CSS Arkansas does not fail outside Baton Rouge in 1862

On the sixth of August in 1862, Confederate forces under John C. Breckinridge stand poised to recapture Baton Rouge from the inexperienced Union garrison stationed there. Their attacks the day before had pushed the Union army across the city and they were now pinned between the larger Confederate army and the Mississippi River. Confederate impetus had been stalled due to covering fire from the Union warships anchored in the river, but the Confederate ironclad Arkansas, still riding high from her victory over superior enemy forces the month before, was steaming downriver to break the Union blockade. The original Union commander of Federal forces, Thomas Williams, had been killed the day before. The Confederates would take the city if they could just neutralize the Union fleet.
On August sixth, the USS Essex came into Arkansas' line-of-sight. The Essex had engaged Arkansas before, and the Federal ship was baying for blood.
In OTL, the crank pins of both engines failed simultaneously. The Arkansas was dead in the water in almost an instant.
What if the Arkansas' engines hadn't failed? She had been experiencing engine problems all the way downriver, but what if her engines could have endured long enough to engage the Essex? Could she have broken the Union blockade, and if so, then what ramifications could it have on the war as a whole (i.e., would the Confederates be in a favorable position to retake New Orleans)?
 
Not immediately sure on NOLA, but a temporary local break of the blockade seems possible on the surface. Of course it's only a matter of time before the Arkansas either breaks down for good or gets hemmed in or neutralized by US Ironclads.

At best this gives the CS western front a temporary respite, IMO.
 
While I doubt the potential of this to radically change the outcome of the war, it does give the Confederates time, which they drastically need in the west. If they can hold Baton Rouge, then it puts Farragut in a far less tenable position in New Orleans. Whether or not they can take and hold it is beyond me, but if they can delay the siege of Vicksburg as long as they can, then they can prevent Grant from transferring over to the east once he's tied up all loose ends in Mississippi. I'm sure the Confederates can, they just need more competent leadership. Competent leadership and Earl van Dorn don't necessarily beg synonimity. ;)
 
Top