Along with expedition leaders Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, was the corps of discovery, a specialty established unit of the United States Army. It was a diverse group. Many had previously served in the army, and a handful had valuable experience as boatmen. But only one, perhaps the most unique of the lot, was called Seaman.
Of the vaunted ironclad warships of the US Civil War perhaps the mightiest and most terrifying was the confederate ram Tennessee. On August 5, 1864, she would be put to the test in the largest naval engagement of the war, an engagement that defined the divided loyalties of the War of the Rebellion.