Post Battle Salvage
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The Navy for its part sent the U.S.S. Kate, during the summer of 1865, to salvage the machinery, cannon and metal belonging to the four tinclads. The Kate's deck log states that "the Elfin was burned down to her floor timbers and blown up, the Undine the same. The Tawah was burned down to her main keelson, which was burned off, her magazine had not exploded and a portion of her main deck is left, aft of the boilers there is nothing in the hold of either vessel, such as stores, but what was partially, or entirely destroyed by fire" (National Archives 1865b:71). The Kate made ready for the salvage of the vessels at the Mound City naval station, outfitting a mortar barge (60 feet long, 26 feet wide and 3.5 feet deep) with a crane to aid in raising and transporting the salvaged material from Johnsonville (National Archives 1865b:56-57). Once on site, she appears to have employed several different barges to help transport salvaged material as during the salvage she "went back to Johnsonville and got coal, coal barge, and mortar flatboats, took them back to Undine" (National Archives 1865b:25). During the salvage, the Kate repeatedly took salvaged material back to Mound City on the barges and mortar flats and then returned for further salvage of the vessels. The Kate was extremely successful in salvaging all four of the Navy vessels. A report of July 9, 1865 states that the salvage of the Key West was completed on July 4. An enormous amount of material was recovered such as:
It was reported that everything in or near the wreck was recovered, but for 30 feet of hog chain (National Archives 1865b). The report from the Kate dated August 6, 1865 enumerates the salvaged items from the Tawah and Elfin. Material from the Elfin included:
Material recovered from the Tawah included:
Additional day reports from the Kate indicate the types of material salvaged from the Undine. These materials included:
Lacking a date of retrieval, other recovered items include:
The vessels were heavily salvaged by the Navy of everything possible with the exception of the lower hulls. It is unknown if the Army salvaged any of the transports or barges also lost in the conflagration. In the case of the Undine, there was evidence that indicates that the lower hull was raised by her original builder, Uriah B. Scott, towed to Cincinnati and rebuilt as the Victor No. 4 in 1866 (David Meagher, personal communication; Way 1983:469). However, the source could not be confirmed, and findings from the 2000 investigation season show this rumor to be false. It is interesting that only six of the reportedly eight brass howitzers onboard were recovered. With the exception of a 1914 photograph of the remains of one of the hulls situated above (upriver/south) the railroad bridge (Figure 11), the wrecks at Johnsonville disappear from the historic record and do not surface again until the early 1900s when they are slated for removal by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The 1918 Annual Report excerpt states that: Although the word "removed" when employed in a historic salvage description does not necessarily mean complete removal (as it often can mean partial removal, for example, down to a safe navigation depth), the fact that "8,000 cubic yards of gravel were removed in connection with the hulls, all material being cast along the right shore," suggests that complete removal was indeed accomplished (removal most likely included the vessel illustrated in Figure 11). It is interesting to note that the 13 wrecks removed were "above the railroad bridge," indicating that some if not all the transports were above the railroad bridge as were the tinclads as indicated by courts-martial excerpts above.
