Fort Wade

On a shelf overlooking the charred ruins of Grand Gulf, Confederate engineers built Fort Wade, where Guibor's and Wade's Missouri Batteries manned four big guns. When Admiral David G. Farragut's squadron passed Grand Gulf on March 31, the fort's guns opened fire. Confederate commander General John S. Bowen narrowly escaped when one of the 20-pounder Parrotts burst as he entered the emplacement. On April 29, four of Admiral David D. Porter's "City Series" ironclads came downriver and took position one fourth of a mile from the fort, beginning a terrible artillery duel. They were joined by the "Lafayette," and Fort Wade was overwhelmed by the storm of shot and shell from the five gunboats. Two 32-pounder rifles were dismounted, the parapet was knocked to pieces, Colonel William Wade was killed, and by 11 A.M. Fort Wade had been silenced as Porter's entire squadron shifted its fire to Fort Cobun.

Mississippi · United States