Beschreibung:

CDV providing detailed perspective from shore of the ubiquitous USS Louisville. New York: Brady, [1860s]. (Very sepia toned but strong detail, corners heavily worn with old vertical bend at lower left third.) Penciled beneath the vessel is a period caption that reads, "Gunboat Louisville Mississippi Squadron 1862." Obverse has the unidentified penciled name, "Mary Pauling [sic] / 1863." A large number of the crew are milling about the stern while the entire ship's battery is run-out as if for action. The muzzles of the guns, however, are plugged. A rowboat filled with sailors sits at the stern awaiting the photographer. USS Louisville was a purpose built ironclad gunboat constructed at St. Louis and commissioned on 16 January 1862. Originally an army warship dictated by budgetary imperative, she was later transferred to Navy command in October 1862 and served as such for the duration. USS Louisville first joined in combined operations leading to the capture of Fort Donelson on 16 February 1862. In March she assisted in the occupation of Columbus, Kentucky and capture of Island No. 10 and New Madrid, Missouri through 7 April. An established routine of vigorous patrolling prevented the small Confederate naval flotilla and vital transports from ascending the Mississippi while cutting off surreptitious cross river traffic. Louisville joined the Mississippi Flotilla for the attack on Memphis and shared in the laurels for sinking or capturing the entire Rebel naval force on 6 June. Afterwards, Louisville bombarded the upper shore batteries of Vicksburg before shifting to the White River. Meeting with a large contingent of Mississippi Squadron warships, Louisville joined in a combined operation in support of W.T. Sherman's troops who captured the dominant feature of Fort Hindman at Arkansas Post, bagging nearly 5,000 prisoners but getting no closer to the strategic prize of Vicksburg. In April 1863, USS Louisville and others ran the batteries at Vicksburg on the 16th and engaged in the bombardment of Confederate positions at Grand Gulf silencing those guns so that the siege ring was closed by 29 April. From March to April 1864 Louisville and her sisters participated in the ill-fated expedition up the Red River. The campaign included the element of both naval bombardment - there being no enemy warships to fight - and the rapid transport of army troops to pursue and outmaneuver a numerically inferior Confederate force. Just the opposite happened. Confederate General Richard Taylor succeeded in not only defending the Red River Valley with his smaller force; he also forced Banks to retreat after defeating a portion of the Union Army at the back-to-back battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill. On 20 June gunfire from Louisville was instrumental in breaking up a Confederate attack on an isolated Union brigade at a backwater called Gaines' Landing. The final year of Brown Water Navy endeavor focused on patrolling to interdict supplies to the Trans-Mississippi while rapidly transporting supplies and troops in lieu of a satisfactory railroad network. Louisville was finally decommissioned at Mound City on 21 July 1865 and laid up awaiting disposal. She was sold at auction in September 1868. [With:] CDV, panoramic view of the USS Choctaw taken at some distance from the shore. Vicksburg: D.P. Bar, Army Photographer, [1860s]. (Sharp detail under magnification, strong corners, original albumen trimmed slightly on vertical axis.) Verso with a fabulous period ink inscription that reads, "Iron Clad 'Choctaw' opposite / Vicksburg, Miss. 1004 Tons. 8 Guns / To the right citizens & residence and on / (left?) Commissary & Ordnance / buildings. On hill private houses / back of 'Battery Moore.' / Then (illegible) through which RR / passes. Next - 'Castle Battery' / nearer the river R.R. Depot. / On river, on extreme left, - wharf / boats and 'Freedmen's Hospital.'" An old penciled date of "Sun Aug 21, 1864" follows at bottom right. The one-off sidewheel ste