Miscellaneous Naval activities

[USS ALASKA]

09 Nov 1862

North Carolina. Greenville surrendered to a joint Union Army and Navy landing force from USS Louisiana under Second Assistant Engineer J L Lay.

Private Site

Drawing broadside view of Gunboat USS Louisiana by Waud, Alfred R. (Alfred Rudolph), 1828-1891. J.P. Morgan, 1919 (DLC/PP-1919:R1.2.456), Morgan collection of Civil War drawings, Library of Congress.

https://www.navsource.net/archives/09/86/098665501.jpg

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[Missouri Swampfox]

24 Oct 1863

Louisiana. The Confederates burned the steamer Allen Collier that had landed opposite Laconia, Arkansas.

1863 October 24th

October 24 1863 Saturday Siege of Chattanooga Bristoe Campaign Shelby’s Raid in Arkansas and Missouri Second Bayou Teche Expedition Go to October 25 1863 Alabama. Skirmish at Tuscumbia. Alabama. Co…

americancivilwarhighcommand.com

No idea where this might be...

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[Missouri Swampfox]

29 Oct 1863

Mississippi. With a sizeable Union naval force already supporting army operations along the Tennessee River, Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter ordered his Mississippi Squadron to offer further assistance to Major-General William Tecumseh Sherman. USS Lexington, USS Hastings, USS Key West, USS Cricket, USS Robb, USS Romeo, and USS Peosta were detached immediately for duty in the Tennessee River while the USS Paw Paw, USS Tawah, USS Tyler, and others were sent later.

1863 October 29th

October 29 1863 Thursday Battle of Wauhatchie, TN (CWSAC Major Battle Union Victory) Bristoe Campaign Chattanooga Campaign – Cracker Line Operations Second Bayou Teche Expedition Go to Octobe…

americancivilwarhighcommand.com

View attachment 566632
Steamer Emma Duncan (USS Hastings) tied up to a landing probably on the Ohio River, circa 1860-1863 location unknown. University of Wisconsin-Madison LaCrosse Steamboat Collection

https://www.navsource.net/archives/09/86/098679802.jpg

View attachment 566633
USS Key West (Tinclad #32) in port on a western river during the Civil War. University of Wisconsin-Madison Digital Library

https://www.navsource.net/archives/09/86/098617503.jpg

View attachment 566634
USS Cricket ("Tinclad" #6) tied up at a Western Rivers city, during the last years of the Civil War, with a barge astern and a boat alongside. Note the decorative star suspended between her smokestacks and the identification number ("6") painted on her pilothouse. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 55524.

https://www.navsource.net/archives/09/86/098612501.jpg

Alfred Robb (former Confederate vessel)
(StwStr: t. 86; 1. 114'9"; b. 20'; dph. 4'; dr. 4'6"; s. 9.5 k.; cpl. 30; a. 2 12-pdr. r., 2 12-pdr. sb.)

Alfred Robb, a wooden-hulled, stern-wheel steamboat built at Pittsburgh in 1860, operated on the Ohio River and the other navigable streams of the Mississippi watershed system until acquired by the Confederate Government at some now-unknown date during the first year of the Civil War for use as a transport. Reconnaissance probes up the Tennessee River by Federal gunboats had convinced leaders of the Union Navy in the area that Southern forces had destroyed this vessel after the fall of Fort Henry, lest she fall into Northern hands. Nevertheless, Alfred Robb remained safe and active until Lt. William Gwin- who commanded the side-wheel gunboat Tyler-seized her at Florence, Ala., on 21 April 1862. This capture and the burning of the steamer Dunbar in nearby Cypress Creek at about the same time cleared the Tennessee of the last Confederate vessels afloat, giving Union warships complete control of the river. Since the Confederacy still held much of the Mississippi, it was impossible to send Alfred Robb to any Federal court then hearing admiralty cases. Hence, after the prize descended the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers to Cairo, Ill., she was fitted out there for service in the Western Flotilla without prior adjudication. Upon the completion of her conversion to a so-called "tin-clad" gunboat, Alfred Robb began her Union service early in June 1862. Apparently not commissioned, Alfred Robb, thereafter usually called simply Robb.

https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/a/alfred-robb.html

View attachment 566635
Steam Packet Romeo preparing to leave Terre Haute, IN. in June 1876.

https://www.navsource.net/archives/09/86/098693201.jpg

View attachment 566636
USS Peosta photographed on the Western Rivers, during 1864-65. Note identification number "36" painted on her pilothouse.
US Navy History and Heritage Command photo # NH 42896.

https://www.navsource.net/archives/09/86/098614401.jpg

View attachment 566637
USS Paw Paw on the Western Rivers during the Civil War, date and location unknown.

https://www.navsource.net/archives/09/86/098625301.jpg

View attachment 566638
USS Tawah and USS Key West attack CSS Undine, and the transports, Cheeseman, and Venus, at Davidson's Ferry on the Tennessee River in Tennessee, 2 November 1864. This results in the Federal recapturing of the vessel, Venus, from Major General Nathan B. Forrest (CSA) who had captured these vessel the previous day. Forrest had been sailing up the Tennessee River towards Johnsonville, Tennessee, but was forced to retire to the safety of the Confederate batteries near Fort Henry. Hardman County Tennessee Civil War History

https://www.navsource.net/archives/09/86/098684601.jpg

View attachment 566639
USS Tyler tied up by a river bank in the Mississippi River area, during the Civil War, with her crew's laundry hung up to dry.
US Navy photo # NH 49975 from the collections of the US Navy History and Heritage Command

https://www.navsource.net/archives/09/86/098608403.jpg

Please see above posts for pic of USS Lexington and maps.

