Date of Award

Spring 2008

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

English

Committee Director

Brian Payne

Committee Member

Austin Jersild

Committee Member

Jonathan Phillips

Call Number for Print

Special Collections LD4331.H47 E54 2008

Abstract

This thesis examines the 6 June 1862 naval battle of Memphis between the Confederate River Defense Fleet and Union Ram Fleet and Western Flotilla. In just under two hours, the crowded and anxious populace lined along the Memphis bluffs witnessed the complete destruction of the last remaining Confederate fleet along the Mississippi River. Within the combined Union army and navy operations throughout the late winter and spring of 1862, the clash of iron-wielded rams and gunboats that occurred on a casually warm June morning tells much of the scope of the western war and its importance in ultimately securing the Mississippi River back to Federal control. Military possession of Memphis provided a natural invasion corridor to Vicksburg, Mississippi, the last remaining Confederate bastion along the Mississippi River. Newspapers around We country used the example of Memphis to highlight the decisive nature of the conflict at a time when morale greatly impacted the vitality of the entire war effort.

As the main terminus between the upper and lower Mississippi, the reopening of trade at Memphis pumped capital into the Federal economy, effectively aiding other theaters of warfare around the country. Viewing the Mississippi River as a source of economic wealth and livelihood, the strategic importance of Memphis as the Confederacy's fifth largest city helped secure a large stake in the burgeoning cotton market left stagnant under southern trade restrictions. Memphians involved in the trade, processing, and export of materials like cotton now dealt under the direction of a Federal government that hoped to not only secure the city's resources, but the sympathies of its citizens and civilian authority as well. Stores reopened, riverine traffic along the Mississippi resumed, and publication of print media all occurred under an oath of allegiance to the Union, indeed a signal emphasizing the symbolism of southern capitulation. This thesis proves that the June 1862 engagement extended in influence far beyond the realm of a strategic defeat, aiding the Union war effort while providing a decisive and demoralizing loss for southern sympathizers militarily, socially, and economically.

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DOI

10.25777/av2c-5s94

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