USS Cairo is the lead ship of the City-class casemate ironclads built at the beginning of the American Civil War to serve as river gunboats. Cairo is named for Cairo, Illinois. In June 1862, she captured the Confederate garrison of Fort Pillow on the Mississippi, enabling Union forces to occupy Memphis.
Learn more insights from Wanderboat AI.
USS Cairo Naval Museum National Park
4.7
(23)
The USS Cairo Museum is part of the Vicksburg Battlefield, I did not know this when we arrived. The USS Cairo Museum was the unexpected surprise that make these trips worth their weight in gold.
The USS Cairo Museum was an Civil War Ironclad ship. In late 1862, the USS Cairo was sailing up the Yazoo River near Vicksburg, MS when she was suck by the Confederates. Ironclads get their name from the iron plates used as armor to ward off cannon balls. Ironclads were nearly immune to cannon fire, but torpedo and water mines were another story. Apparently this was how the USS Cairo was sunk. Later she was raised and brought to Vicksburg and put on display.
By visiting the USS Cairo a person can truly get a sense of how big these ships were. Without any apparent reason I had always assumed that they were on the smaller side.
The USS Cairo Museum as part of the Vicksburg Park...
Read more
I can't help to be amazed when I come across exhibits like this. It's not necessarily the exhibit itself, but as I stand and contemplate what type of technology was available, and then try to understand how they put things like this together, it just amazes me. American history can sometimes be thought of as dull, but I think the people who believe that lack the ability to imagine a time different than they live in. What the shipwrights had to do to create this vessel, and then consider the soldiers that served on it and the accommodations they put up with to defend our country this is just incredible. Very few today could've dealt with this type of environment. Take a few moments and close your eyes and imagine the life of a soldier on an iron side boat. This exhibit is well laid out, but it is what you make of it. Well worth...
Read more
Very impressive display of the salvaged and assembled gunboat that struck a mine(in the old days they called them torpedos) and sank very quickly but without any casualties. Another gunboat came by and mowed over the smoke stacks sticking out of the water so its location would be harder to find and salvage in case it was attempted. The original wood, some of the metal, and guns were placed back aboard the ship in thier locations. A cradle was built around and thru the ship so it can be walked on as it would have sat and you can see pretty much how life aboard would have been. I loved getting to see what it was like being on board something that size, which was bigger than expected. After looking at the crew list too, you notice everybody was under six feet tall. A mighty impressive display of what...
Read more