Salvage of 1917
Research conducted at the National Archives by THC personnel located correspondence suggesting that wrecks might have escaped post-war salvage by the dredge Tuscumbia. A letter sent from Johnsonville by T. Bright Johnson on August 20, 1917 to W.W. Black, Chief of Engineers, U.S. Army, states: Agreeable to your promise to have the twenty or more old hulks taken out of the Tenn. river here along the river front the US Dredge "Tuscumbia" has been doing the work nicely until today. I am informed that the man in charge of the "Tuscumbia" has a telegram from some source to go no closer than one hundred feet to the R Road piers. He has already made a "cut" nearer than 100 feet immediately above the first pier in the river, and as a matter of fact, piled the debris high out of the water. To follow the order not to go nearer than 100 feet of the piers would leave two or three of the hulks untouched that inconvenience more people than all the rest and their removal will but help the pier if the dirt and timbers were dumped around the bottom of the piers instead of toward the shore. None of the wrecks go further than the first pier out into the river - the pier is on the east side of the river and the bend in the river is such that the current is on the opposite shore - then with the gravel, dirt and timbers piled about the bottom of the piers for 30 to 40 ft the water underneath the bridge would be navigable between the shore & first pier for a width of about 100 feet. That is, the "Tuscumbia" can work on "cut" between the first pier and the shore and pile the dirt to the west of them or around the pier while they are within on hundred feet above and below - but 50 feet would be more than necessary & since the bottom of the river is only 5 or less feet below the surface of the water at zero it is not necessary to put any thing further from the piers than to dump whatever might be lifted while passing between the pier & the shore. I had intended suggesting to you before the dredge reached to near the pier - immediately above - that they not tear out the portion of the hulks nearer than 20 to 30 feet of the pier in any direction and to dump towards the pier while that near it. The timbers are perfectly sound and water seasoned in all these hulls and the one pier in question is built on top of one of the largest hulls and quite a lot of large stones piled about the bottom of the pier. The hull of itself would prevent any wash if the tendency were to wash, but situated on the "aft" side of the river the tendency is to "make" instead of wash. If I thought for an instant that there could be any likelihood of endangering the R.R. Co. by clearing the space between the piers and the shore I'd be far from asking the work be done and think any one who will study the matter could not help conclude that it would be more help than injury to place whatever dirt &c that is handy (?) while near the pier about it. And not remove the hull that lies under the pier, but take out the hull that lies partly on shore at low water and some distance from the pier but immediately under the bridge. While the one hull along the shore under the bridge taken out the east shore would be more safe running for rafts and all small boats & some of the larger boats, but there is a small for a short dirt and below the bridge just off the wrecks that compels one to go the middle of the stream or get stuck, as was the case twice last week - one the "U.S. Hiwasee" 7 a tow boat. Assuring you on my honor that I am suggesting that which is helpful to all concerned and injury to no one. I trust you will correct the interference and have the hull along the shore and away from the pier taken out as ordered by you (National Archives 1917).
Lending credence to the suggestion that wrecks did indeed escape removal by the Tuscumbia, several post-1917 accounts of artifact removal from intact wrecks indicate that one if not several vessels are still extant. A recent letter written by Duane Berry now of San Marcos, Texas received by the THC states that: I was seven years old at the time and living in the small community of Faxon, Benton County, Tennessee. Faxon is only a few miles from the battle site. Being too young, I did not take part in the adventure, however, some teen-age boys and young men from Faxon waded and/or swam to these boats and brought home some small artifacts. With subsequent rains, the river rose and again covered the wrecks. In the 1940's the TVA built a dam on the Tennessee River at Gilbertsville, Ky. and when the locks were closed it became almost certain that the boats would not be exposed again. There may be no interest in this except my own but I felt that I should tell someone who might care. I believe the boats are still there in much the same condition as in 1935 (Berry 1998).
Although differing on the exact date of low water, another reference confirms the above "recollection" and adds details of artifact types present on the vessels. A newspaper article relates the accounts of Randolph Waggoner, who was born and raised at Johnsonville. The pencils were in good shape, Waggoner said, and the pen points were rusty. The hardtack biscuits were almost petrified. Formations of melted-together nails lay on the ground where the warehouses burned, he said (Nashville Banner 1958).
Another account of visiting the exposed wrecks and thought to date from the same low water period is given by Graden Featherstone. He states that:
Although the above accounts differ on when the low water exposed the wrecks, they all agree with one another in that a number of wrecks were still extant after the supposed removal episode of 1917 and that a wealth of artifactual material remained (i.e., shoes, coffee beans, pencils, etc.). Recent discussions with Colonel Gary McFarland revealed that he and others SCUBA dived on the wrecks in front of Johnsonville in the 1960s and that several of the vessels were still present. |
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