Star of the West

Joined
Sep 15, 2018
Location
South Texas
There are very few students of the Civil War that aren't familiar with the firing on the Star of the West by the cadets on Morris Island on Feb. 9th of 1861. But how many are aware of an incident five days after Fort Sumter down in Texas. All US military installations were surrendered by Gen. Twiggs to Col. Ben McCulloch in San Antonio on Feb. 18, 1861. The U.S. soldiers that had been surrendered were marched down to the seaport of Indianola were to be transported by way of ship back up North .I'm not sure of the original destination but unknown to the soldiers, War had been declared between the time of their surrender in San Antonio and their arrival at Indianola. The transport that was to return these soldiers North was the Star of the West. It became too much of a prize to Col. Earl Van Dorn to ignore. On April 17, 1861 the Star of the West was seized by the CS soldiers on board the General Rusk. It was sent to New Orleans were it became the CSS St. Phillip. It was later sank in the Tallahatchie River on March 13, 1863 as a river obstruction during the Vicksburg Campaign.
 
CSN Secretary Mallory asked the Tift brothers if the ship could be converted to a turretship with a single large turret mounting four guns, two rifles and two smoothbores. Messrs Pearce, Ivens & Clark gave it some thought and said it would be possible, but not practical as there was no way of protecting the walking beam and operating rods . Pure speculation but having looked at the plans of the ship, Ivens & Clark may have looked at cutting the hull down, laying a deck over and using two of their proposed two gun turrets, one each fore and aft. How they proposed to protect the paddle wheels I can't guess.
 
There are very few students of the Civil War that aren't familiar with the firing on the Star of the West by the cadets on Morris Island on Feb. 9th of 1861. But how many are aware of an incident five days after Fort Sumter down in Texas. All US military installations were surrendered by Gen. Twiggs to Col. Ben McCulloch in San Antonio on Feb. 18, 1861. The U.S. soldiers that had been surrendered were marched down to the seaport of Indianola were to be transported by way of ship back up North .I'm not sure of the original destination but unknown to the soldiers, War had been declared between the time of their surrender in San Antonio and their arrival at Indianola. The transport that was to return these soldiers North was the Star of the West. It became too much of a prize to Col. Earl Van Dorn to ignore. On April 17, 1861 the Star of the West was seized by the CS soldiers on board the General Rusk. It was sent to New Orleans were it became the CSS St. Phillip. It was later sank in the Tallahatchie River on March 13, 1863 as a river obstruction during the Vicksburg Campaign.
I knew it had been captured, by not the story. Thanks
 
A board in New Orleans examined the ship and found her "unfit for war purposes except as a transport". The ship was intended to be refitted as a deep water cruiser but New Orleans fell in April 1862 and the "St. Phillip" went up river to avoid capture. Up river she became part of the Vicksburg Campaign and was later sank in front of Fort Pemberton.
 
Greetings from the Volunteer State; here's an image of the Star of The West that appeared in the January 19, 1861 edition of Harper's Weekly.

1572008797240.png
 
I can see where Mallory would have been very interested in refitting this ship. Just the ship alone would have supplied a much needed hull for an ironclad. And this ship must have been of some importance to the "higher ups" in Montgomery. Just after its capture Van Dorn went from Cavalry Colonel to Major General in a matter of months.
 
I can see where Mallory would have been very interested in refitting this ship. Just the ship alone would have supplied a much needed hull for an ironclad. And this ship must have been of some importance to the "higher ups" in Montgomery. Just after its capture Van Dorn went from Cavalry Colonel to Major General in a matter of months.
The party that captured the Star of The West at Madagorda Bay, TX, were two Galveston militia units, The Wigfall Guards and Island City Rifles. On another note, after the war, the owners of The Star of The West collected $150,000 in damages from the U.S. government for the loss.
 
True, I overlooked the part of the Star of the West not being a government warship but a civilian ship. It was contracted for this job down in Texas like it was for the "Charleston/ Fort Sumter" affair.
 
It slipped my mind about the renaming of the ship "St. Phillip" in New Orleans where they had a Fort St. Phillip. Was St. Phillip some sort of patron saint in that area?
Although New Orleans (and most of Louisiana) was Catholic at that time, St. Phillip is the patron saint of hatters, not the City of New Orleans. The Star of The West was renamed "CSS St. Phillip" after its capture by the Governor of Louisiana, Thomas Overton Moore. Why he chose this name is anybody's guess; perhaps as a nod to Fort St. Phillip, one of the two forts guarding the approaches to New Orleans. In any event, the old name persisted and she was known to most everyone as The Star of The West.
 
Predrilled and plugged holes were all unplugged at once to scuttle her. The idea was that she would go down on an even keel broadside to the channel, but it didn't work quite as planned and the fast current swung her partially around on a diagonal.
 
My great grandfather, Elisha Albert Hincks, was the brother of General Edward Winslow Hincks. I found this clip that talks about my GGF being captured by Van Dorn at Matagorda. But he hadn't enlisted yet at this point. He enlisted when he made it home.
20181227_201711.jpg
 
I can see where Mallory would have been very interested in refitting this ship. Just the ship alone would have supplied a much needed hull for an ironclad. And this ship must have been of some importance to the "higher ups" in Montgomery. Just after its capture Van Dorn went from Cavalry Colonel to Major General in a matter of months.
I wonder how symbolic the Star Of The West was to the confederacy when it was seized. Being of the first expedition to relieve Fort Sumter January 9, I believe it's capture would be a huge morale boost to the confederate public. I also believe the same boost can be had concerning Harriet Lane when she was captured in Galveston Bay, January 1, 1863. A very symbolic example can be made as she was the first Union Vessel to fire on the confederacy as part of the April 12, 1861 expedition to strengthen Fort Sumter.
Lubliner.
 
Back
Top