CSS “Shenandoah”

Paul Callogy was said to have been born in Melbourne, Victoria, migrated to the United States and enlisted aboard the CSS Tennessee at 30 years of age; serving as a Landsman  as he had no prior experience on a ship.   The CSS Tennessee was a slow-moving Confederate ironclad ram, built at Selma, Alabama where she was commissioned on February 16, 1864, with Lieutenant James G. Johnston of the Confederate States Navy in command. After construction the CSS Baltic towed her to Mobile, Alabama where she fitted out for action.

Construction began on the CSS Tennessee in 1862, but was not completed until 1864, due to a lack of materials. The CSS Tennessee, like most Confederate ironclads, featured a large, armoured enclosure for its guns known as a casemate; a design feature first used on the CSS Virginia in 1862. Her iron covering was 2 by 10 in (50 by 250 mm) plate, the same as used on the CSS Huntsville and CSS Tuscaloosa but was triple instead of double thickness. A fearsome detail of her armament was a "hot water attachment to her boilers for repelling boarders, throwing one stream from forward of the casemate and one aft." She carried a complement of  133 officers and men, had 2 new 7 inch (180mm) Brooke Rifles, 4 of the 6.4 in (160 mm) Brooke rifles and was armoured with 6 inch thick (150 mm) iron-plate with wood backing.

Based at Mobile, the Tennessee became the flagship of Admiral Buchanan, and served gallantly in action in the Battle of Mobile Bay on August 5, 1864; engaging Admiral David G. Farragut's Union fleet facing overwhelming odds, On that morning Tennessee and wooden gunboats CSS Gaines, CSS Morgan and the CSS Selma steamed into combat against Admiral David G. Farragut's powerful Union fleet of four ironclad monitors  and 14 wooden steamers. Unable to ram theUnion  ships because of their superior speed, the Tennessee delivered a vigorous fire on the Federals at close range. The Confederate gunboats, however, were sunk or dispersed; after which Farragut's fleet steamed up into the bay and dropped anchor. Buchanan might havekept the Tennessee under the fort's protection, but instead steamed after the Federal fleet and engaged it again despite overwhelming odds. The Confederate ram became the target for the entire Union fleet.

She was rammed by the Hartford and subjected to a terrific cannonade. The U.S. monitors Chickasaw and Manhattan then engaged her at close range with their heavy guns, while other Union ships fired from a distance. The Tennessee 's smokestack and most of the other exposed fittings were hammered away, further reducing her never very great speed; her gunport shutter chains were cut, closing the ports so the Confederates could not shoot back; and vulnerable steering chains which lay in exposed trenches on the after deck were carried away by the heavy gunfire. The Manhattan then blew a hole in Tennessee's armor with her massive fifteen-inch gun while the twin-turret monitor Chickasaw stationed it’s self off the beleagered ship's stern, firing her eleven-inch guns like pocket pistols and seriously weakening the after end of Tennessee 's armored casemate.

With his flagship unable to fire her guns, steam or steer, and with the collapse of the casemate seemingly imminent, Admiral Buchanan who had already been wounded during the battle, authorized her surrender. The ship's Commanding Officer, Commander James D. Johnston shoved a white flag out from the top of the casemate and Union firing soon ceased. The USS Ossipee, however, coming on fast for another ramming attempt was unable to stop in time, and struck a last blow against the Tennessee. The Tennessee had fired its last shot into the hull of the USS Hartford. Farragut's successful offensive into the bay had cost him 315 casualties, compared with only 32 casualties among Confederate sailors.

Immediately following the capture of the Tennessee it was commissioned in the into the United States own navy with Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Pierre Giraud in command. The ironclad went on to participate in the Federal assault on the Confederate Fort Morgan on August 23rd  which resulted in the fort's capitulation that same day. She subsequently served with the U.S. Navy's Mississippi Squadron until after the end of the Civil War. Decommissioned in August 1865, USS Tennessee was sold for scrap in November 1867.

All U.S. Naval and Marine prisoners captured aboard the CSS Tennessee were transported to a Ship Island, Mississippi and the Union prison at Fort Massachusetts for Confederate P.O.W.'s, on August 5, 1864. Ship Island was also a base for the U.S. Second Regiment, Louisiana Native Guards, one of the first African American combat units to fight in the Civil War; and who were used to guard Confederate prisoners. Paul Callogy must have been using another name at the time, gave another name or was inadvertently left off the muster, because his name does not appear on the list of prisoners transported to Ship Island.

Barry Crompton, ACWRTA

C S Navy Research Library, Mobile, Alabama

Encyclopedia of Alabama

Mobile Bay and the Mobile Campaign: The Last Great Battles of the Civil War.

      Jefferson, N.C., McFarland

U.S. Naval Archives