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

Thanks for the photos. Great job!

 

[USS ALASKA]

09 Nov 1863

Alabama. Confederate Acting Midshipman Edward A Swain was sent to Fort Morgan to take command of the torpedo boat CSS Gunnison. He was directed to proceed out of the harbour in an attempt to destroy the USS Colorado or another vessel of the Union blockading squadron.

Private Site

Wood-cut engraving is titled "THE UNITED STATES FRIGATE COLORADO, FLAG-SHIP OF ADMIRAL GOLDSBOROUGH", published in "Harper's Weekly" July 1865.

https://www.navsource.net/archives/09/86/098605310.jpg

CSS Gunnison
(ScTug: t. 64; l. 70'; b. 15'; dph. 7'; cpl. 10; a. 2 6-pdr., 1 spar torpedo)

Probably built in Philadelphia and first owned in Troy, N.Y., Gunnison became the Confederate privateer A. C. Gunnison [See Annex I], commissioned at Mobile, Ala., on 25 May 1861 and commanded by Capt. P. G. Cook, a part owner. Sometime in 1862 she was acquired by the Confederate Navy and fitted out as a dispatch and torpedo boat, carrying 150 pounds of powder on a spar over her bow. Her upperworks were protected by boiler iron sheathing. Gunnison was commanded first by Acting Master's Mate F. M. Tucker, CSN, and after 9 November 1863 by Midshipman E. A. Swain, CSN. Plans for her to attack Colorado, one of the Mobile Bay blockade ships, fell through. She was turned over to the United States Navy in April, 1865 and kept in naval rather than army service as a good example, in Rear Adm. H. K. Thatcher's phrase, "of the heavier class of vessels."

https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/confederate_ships/gunnison.html

Astride Two Worlds: Technology and the American Civil War
Barton C. Hacker

Astride Two Worlds

By the middle of the nineteenth century, industrialization and military-technological innovation were beginning to alter drastically the character and conditions of warfare as it had been conducted for centuries. Occurring in the midst of these far-reaching changes, the American Civil War can...

books.google.com

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[USS ALASKA]

09 Nov 1863

Georgia. Intelligence data on the Confederate naval capability in Georgia waters reached the Union Army and Navy commanders. CSS Savannah, Commander Robert F Pinkney, was reported to carry two 7-inch and two 6-inch Brooke rifled guns, and a torpedo mounted on the bow as armament. Her sides were plated with 4 inches of rolled iron. CSS Isondiga was a wooden steamer with unreliable engines. The frames for two more rams were on the stocks at Savannah, but no iron could be obtained to complete them. CSS Resolute had been converted to a tender. CSS Georgia, Lieutenant Washington Gwathmey, was no more than an immobile floating battery at anchor near Fort Jackson.

Private Site

Civil War wood-cut engraving titled "THE DESTRUCTION OF THE REBEL RAM, SAVANNAH BY THE ENEMY ON THE EVE OF THE FEDERAL OCCUPATION OF SAVANNAH", published in "Harper's Weekly" February 1865.

https://www.navsource.net/archives/09/86/098646402.jpg

Civil War wood-cut engraving "CAPTURE OF THE RESOLUTE, ON THE SAVANNAH RIVER, GEORGIA", published in "Harper's Weekly" January 1865.

https://www.navsource.net/archives/09/86/098645902.jpg

Line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", 1863, depicting the Georgia, the ironclad floating battery that served in the defenses of Savannah GA. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 58721

https://www.navsource.net/archives/09/86/098647301.jpg

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[USS ALASKA]

10 Nov 1863

Louisiana. Union Major-General James Birdseye McPherson requested Lieutenant-Commander E K Owen, aboard the USS Louisville, that a Confederate attack was anticipated near Goodrich's Landing. He requested one or two gunboats to move to Goodrich's Landing to assist Brigadier-General John Parker Hawkins to defend the river port.

1863 November 10th

November 10 1863 Tuesday Chattanooga Campaign Knoxville Campaign Second Bayou Teche Campaign Go to November 11 1863 Dutch East Indies. CSS Alabama, Captain Raphael Semmes, captured and burned the c…

americancivilwarhighcommand.com

USS Louisville on the Red River. Photographed by McPherson & Oliver, No. 132 Canal Street, New Orleans. 1 January 1864. United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division, digital ID ppmsca.40619

https://www.navsource.net/archives/09/86/098606706.jpg

Cheers,
USS ALASKA