8. The Confederates’ Capture of a Powerful Union Warship Posed a Serious Problem for the Union
During the US Civil War, the USS Indianola was a powerful ironclad river gunboat employed by the Union. She served in the Western Theater with the US Navy’s Mississippi Squadron, operating in the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers. The Indianola ran past Confederate batteries in Vicksburg to reach the Red River and help block Confederate supplies from sailing down its waters. However, once she reached her destination, she was attacked by Confederate rams on the night of February 24th, 1863, ran aground, and was captured.
The Indianola’s capture derailed the Union’s plans to blockade the Red River. Its presence in Confederate hands was too great a threat to Union operations in the region to be endured. Plans were thus made to recapture the ironclad or destroy it to prevent the Rebels from using it. The solution to the problem of just how to go about doing that involved one of the Civil War’s most successful deception operations and hoaxes.