Boat on the Appomattox River

tmh10

Major
Joined
Mar 2, 2012
Location
Pipestem,WV
02061v.jpg

Appomattox River, Virginia. Boat on the Appomattox River.
CREATED/PUBLISHED
[between 1861 and 1869]
NOTES
Caption from negative sleeve: Boat on Appomattox River.
Two plates form left (LC-B811-2624A) and right (LC-B811-2624B) halves of a stereograph pair.
Forms part of Civil War glass negative collection (Library of Congress).
 
Cool picture! Note on the nearest boat, sections of bulwark at the bow folded down to clear the arc of fire for the heavy pivot gun - maybe a Parrott rifle? I'm not that great on IDing guns. They'd be raised for cruising in open ocean. The boat behind her also has a folded-down section. The next one back looks like a ferryboat, many of which were taken into naval service; the shallow draft, wide decks, and carrying capacity made them very useful in coastal waters or rivers.

p.s. I had not realized the Appomattox was that large a river, learn something new every day.
 
Anybody know what the purpose of the buildings on the hill were?
They were huts. I suspect that a battery was nearby. The two ships appear to be sisters and pretty heavily armed paddlewheelers. I can't see any planking? Could they be made of iron? From their looks they seem ocean going. Anybody know their names or class?
 
They were huts. I suspect that a battery was nearby. The two ships appear to be sisters and pretty heavily armed paddlewheelers. I can't see any planking? Could they be made of iron? From their looks they seem ocean going. Anybody know their names or class?
I had thought that, but didn't see any guns. You are probably right.
 
Strange title. The two in the foreground are ships and since there are at least five craft why use singular to describe the scene?
 
The vessel closest to the camera looks like it could be one of the "double-ender" gunboats, with rudders at bow and stern. (Despite the name, most of these vessels weren't perfectly identical forward and aft-- they had a bow and a stern, and the forward rudder was smaller than the 'main' one.)
 
Wow, one false move when you step out of those huts, and you're in the drink! There is a little tiny path down to what looks like a cave dug into the side of the bank, but, man, I wouldn't want to be coming home late without a light!
 

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