left Cairo on 14 July 1863 and reached Vicksburg on 6 August, just over a month after it had surrendered after a lengthy siege. Neosho and other warships patrolled the Mississippi and its tributaries to prevent Confederate raiders and flying batteries from ambushing Union supply ships. One example was on 8 December 1863 when "a Confederate shore battery attacked and disabled the merchant steamer Henry Von Phul; Neosho and steamed up to defend the ship and silenced the battery." From 12 March to 22 May 1864, Neosho participated in the unsuccessful Red River Campaign under the command of Rear Admiral David Porter. During the retreat down the Red River, Neosho was trapped above the falls at Alexandria, Louisiana, along with most of the other ironclads of the Mississippi Squadron, when the river's water level unexpectedly began to fall. Two temporary dams, known as Bailey's Dam, had to be built in April–May to raise the water level high enough to allow the ironclads to proceed downstream. During the Franklin-Nashville Campaign in December 1864 Neosho, accompanied by the casemate ironclad , bombarded Confederate artillery batteries on the Cumberland River, near Bell's Mills, Tennessee, on 6 December. Despite being hit over 100 times, she was not seriously damaged. The monitor bombarded the Confederate right wing during the Battle of Nashville on 15–16 December. Neosho was decommissioned at Mound City, Illinois on 23 July 1865 and placed in reserve. She was renamed Vixen on 15 June 1869 and renamed again Osceola on 2 August 1869. The ship was sold on 17 August 1873 for $13,600. See also Bibliography of early U.S. naval history USS Monitor Blockade runners of the American Civil War Bibliography of the American Civil War Notes References Further reading External links Naval Historical Center Online Library of Selected Images: USS Neosho (1863–1873) Neosho-class monitors Ships built in St. Louis 1863 ships Ironclad warships of the Union Navy American Civil War monitors of the United States