620
THE UNION AND CONFEDERATE NA HIES.
I UL>
a vm i jp*
*.;
■JSSip
5g|s£h-
SB®
.«gjE
The first step in the creation of the Mississippi flotilla was taken in May,1861, by Commander John Rodgers, who, acting under the authority of theWar Department, purchased at Cincinnati three river-steamboats, the Cones-toga, Lexington , and Tyler , and altered them into gun-boats by strengtheningtheir frames, lowering their machinery, and protecting their decks by heavybulwarks. In August, the War Department made a contract with James B.Eads [see page 338], the famous engineer of the Mississippi jetties, to build intwo months seven gun-boats, propelled by a central paddle-wheel, and coveredwith armor two and a half inches thick, on the forward end of the casematesand on the sides abreast of the engines. These may be said to have been ourfirst iron-clads, light as their plating was, and imperfectly as it covered thevessels. In spite of all their defects, they performed constant service of incal-culable importance throughout the war; and there is not one among themall—the Cairo, Carondelet, Cincinnati, Louisville, Mound City, Pittsburgh , andSt. Louis or De Kalb — which failed to make her name famous in the incessantconflicts of the Mississippi . Two larger vessels purchased by the Government,the Benton and the Essex, of one thousand tons each, and somewhat moreheavily armored, together with thirty-eight mortar-boats, complete the list of