As an ancillary comment, I'd like to add this part.
When the federal river squadrons grew fast, they outstripped the Navy's ability to crew them. Thus, a call went out for volunteers from Army units for service on the ironclads. The Navy still commanded the ships, of course, but the bulk of the crews quickly becamse army.
Almost as soon as the call for volunteers went out, regimental commanders realized that this was a great way to remove from their units those scoundrels, layabouts and nere-do-wells who so plagued them and disrupted discipline. Many Colonels were all too happy to sign the transfer papers and even to supply travel pay, etc, to get rid of these men.
In the files of the 3rd Maine infantry at Augusta, Maine, is a letter to Colonel Moses Lakeman, commanding the 3rd from the uncle of one such man. He's worried because the family hasn't heard anything from the nephew for many months and is anxious as to his fate. A copy of Lakeman's response is included.
To paraphrase the good Colonel, the man's nephew and some forty other men applied for transfer to the western river fleet and their applications were quickly approved. recently, he says, the men had requested to return to the 3rd Maine, but he (Lakeman) denied their request. According to Lakeman, these 40+ men were scoundrels and malingerers who hadn't done an honest day's work since joining the regiment. They thought that the Navy sounded like easier duty so jumped at the chance to volunteer. After arriving there, they found the duty MUCH more arduous than they expected and now wanted to return. Lakeman suggested he never wanted to see any of them ever again.
These men also seemed to have worn their army uniforms while serving on the gunboats, etc. Down to Texas there is a CS POW camp and the records list every federal POW brought there. Among them were three men with the number "#" on their forage caps. They were captured while in a skiff, alledgedly fishing, and it was postulated that because of the date of their capture, they were part of the 31st maine from the Red River Campaign. However, it is also quite possible that these men were deserters originally from the 3rd Maine, who skeddadled with a skiff from their ironclad and were looking for someplace to ride out the war in safety.