10 May, 1862: Saturday

Confederates - Government
President Davis writes GEneral Johnston on the Peninsula: I have been much relieved by the successes which you have gained, and I hope for you the brilliant result which the drooping cause of our country now so imperatively claims..." But he was also concerned about the enemy advance on the Fredericksburg route toward Richmond.

Union - Military
Tennessee
Union mortar boats appear on the Mississippi just north of Fort Pillow, Tennessee. The ill-disciplined, makeshift Confederate River Defense Fleet, under the command of Captain James E. Montgomery, attacked the mortars and the strong Union ironclad flotilla of seven boats under Captain Charles H. Davis.

The unarmored Southern flotilla drove at the ironclads,. They managed to ram and sink the ironclads Cincinnatti and Mound City, in shoal water ( (they were later raised.) Four of the eight Confederate boats were badly disabled and rendered helpless by the superior firepower of the Union ships. Montgomery withdrew what remained.

The Battle of Plum Run Bend, or Plum Point, is nearly forgotten in history, but it was one of the few "fleet" actions of the war, "and on a river at that."

Virginia
President Lincoln observes as Union troops occupy Norfolk and Portsmouth.

Florida
Union troops occupy Pensacola.

Mississippi
There is fighting near Corinth.

Missouri
There is a skirmish at Bloomfield.

Alabama
There is a skirmish at Lamb's Ferry.

Western Virginia
There is a skirmish at Giles Court House.

Louisiana
In New Orleans, General Butler seizes $800,000 in gold from the Netherlands consulate.

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Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971