The Battle of Plum Point Bend took place in Tennessee during the American Civil War on May 10, 1862, on the Mississippi River, between ships of the Confederate River Defense Fleet and the Union Western Flotilla. Fighting for control of the Mississippi had been ongoing since the prior year as Union forces pushed downriver to Fort Pillow, about 50 miles (80 km) north of Memphis. The Union had been using mortar boats to bombard Fort Pillow, and had settled into a regular routine. The Union's daily tactic was to send a single mortar boat guarded by an ironclad warship to a position further downriver to shell the fort, while the rest of the fleet remained upriver. On the morning of May 10, the Confederates attacked in the hope of capturing the guard ironclad and then surprising the rest of the Union fleet.
When the attack came, most of the Union ironclads did not have steam pressure built up and so were unprepared to move. Three of the eight Confederate vessels, CSS General Bragg, CSS General Sterling Price, and CSS General Sumter, rammed the guard ironclad, USS Cincinnati; the Union vessel later sank from her damage. Two further ironclads were able to steam from the main group upriver and join the action: USS Carondelet and USS Mound City. In turn, CSS General Earl Van Dorn rammed Mound City; the Union vessel was damaged so severely that she was later run aground on a shoal, where she sank.
A third Union ironclad, USS Benton, arrived later in the fighting. The Union ironclads had lighter drafts than the Confederate vessels and maneuvered into shallower water where they were safe from Confederate ramming attempts. As the Confederate ships' guns were inferior to those of the Union ships, the Confederates withdrew, pursued by Benton and Carondelet. Several of the Confederate ships were damaged during the battle. The loss of Cincinnati and Mound City prompted the Union to strengthen the waterline of their ships. The two ironclads were refloated and returned to service. The battle was a Confederate victory, but with little long-term benefit. The bombardment of Fort Pillow resumed after the battle with altered procedures, and on June 4, the fort was abandoned as the Confederates withdrew from Corinth, Mississippi. On June 6, the River Defense Fleet was destroyed in the First Battle of Memphis, and the Union gained control of the Mississippi River in July 1863. Plum Point Bend was among the few fleet actions of the war.
When the American Civil War began in April 1861, both the United States and Confederate governments viewed control of the Mississippi River as vital. In September, Confederate forces moved north and captured the town of Columbus, Kentucky, which was on the Mississippi. In February 1862, Union forces commanded by Major General Ulysses S. Grant captured Confederate positions at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, which had commanded the Tennessee River and the Cumberland River. This compelled the Confederates to abandon western Kentucky including Columbus; the next Confederate stronghold was at Island No. 10 further downriver. The naval component of the Union effort, known as the Western Flotilla, was commanded by Flag Officer Andrew H. Foote.
The American Civil War (1861–1865) was the deadliest conflict in American history, killing an estimated 620,000 to 750,000 soldiers and an unknown number of civilians. The Confederate States of America, formed by eleven seceding Southern states, faced the Union in four years of warfare across 23 states and territories. Major engagements included First and Second Bull Run, Antietam (the bloodiest single day in American history, September 17, 1862), Chancellorsville, Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863), Vicksburg (surrendered July 4, 1863), and Sherman's March through Georgia and the Carolinas (1864–1865). President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, transforming the war's stated purpose to include the abolition of slavery and enabling the enlistment of approximately 180,000 Black men in the United States Colored Troops. Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. The war resolved the question of secession and ended American slavery, though Reconstruction would face sustained resistance in its attempt to secure civil rights for formerly enslaved people.
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