13. The Ruse That Got the Confederates to Destroy Their Own Ship
The US Navy realized that if the Confederates repaired the captured Indianola and added it to their river fleet, it could spell disaster for Union operations on the Mississippi River. Union naval commander David Porter did not have warships available to send on a risky mission to destroy the Indianola before the Rebels fixed her, so he resorted to a ruse of war. He ordered the construction of a dummy ironclad out of an old coal barge that was made to resemble a real warship. It was gussied up with paddle boxes, and fake gun emplacements out of which stuck “cannons” that were actually wooden logs painted black.
Barrels were stacked on the dummy ironclad to look like funnels, out of which poured smoke produced by smudge pots to mimic the smoke produced by a steam engine. The dummy warship, named Black Terror, was then floated past Vicksburg. When word that a powerful “ironclad” was headed their way reached the Confederate salvage crews working to repair and refloat the recently captured Indianola, they panicked. In order to prevent the captured Union gunboat’s recapture, the Confederates set fire to the ship’s magazine and blew her up.
