The Union Fleet of Shiloh

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Many students of the Battle of Shiloh are familiar with the role of the US Navy at the Battle of Shiloh perhaps a few might even know the names of the USS Lexington and the USS Tyler. There may even be a few who know the name of General Grant’s private steamship Tigress.

But how many know one of the names of the other vessels that participated in the battle? Or even how many ships participated during and after the battle?

There were a total of 167 vessels that participated in transporting troops to and from the battlefield to hospitals and bringing in supplies. The US Navy played a vital part in the operation leading to the Battle of Shiloh but unfortunately its role is often overlooked. I sincerely hope this situation is amended soon so those brave men who were afloat just their just due. I apologize for not having the ships in alphabetical order but my computer skills are lacking.
Regards
David

As the list is rather lengthy, I decided to make 2 posts

"Discussing the movements of the armies further, Mr. Hurst said that in February, 1862, the Union army, "with a fleet of 167 vessels, not excelled in number by the Spanish Armada, nor in tonnage by any flotilla that ever broke the foam," was plowing its way up the Tennessee River to form a junction with the army under General Buell. "There is nothing in his story that equals this fleet. We wonder at the stupendous proportions of the Royal Navy and the Spanish Armada, under the leadership of Lord Howard and the Duke de Medina Sedonia, without

knowing, it may be, that in our own civil war there gathered in our beautiful Tennessee River a grander spectacle than either of these. Under the convoy of fourteen men-of-war, there came a fleet of 153 steam- giving the river, when at their moorings at Savannah, the appearance of a grand, floating city of splendid palaces."

Here is a list of the vessels composing this fleet. We care not for the names of the vessels, but their publication will give a better comprehension of the magnitude of the fleet, and its contemplation will illustrate not only the powers against which the South contended through those four awful years, but will exalt us all in our estimate of the great civil war in America:
MEN-OF-WAR.
Alfred Robb
Carondelet
Conestoga
Brilliant
Tyler
Lexington
Fair Play
Key West
Undine
Taw Waw
Paw Paw
Peasca
St. Clair
Naumkeg

STEAMBOATS
Autocrat
Empire City
Memphis
Argyle
Emerald
Manhattan
Auora
Emlie
Mary E. Forsythe
A. M. McDowell
Ft. Wayne
Musselman
Alex. Scot
Fannie Bullett
Minnehaha
Anglo-Saxon
Falls City
Marengo
Americus
Forest Queen
Marble City
Atha Waltham
Fannie Barker
New Uncle Sam
Armada
Golden State
Nashville
 
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There are so many vessels and it makes you wonder what happened to them all after the war.
The tugs, steamboats and other civilian boats went back into the private sector as most of them came from there before the war and were either purchased or commandeered by the Union. Some of the gunboats were sold to foreign countries and others scrapped.
 
Here is the 2nd part of the list of vessels that participated at Shiloh.
Regards
David

Adam Jacobs
Gray Eagle
Nebraska
Belle of the West
Gossamer
Niagara
Bostonia No. 1
Glendale
Ohio
Bostonia No. 2
Gladiator
Ohio No. 3
Boston
Hiawatha
Oriental
B. J. Adams
Hazel Dell
Planet
Baltic
Horizon
Poland
Bay City
Havana
Prairie Rose
Ben South
Henry Fitzhugh
Pink Varble,
Black Hawk
Iatan
Phantom
City of Memphis
Iowa
Rocket
City of Madison
Izetta
Rose Hamilton
Clara Poe
Imperial
Rebeeca
Chateau
Indiana
Sunny South
Commercial
Jewess
Southwestern
Champion No. 2
J. W. Chapman
Saline
Champion No. 4
Jno. D. Roe
S. W. Thomas.
Chancellor
J. B.Ford
Sir Wim. Wallace
Continental
John Taines
Sallie List
Commerce
J. C. Swann
Shenango
Charley Miller
J. B. Dickey
Spreadeagle
City of Alton
J. W. Kennett
Silver Moon
City Belle
Jesse K. Bell
Sunshine
Charley Bowen
John Galt
Sciota
Crescent City
John Bell
Silver Wave
Clarionet
John Warner
St. Clair
Coronet
J. W. Hailman
St. John
Countess
J. S. Pringle
Sam Orr
Diamond
Jonas Powell
Telegram No. 3,
Duet
Jas. H. Trover
T. L. McGill
D.A.January
Jacob Poe
Tecumseh
Demleith
Liberty
Tycoon
D. A. Taylor
Lady Pike
T.J. Patton
Evansille
Leonard
Tribune
Elenora
Lewellen
Tigress
Emma
Lancaster No.3
Umpire
Emma No. 2
Lancaster No. 1
Universe
Empress
Lizzie Simmons
Wisconsin
E. W. Fairchild
Louisiana
Wildcat
Eugene
Leni Leoti
White Cloud
Equinox
Masonic Gem
Westmoreland
Edward Walsh
Meteor
Yorktown



Source

The Confederate Veteran

Volume 1, January 1893, Number 1

The Great Battle of Shiloh

 
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