In 1862, the Confederate States of America purchased 14 civilian vessels for conversion into military ships. These constituted the River Defense Fleet, which was commanded by Captain James E. Montgomery.[1] The ships were intended to defend the Confederate-held part of the Mississippi River. The purchases occurred at New Orleans, Louisiana. The fleet was operated by the Confederate States Army. To emphasize that this force was distinct from the Confederate States Navy, many of the vessels were named after army officers. Some Confederate naval officers believed that the purchase and conversion of these vessels was a waste of resources that should have been focused on ironclads or other existing vessels. Some sources state that the vessel that became General Earl Van Dorn was previously known as Junius Beebe, while other sources state that Junius Beebe instead became CSS General Sumter. General Earl Van Dorn was a sidewheel steamer. She was 182feet long, and had similar dimensions to General Sumter, with a beam of 28inchesft3inchesin (ftin), and a 10feet depth of hold. She was named after Earl Van Dorn, the Confederate commander at the Battle of Pea Ridge.[2]
The vessels of the River Defense Fleet were intended to be used as rams, and they were known as cottonclads. Their conversion into warships involved adding 1inch of iron plating backed by 4inches of oak planking on a framework of one-foot-square timbers to the bow. The engines and boilers were protected by an inner bulkhead of one-foot-square timbers with an outer bulkhead of six-by-twelve timbers. In between the bulkheads was cotton. General Earl Van Dorn was placed under the command of Captain Isaac Fulkerson, and she left New Orleans for Memphis, Tennessee, on March 25. Competing strategic goals had led to the split of the River Defense Fleet. The Confederate States War Department desired that the ships serve in the Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missouri area to protect this portion of the Mississippi River, but local interests pushed for the ships to remain at New Orleans. Rather than sending all of the ships upriver, the Confederate commander at New Orleans, Major General Mansfield Lovell, held part of the fleet at New Orleans after a river barrier defending New Orleans failed. General Earl Van Dorn reached Memphis on April 3. A week later, her cottonclad conversion was completed by the finishing of the ironwork. She was sent to Fort Pillow along with CSS General Sterling Price and CSS General Bragg. General Earl Van Dorn was armed with a single 32-pounder cannon on her bow, which was a common naval gun that was smoothbore and muzzleloading.
General Earl Van Dorn was present on the morning of April 13 when the Confederates made an abortive attempt at a surprise attack against Union Navy ships upriver from Fort Pillow. The Union fleet fell into a pattern of having one mortar boat downriver guarded by one ironclad, and Montgomery decided to attack with the eight ships he had at Fort Pillow. On May 10, 1862, the Confederates attacked, bringing on the Battle of Plum Point Bend. Seven of the Confederate vessels involved were arranged in order of speed with the fastest vessels at the front; General Earl Van Dorn was fourth in the column. She fired on the Union mortar boat during the attack, hitting it twice, before ramming the Union ironclad USS Mound City. The Union ship was struck on her starboard side near the bow and was badly damaged. General Earl Van Dorn then ran aground and came under Union fire.[3] The Union fire did little damage, although Fulkerson was wounded and one sailor killed. After General Earl Van Dorn was freed, she returned to the rest of the Confederate fleet. The Confederates broke off the fighting when other Union ironclads arrived on the scene; Mound City and the ironclad USS Cincinnati had been sunk but were later salvaged.
The Confederates abandoned Fort Pillow in early June after the Siege of Corinth ended in a Confederate defeat, and General Earl Van Dorn and the other Confederate vessels helped cover the withdrawal. Montgomery's ships reached Memphis on June 5, but there was a shortage of coal for their fuel. At a council of war, Montgomery and his captains decided to fight the pursuing Union forces rather than scuttle their ships and retreat overland with the army, or scuttle a portion of the fleet and use the remaining coal to escape with the rest. Montgomery arranged his ships in three rows of two vessels with General Sterling Price in the rear and CSS Little Rebel not having an assigned position. General Earl Van Dorn was in the third row along with General Bragg. The Union had five ironclads as well as the United States Ram Fleet consisting of four rams. On the morning of June 6, the Union forces attacked, bringing on the First Battle of Memphis. General Earl Van Dorn and General Bragg attempted to escape after the rest of the Confederate fleet was destroyed or captured. The heavy guns of the ironclads and the ramming tactics of the United States Ram Fleet was decisive at Memphis.
The cotton cladding on General Bragg caught fire and she was abandoned. Two of the rams, USS Switzerland and USS Monarch, pursued General Earl Van Dorn and the supply ship Paul Jones, but the Confederate vessels escaped. The historian Mark K. Christ and the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships attribute General Earl Van Dorns escape to her "superior speed". Fulkerson took General Earl Van Dorn up the Yazoo River. On the Yazoo River, General Earl Van Dorn along with CSS General Polk and CSS Livingston took up a position at Liverpool Landing, Mississippi, where they defended a log barrier designed to protect the location where the ironclad CSS Arkansas was under construction upriver at Yazoo City, Mississippi. On June 26, Monarch and the ram USS Lancaster advanced up the Yazoo River. The Confederate commander at Liverpool Landing ordered General Earl Van Dorn, General Polk, and Livingston burned to prevent their capture. By the time Arkansas, which was on a trial cruise, arrived, it was too late to save the three ships. The wreckage was removed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers in 1878 and 1879.