[1] The defending Confederates closely matched the advancing federal force in raw numbers, with eight rebel vessels opposing nine Union gunboats and rams, but the fighting qualities of the former were far inferior.

Their engines and other interior spaces were protected by a double bulkhead of heavy timbers, covered on the outer surface by a layer of railroad iron.

Later in the war, ships' crews were often protected from small-arms fire by bales of cotton placed in exposed positions, and these vessels were also referred to as "cottonclads".

The federal gunboats were members of the Mississippi River Squadron, commanded directly by Flag Officer Charles H. Davis, who reported to Major General Henry W. Halleck.

The cottonclads were about half of a group of fourteen river steamers that had been seized at New Orleans and converted into rams to defend that city.

[9] As a result of the federal victory at Corinth, the railroads that linked Memphis with the eastern part of the Confederacy had been cut, severely reducing the strategic importance of the city.

Most of the garrison were sent to join units elsewhere, including Vicksburg and only a small rear guard was left to make a token resistance.

Unable to flee when the federal fleet appeared on June 6, Montgomery and his captains had to decide whether to fight, or scuttle their boats.

They chose to fight, steaming out in the early morning to meet the advancing flotilla and the rams trailing behind it, with Memphis citizens cheering them on.

The sole boat to escape, CSS General Earl Van Dorn, fled to the protection of the Yazoo River, just north of Vicksburg.

[13] The battle of Memphis was, aside from the later appearance of the ironclad CSS Arkansas, the final challenge to the federal thrust down the Mississippi River against Vicksburg.

The river was now open down to that city, which was already besieged by Farragut's ships, but the federal army authorities did not grasp the strategic importance of the fact for nearly another six months.

[2] The poor performance of the River Defense Fleet, both at Memphis and at the earlier Battle of New Orleans, was the final demonstration that naval operations had to be commanded by trained professionals subject to military discipline.

It is also one of only two purely naval battles of the war,[citation needed] excluding single-ship actions, and took place 500 mi (800 km) from the nearest open water.