USS Cairo

The story of the USS Cairo spans both the Civil War and the modern preservation of its history. Built as one of the Union’s innovative ironclad gunboats, the Cairo played a brief but important role in securing Union control of the Mississippi River before becoming the first ship in history sunk by an electrically detonated naval mine. Lost beneath the Yazoo River for nearly a century, its remarkable recovery and preservation transformed the vessel into one of the best-preserved Civil War ironclads, offering an unparalleled glimpse into nineteenth-century naval warfare.

During the war, the Union recognized the need to traverse, control, and occupy the Mississippi River, and Union forces developed a new class of naval ship to help its military goals. These ships were classified as City-class gunboats, and seven were made in total. They were the first US ironclads ever manufactured, and they were the predecessors of the modern-day naval ship.

The USS Cairo was constructed in Mound City, Illinois, in 1861, by James B. Eads and a team of skilled engineers. The ship was 175 feet long and could hold a crew of more than five hundred men. The Cairo carried a powerful battery of thirteen heavy cannons, consisting of smoothbore shell guns and rifled artillery pieces placed at the bow, stern, and broadsides. The ship was designed to be incredibly powerful and well armored but small enough to traverse the Mississippi River with ease, having a draft of only six feet.

The Cairo’s career was remarkably short, with the ship seeing combat in only two battles. The first was the Battle of Fort Pillow at Plum Point, Tennessee, in May 1862, where the ship assisted in the escorting of mortar boats to the fort. The Cairo defended the position from Confederate gunboats for multiple days, allowing the mortar boats to assist Union troops in the assault on the fort. This led to Confederate forces fleeing the fort and to Union forces controlling the strategically important stronghold. With Fort Pillow now in Union hands, the army could march to Memphis. Ultimately, the Cairo fended off eight Confederate gunboats, five of which were damaged beyond repair, two were heavily damaged, and one sailed away unscathed, leading to a Union victory over the city.

With the city captured, the Cairo was assigned to the Yazoo Pass expedition downriver, but the ship would not get to see this battle. On 12 December 1862, the Cairo attempted to traverse the treacherous Yazoo River with a flotilla of gunboats. Their goal was to clear the river of torpedoes, or what would now be called naval mines. During this exercise, the Cairo became the first ship in the western hemisphere to be sunk by a torpedo/electric naval mine. Once hit, Lt. Commander Thomas O. Selfridge Jr. commanded the crew to evacuate the ship. Within just minutes, the ship sank into the Mississippi River with no attempts by the Union to recover it. The ship was eventually forgotten.

In 1956, Edwin C. Bearss, a veteran and National Park Service historian, was determined to find the USS Cairo using Civil War maps, a compass, and the assistance of his friends Don Jacks and Warren Grabau. They found the ship in the Yazoo River, but it took four years to approve its excavation. The excavation itself was difficult and time consuming, taking another four years to fully recover the ship from the mud, but within the ship, the mud of the Yazoo River preserved dozens of Civil War artifacts, including guns, a cannon, the pilothouse, and many other pieces of Civil War history. Once excavated, the ship needed to be completely deconstructed, with parts like the engines, the armor, and the hull cleaned and preserved as well as possible.

By 1971, the ship was a museum-ready piece. In 1972, the US Congress authorized the USS Cairo to be displayed in the Vicksburg National Military Park. Today, the park holds not just the Cairo but also the artifacts found deep within its muddy hull, allowing for tourists to see history with their own eyes.