The labels are applied to seven vessels of uniform design built from the keel up in Carondelet, Missouri shipyards owned by James Buchanan Eads.

Eads gunboats took part in almost every significant action on the upper Mississippi and its tributaries from their first offensive use at the Battle of Fort Henry until the end of the war.

[c] In the early days of the Civil War, before it was certain that the secession movement had been thwarted in St. Louis, and before it was known that Kentucky would remain in the Union, James B. Eads offered one of his salvage vessels, Submarine No.

In a letter he wrote to Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, he pointed out that the catamaran-type hull of his boat[d] was already divided into several watertight compartments, and therefore could sustain numerous hits by enemy artillery without danger of sinking.

As the interior of the country was the responsibility of the Army and not the Navy, Welles passed the letter on to Secretary of War Simon Cameron, who in turn referred it to Major General George B. McClellan for consideration.

7, but his negative assessment was overruled by Major General John C. Fremont, who succeeded McClellan when the latter was called to Washington to serve as General-in-Chief.

Together, they decided that the gunboats should have adequate armor to withstand direct shot from the artillery of the day; speed sufficient to be able to move against the current; shallow draft; and enough guns to present a serious and credible threat to the enemy.

Not stated but well understood was the necessity of providing adequate accommodations for the crew, who would likely be forced to fight inside the protective shell of armor in the heat of a Southern summer.

To assist in the design of a vessel that would satisfy all of these requirements, Rodgers called for help from John Lenthall, the head of the Navy Department's Bureau of Construction, Equipment, and Repair.

The Navy Department already had under contract a man who had experience in designing river craft, one Samuel M. Pook, working at the time in Cairo, Illinois.

In order to carry the machinery that would drive the great weight forward at speed while maintaining the light draft, the boats had to be made quite broad in relation to their length.

[10] The casemates had sloping sides, somewhat suggestive of the general shape of the best-known Confederate ship of the war, CSS Virginia (ex-USS Merrimack).

This was a logical choice as St. Louis had the dry dock facilities, was a machinery center, and had a ready supply of skilled tradesmen to do the required work.

Pook's initial design called for armor only on the sides abreast the engines; Commander Rodgers, however, extended the plating to cover the forward casemate.

[21] Two gunboats were vital in assisting the Army in blocking the escape of the Confederate garrison at the Battle of Island Number Ten, April 7, 1862.

At the First Battle of Memphis on June 6, 1862, four of the City-class gunboats were included in the flotilla that destroyed a force of eight Confederate rams, sinking or capturing seven of the enemy fleet.

[25] The Western Gunboat Flotilla met the West Gulf Blockading Squadron at Vicksburg, Mississippi on July 1, 1862, where the two fleets attempted unsuccessfully to capture the city with only token support from the Army.

[27] The gunboats, now part of the Navy's Mississippi River Squadron, cooperated with the Army in the better-supported campaign to capture Vicksburg late in 1862.

On a scouting mission up the Yazoo River on December 12, 1862, USS Cairo struck two "torpedoes" (now called mines) and sank, without loss of life.

[29] Also as a part of the Vicksburg campaign, a joint Army-Navy force moved up the Arkansas River and attacked Fort Hindman on January 11, 1863.

[30] As efforts to bypass some of the Confederate defenses at Vicksburg, elements of the Mississippi Squadron engaged in two operations on minor tributaries of the Yazoo River.

The ultimate aim of this movement was to assist General Ulysses S. Grant's intended move across the river to attack the defenses from the south.

[32] Initially, Grant planned to cross his army from the west side of the river to the east at Grand Gulf, Mississippi, just below Vicksburg, where the Rebels had set up a pair of batteries that they styled "forts."

No notable naval actions resulted, but Grant regarded the Navy's contribution as a vital link in the campaign that finally ended on July 4, 1863, with the surrender of the city and its garrison.

[34] During the siege of Vicksburg, part of the Mississippi Squadron, including one City-class gunboat, was diverted into the Red River to capture Alexandria, Louisiana, and attack nearby Fort De Russy, May 4–17, 1863.

In this period of relative calm, USS Baron De Kalb (ex-St. Louis) was sunk in the Yazoo River by two Confederate torpedoes on July 13, 1863.

[36] Much of the Mississippi Squadron, including the five remaining City-class gunboats, took part in the ill-fated Red River campaign, in which they were almost lost because of falling water levels.

The most prominent example of the evil consequences of this lack of foresight was the Mound City disaster of 17 June 1862, but other ships suffered similarly, if not to the same degree.