March 25, 1862 Tuesday
It was a day of Federal expeditions, with a three-day reconnaissance from Murfreesboro to Shelbyville, Tullahoma, Manchester, and McMinnville, Tennessee (
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/tex ... report%3D1 ); a four-day expedition in Moniteau County, Missouri; a reconnaissance to Agnew’s Ferry, Tennessee; and a skirmish at Mount Jackson, Virginia. President Lincoln suspends the death sentence for breach of parole passed on Col. Ebenezer Magoffin, brother of former Gov Magoffin (Ky.) (
http://madison.ilgenweb.net/prison_magoffin_escape.html ).
C.S.S. Pamlico, commanded by Lieutenant William G. Dozier, and C.S.S. Oregon, commanded by Acting Master Abraham L. Myers, engaged U.S.S. New London, commanded by Lieutenant Read, at Pass Christian, Mississippi. The rifled gun on board Pamlico jammed during the nearly two hour engagement, and the Confederate vessels broke off the action, neither side having been damaged in the test of the strength of Flag Officer Farragut's gathering forces. Transports with General Butler and troops arrived at Ship Island which, until Pensacola was retaken, became the principal base for operations west of Key West. Flag Officer Farragut wrote: " I am now packed and ready for my departure to the mouth of the Mississippi River . . . I spent last evening very pleasantly with General Butler. He does not appear to have any very difficult plan of operations, but simply to follow in my wake and hold what I can take. God grant that may be all that we attempt . . . victory. If I die in the attempt, it will only be what every officer has to expect. He who dies in doing his duty to his country, and at peace with his God, has played out the drama of life to the best advantage."
Confederate Secretary of the Navy Mallory ordered Flag Officer Tattnall to relieve the injured Flag Officer Buchanan and "take command of the naval defenses on the waters of Virginia and hoist your flag on board the Virginia."
Reports of Confederate ironclads on the river disturbed Union commanders far and wide. Major General Halleck wired Flag Officer Foote: "It is stated by men just arrived from New Orleans that the rebels are constructing one or more ironclad river boats to send against your flotilla. Moreover, it is said that they are to be cased with railroad iron like the Merrimack. If this is so I think a single boat might destroy your entire flotilla, pass our batteries and sweep the Western rivers. Could any of your gunboats be clad in the same way so as to resist the apprehended danger? If not, how long would it require to build a new one for that purpose? I have telegraphed to the Secretary of War for authority to have any suitable boat altered or prepared; or if there be none suitable, to build a new one. As no time is to be lost, if any one of the gunboats now in service will bear this change it should be taken in preference to building a new one. I shall await your answer. Could not the Essex be so altered?" Flag Officer Foote sent Lieutenant Joseph P. Sanford, his ordnance officer, to confer with the General on the subject and replied: ."There is no vessel now in the flotilla that can be armored as you suggest. This [Benton] is the only one which could bear the additional weight of iron required and she already is so deep and wanting in steam power that it would make her utterly useless with the additional weight of iron. I suggest that a strong boat be fitted up in St. Louis and armored-in fact, two vessels-in the shortest possible manner, with a view of protecting the river at Cairo, or Columbus would do better, if it was fortified with heavy guns sweeping the river below. These boats will require at least a month to be fitted up. As to the place, etc., Lieutenant Sanford will consult with you. Commander Porter of the Essex, is also in St. Louis, who is fitting out the Essex, and who will remain there for the present. He will attend to the new boats and get them ready in the shortest possible time."
Gunboat U.S.S. Cairo, commanded by Lieutenant Bryant, seized guns and equipment abandoned by Confederate troops evacuating Fort Zollicoffer, six miles below Nashville.
Gunboat U.S.S. Cayuga, commanded by Lieutenant Harrison, captured schooner Jessie J. Cox, en route from Mobile to Havana with cargo of cotton and turpentine.