On the Red River approximately one mile south of Montgomery, Louisiana on Friday, April 15, 1864 the hard luck, ironclad USS Eastport, seized early in the war from the Confederacy and renamed, struck a Confederate mine or torpedo and was severely damaged. Refloated, after running aground numerous times the crew of the Eastport finally abandoned ship on April 26, allowing much of her armaments and supplies to be taken by Richard Taylor’s Confederates. During her checkered career, the Eastport had seized more than 14,000 bales of Confederate cotton while patrolling the Mississippi River but constantly had to be repaired. And to add insult to injury over her loss, another ship coming down the Red River, reputedly later scraped the hulk of the sunken Eastport and sank almost on top of her.
00000174-b11b-ddc3-a1fc-bfdbb1a20000The Schreiner University Department of History is honoring the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War with a series of short vignettes focusing on events from 1861 through 1865. The Civil War was the most destructive conflict in American history, but it was also one of our most defining moments as a people and as a nation. Let us know what you think about "This Week in the Civil War." E-mail your comments to Dr. John Huddleston at jhuddles@schreiner.edu.Airs: Weekdays at 5:19 a.m., 8:19 a.m., 4:19 p.m. on KTXI and 4:49 a.m., 9:29 p.m. on KSTX.