The question is what would you have towed the Tennessee hull with? About the only strong towing vessels left in the Memphis area were the vessels of the Montgomery flotilla and I've read that one reason they stood and fought was a lack of coal to get to Vicksburg. This seems a bit fishy to me as boilers with grates for coal can also use wood and there were wood lots every 15-25 miles on all of the rivers. We also don't know if they were caulking the seams as they went. Without machinery installed, there would be no doctor engine or pump for leaks. I have absolutely no documentation for this, but I think Tennessee's engines and props were used on the 310 foot ironclad building at Yazoo City. There are two donor candidates for the side-wheel machinery, the Vicksburg and another of John Shirley's boats up the river. A valid question is why the Van Dorn or Livingston weren't used to tow? They were Navy vessels and made it to Liverpool landing.

best,

George W