expanded with logs, and outfitted with fake cannons, lifeboats, and smokestacks. The fake vessel cost less than $9 (Шаблон:Inflation) and was named Black Terror. At 23:00 on February 25, the fake ship was released downstream, and successfully convinced the Confederates that it represented a real threat. Believing they faced an actual warship, the Confederate salvage crew of Indianola blew up the ship's remains, although some cannons were later recovered. The naval historian Myron J. Smith has since suggested that Black Terror was actually a later fake designed to reveal the location of Confederate artillery batteries, and that the story has been conflated with a possible earlier ruse aimed at forcing the destruction of Indianola.
Background
Шаблон:Main In 1861, during the opening stages of the American Civil War, Winfield Scott, the Commanding General of the United States Army, proposed the Anaconda Plan as a method of forcing the surrender of the Confederate States of America. An important part of this plan was controlling the Mississippi River, which would sever the Confederacy in two and provide an outlet for northern goods to be shipped to foreign markets.Шаблон:Sfn While the Anaconda Plan was not adopted as official policy, control of the Mississippi was adopted as a major Union objective.Шаблон:Sfn By early 1862, Union victories including the Battle of Fort Donelson, the First Battle of Memphis, and the Capture of New Orleans had led to Union control of much of the Mississippi Valley.Шаблон:Sfn After the fall of New Orleans, Flag Officer David G. Farragut took a Union Navy force up the Mississippi towards Vicksburg, Mississippi, which was still controlled by the Confederates.Шаблон:Sfn However, Farragut's ships could not force the city into submission on their own, and with the river level falling, coal running short, and Farragut ill, the Union vessels fell back to New Orleans.Шаблон:Sfn
Farragut made another attempt in June, this time accompanied by an infantry force led by Brigadier General Thomas Williams and a group of ships armed with mortars led by Commodore David Dixon Porter.Шаблон:Sfn The naval elements were joined by a flotilla of ironclads led by Flag Officer Charles Henry Davis that had come downstream from Memphis, Tennessee.Шаблон:Sfn Farragut and Davis reached the conclusion that Vicksburg could not be taken by the navy forces without a larger infantry presence, which was unlikely to be released for the Vicksburg expedition at that time.Шаблон:Sfn Williams's men attempted to dig a canal that would bypass Vicksburg, but the attempt failed. In July Farragut and Williams withdrew downstream, and Davis's ships moved north to Helena, Arkansas.Шаблон:Sfn In August, Confederate forces created a second stronghold on the river by fortifying Port Hudson, Louisiana.Шаблон:Sfn Union infantry came downriver from Memphis and Helena in December 1862, but were repulsed at the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou.Шаблон:Sfn
Operations on the Red
Led by Major General Ulysses S. Grant, the Union Army of the Tennessee returned to the Vicksburg area in January 1863.Шаблон:Sfn While the Union soldiers failed in indirect attempts against Vicksburg, Confederate commerce continued along the Red River and the stretch of the Mississippi between Port Hudson and Vicksburg. Porter decided to send a naval force to interfere with the commerce. As many of his ironclads had engines that were too weak to easily travel back up the river, Porter sent the lightly armed ram USS Queen of the West past Vicksburg on February 2 to operate against the shipping. Queen of the West destroyed three Confederate ships and returned to Vicksburg. Later that month, she was sent downstream on a second mission; the ironclad USS Indianola was sent in support of Queen of the West several days later.Шаблон:Sfn However, Queen of the West was disabled and captured in a fight against Confederate land defenses along the Red on February 14.Шаблон:Sfn Queen of the West's survivors escaped on the steamer Era No. 5, and Indianola blockaded the mouth of the Red from February 17 to 21.[1] Indianola retreated upriver, but was pursued by the captured and repaired Queen of the West, as well as the CSS William H. Webb, and two steamers. Queen of the West and William H. Webb caught up to Indianola on February 24 and severely damaged the Union ship by ramming it. Sinking, Indianola was abandoned by intentional grounding and abandoned by her crew, most of whom were captured. Three sailors escaped to tell Porter.[1]Шаблон:Sfn
Cruise of Black Terror
With the remains of Indianola in Confederate possession, salvage crews and impressed plantation slaves began working on the ship to get it repaired and refloated. United States Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles believed that Indianola represented a significant threat in potential Confederate hands and ordered that a squadron of ships be sent to take the wreck back. Having recently lost two other rams to Confederate fire, Porter did not believe he had a sufficient number of ships for Welles's proposed squadron,Шаблон:Sfn and the ships he did have would have been at risk of being outmaneuvered by the faster William H. Webb and Queen of the West. Instead, Porter decided to create a fake ironclad to bluff the Confederates into abandoning the salvage of Indianola.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn
Porter, who described the loss of Indianola as "the most humiliating affair that has occurred during this rebellion",Шаблон:Sfn took a flatboatШаблон:Sfn or coal bargeШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn and had logs added to it to create a structure resembling a ship's hull.Шаблон:Sfn The resulting vessel was Шаблон:Convert long.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Efn The housings for paddle wheels and a casemate were simulated with planks and canvas.Шаблон:Sfn The pilothouse was an outhouse.Шаблон:Sfn Two old boats were attached to davits.Шаблон:Sfn Logs served as cannons, and fake smokestacks were made from barrels. In order to give the contraption a black appearance, it was coated in mud and tar.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Another illusion was made by mixing tar and oakum in pots, lighting the mixtures on fire, and placing them at the bottom of the "smokestacks" to produce smoke. Porter's creation was given the name Black Terror;Шаблон:Sfn it had cost either $8.23 (Шаблон:Inflation)Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn or $8.63 (Шаблон:Inflation)Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn and taken 12 hours to build.Шаблон:Sfn The words "Deluded people cave in" were written on the side of the ship, and it flew both the American flagШаблон:Sfn and a skull and crossbones flag.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Efn The intention was for the vessel to be mistaken for the ironclad ram USS Lafayette.Шаблон:Sfn
Black Terror was set free into the Mississippi at 23:00 on February 25,Шаблон:Sfn from De Soto Point.Шаблон:Sfn After successfully navigating the stretch of the river near Vicksburg with minimal damage from the Confederate artillery there, she either became stuck in an eddy near the site of Grant's CanalШаблон:Sfn or ran aground near Warrenton, Mississippi.Шаблон:Sfn Either way, she was pushed back into the river by Union soldiers.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Queen of the West sighted the oncoming vesselШаблон:Sfn on February 26 and informed the possibly drunk salvage crew, who decided to destroy Indianola to prevent her from returning to Union hands.Шаблон:Sfn At the time, the remains of the vessel were almost completely refloated, but could not be moved.Шаблон:Sfn Indianola's cannons were spiked, thrown into the Mississippi or blown up, and set the ship on fire,Шаблон:Sfn as orders for the ship's destruction had been sent from Carter Stevenson, the Confederate commander of Vicksburg. When the ship burned, it blew up in an explosion that was audible at the location of Porter's fleet.Шаблон:Sfn Confederate cavalry officer William Wirt Adams stated that only the vessel's alcohol supplies were preserved. He also believed that Queen of the West, William H. Webb, and the guns on Indianola would have been able to successfully defeat what he thought was a gunboat.Шаблон:Sfn After continuing on for Шаблон:Convert further,Шаблон:Sfn Black Terror grounded on a mudbank about Шаблон:Convert from the former location of Indianola.Шаблон:Sfn Confederate soldiers eventually investigated the ship's lack of activity and determined that it was a fake.Шаблон:Sfn Queen of the West, in turn, had collided with and damaged the transport Grand Era during her own retreat from the Union vessel.Шаблон:Sfn
The Richmond Examiner, a Confederate newspaper, lambasted the destruction of Indianola, stating "laugh and hold your sides lest you die of a surfeit of derision".Шаблон:Sfn The Vicksburg Whig also added criticism.Шаблон:Sfn Another Confederate attempt to raise the remains of Indianola took place in early March, but was unsuccessful except for the recovery of three cannons.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Queen of the West and William H. Webb, which were still damaged from their fight with Indianola, withdrew up the RedШаблон:Sfn and were no longer threats to the Union on the Mississippi.Шаблон:Sfn Later that year, both Vicksburg and Port Hudson were taken by Union forces.Шаблон:Sfn Vicksburg fell on July 4 after joint army-navy operations and the lengthy Siege of VicksburgШаблон:Sfn and Port Hudson surrendered on July 9, after hearing of the fall of Vicksburg.Шаблон:Sfn The Mississippi River was now under Union control.Шаблон:Sfn
Two ships hypothesis
Myron J. Smith wrote in his work Joseph Brown and his Civil War Ironclads that Porter had sent an earlier, less elaborate fake ironclad downriver towards the site of Indianola, which was the one that convinced the Confederates to destroy Indianola. Smith also refers to a letter from Porter which was published on March 25 that stated that he had not known for certain that Indianola was in Confederate hands when he sent the fake ironclad. As the second fake vessel, Black Terror would have been sent downriver in early March in order to provide evidence on where the Confederate batteries were located.Шаблон:Sfn
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