About the lecture:
The Confederacy planned to build four ironclads on the Mississippi River. Unfortunately, Union naval superiority forced the destruction of three of these warships. When Memphis was captured, only one ship, CSS Arkansas, escaped and was taken up the Yazoo River to be completed. The ram steamed through the entire Union fleet until it reached Vicksburg. The Arkansas was attacked several times by Federal rams, wooden sloops of war, and ironclads, yet every attempt failed to destroy it. An ill-advised order sent the ram to support a Confederate effort to re-capture Baton Rouge. Arkansas’s engines broke down en route, and the ship was scuttled. So ended the brief, but spectacular career of the last Confederate ironclad on the Mississippi.