Qualla: Battle of the Head of Passes https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-head-of-passes en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:13 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/0/t/battle-of-the-head-of-passes-wp/css-manassas-attacks-richmond.jpg Qualla: Battle of the Head of Passes https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-head-of-passes Battle of the Head of Passes: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-head-of-passes/ Photo credit Frank (talk) 12:50, 20 April 2010 (UTC), Public domain. The first rocket flew backward. Inside the CSS Manassas -- a cigar-shaped ironclad with only two and a half feet of armored deck above the waterline -- the crew scrambled as the signal rocket they had fumbled ricocheted through their cramped, smoke-filled vessel. It was the early hours of October 12, 1861, and the Confederacy's motley 'mosquito fleet' was attempting something audacious: a pre-dawn assault on four heavily armed Union warships anchored at the Head of Passes, the point where the Mississippi River splits into its delta channels before emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. What followed was one of the most farcical, dramatic, and consequential small engagements of the Civil War -- a bloodless battle that routed the Union Navy, humiliated its commanders, and introduced a new weapon of war that would haunt the fleet for months.

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Image: Frank (talk) 12:50, 20 April 2010 (UTC) | Public domain

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/0/t/battle-of-the-head-of-passes-wp/dj0t-battle-of-the-head-of-passes-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of the Head of Passes: Six Riverboats Against a Blockade https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-head-of-passes/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The Confederate naval defense of New Orleans was, by any conventional measure, hopeless. Confederate Naval Secretary Stephen Mallory sent Commodore Lawrence Rousseau to assemble a fleet, but President Jefferson Davis had authorized letters of marque and reprisal, and private inve...

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Image: Unknown author | Public domain

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/0/t/battle-of-the-head-of-passes-wp/dj0t-battle-of-the-head-of-passes-six-riverboats-against-a-blockade.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of the Head of Passes: The Ram That Changed Everything https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-head-of-passes/ Photo credit Frank (talk) 12:41, 20 April 2010 (UTC), Public domain. The wild card was the CSS Manassas. Originally fitted out by private investors as a privateer, the ironclad ram was seized at gunpoint for the Confederate Navy when Lieutenant Alexander F. Warley led a boarding party to commandeer her at Fort Jackson. John A. Stevenson, represent...

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Image: Frank (talk) 12:41, 20 April 2010 (UTC) | Public domain

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/0/t/battle-of-the-head-of-passes-wp/dj0t-battle-of-the-head-of-passes-the-ram-that-changed-everything.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of the Head of Passes: A Fumbled Rocket and a Panicked Fleet https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-head-of-passes/ Photo credit Frank (talk) 22:07, 20 April 2010 (UTC), Public domain. The Union force at the Head of Passes was formidable on paper. The Richmond, a screw sloop displacing 2,700 tons, mounted seven Dahlgren 9-inch smooth bores per side -- one broadside carried more firepower than the entire rebel fleet combined. Supporting her were two sailing sloo...

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Image: Frank (talk) 22:07, 20 April 2010 (UTC) | Public domain

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/0/t/battle-of-the-head-of-passes-wp/dj0t-battle-of-the-head-of-passes-a-fumbled-rocket-and-a-panicked-fleet.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of the Head of Passes: Pope's Run https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-head-of-passes/ Photo credit Public domain. The aftermath was chaos. The Richmond grounded broadside on a river bar while the mosquito fleet's rifled guns peppered her from beyond the range of her smooth bores. The Richmond took only two hits -- one wrecking a boat on deck, another lodging in the hull through a gun port. C...

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]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/0/t/battle-of-the-head-of-passes-wp/dj0t-battle-of-the-head-of-passes-popes-run.mp3 0:06 5 full Battle of the Head of Passes: Ram Fever and What Came Next https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-head-of-passes/ Photo credit Public domain. The Manassas, the Civil War's first ironclad to see combat -- five months before the famous Battle of Hampton Roads -- proved to be a one-shot weapon. She was too slow and unwieldy to bring her ram into decisive action once the Union fleet was moving. But her psychological impact...

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]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/0/t/battle-of-the-head-of-passes-wp/dj0t-battle-of-the-head-of-passes-ram-fever-and-what-came-next.mp3 0:06 6 full