Dr. Doug Cupples's class tours sites of river war in Memphis during the Civil War

Students of Dr. Doug Cupples’s Civil War Navy History class recently toured sites related to the river war in Memphis. They began the tour at the war-time Mississippi River Landing between Poplar Avenue and Jefferson Avenue on Riverside Drive. The class next visited the South Bluff site of Fort Pickering. Confederates used this location as camps of induction in early 1861. The fort was later fortified by the Union Army under Major General W. T. Sherman and was manned by several units of heavy artillery composed of former slaves . On the batture below the fort, the Confederate government constructed two ironclad rams in late 1861-1862, the CSS Tennessee and the CSS Arkansas.


The students then examined the two Indian mounds used to mount heavy artillery that regularly shelled the wooded area across the river in Arkansas during the war.


One of the most popular stops of the day was the Mississippi River Museum on Mud Island with its replicas of a Union ironclad gunboat and a Confederate bluff fortification mounting large bore cannon. Scale models of Mississippi River steamers and warships also were on display. Several class members were visiting the museum for the first time and they expressed appreciation for the educational experience it offers. The day ended with more discussion about the war over lunch at a downtown restaurant.