U.S.S. Galena 1862

[frontrank2]

USS Galena was a wooden-hulled broadside ironclad built for the United States Navy during the American Civil War. The ship was initially assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and supported Union forces during the Peninsula Campaign in 1862.

 

[Robert Gray]

A most unusual warship.

 

[JD Mayo]

I think the USS Monitor and the H.L. Hunley is my favorite ships so far of the Civil War. Also the most famous Navy battle that no one talks about hardly is the CSS Alabama that was sunk in Cherbourg France. Everyone came out there to watch the battle. Which was June 19th 1864 which I think was during the battle of Cold Harbor? If I'm not mistaking.

 

[Rhea Cole]

The USS Galena was launched 14 February 1862. Commissioned 21 April 1862. Alfred Taylor in command. She was one of only three iron clads built by the U.S. Navy during the Civil War. 24 April, she joined Flag Officer L. M. Goldsborough's North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. Operated on the James River in operation that attempted to take Richmond. Picket duty Hampton Roads September 1862 to May 1863. 21 may 1863 Galena was decommissioned for repairs. Her iron plates were stripped off & from that point on operated as a wooden hulled ship. Recommissioned 15 Februrary 1864. After a series of mishaps she joined the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, 20 May 1865. USS Galena was a part of Admiral Farragut's fleet during the Battle of Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864. Decommissioned 22 November 1864 for repairs. Rcommissioned 29 March 1864 for duty with the North Atlantic Squadron. Decomissioned 17 June 1865. Condemned by a board of survey in 1870, Galena was broken up in 1872 at Norfolk Navy Yard.

Harper's Weekly drawing of USS Galena showing the interlocking iron bars overlaying her wooden hull.

USS Galena "Bombardment of Fort Darling, Dreary's Bluff, VA 15 May 1862. US Naval History & Heritage Command Photo # NH 79910

Mathew Brady photograph USS Galena showing damage to funnel shortly after the 15 May 1862 Dreary's Bluff action. The unusual conning tower is camera left.

Harper's Weekly wood block engraving of USS Galena with twin masted schooner rig, 1862.

Harpers Weekly depiction of USS Galena gun deck.

<navsource.org> NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive USS Galena (I)

USS Galena (II) built in 1879 with barque rig 1880-90. U.S. Naval History & Heritage Command photo #57113

 

[Belfoured]

The USS Galena was launched 14 February 1862. Commissioned 21 April 1862. Alfred Taylor in command. She was one of only three iron clads built by the U.S. Navy during the Civil War. 24 April, she joined Flag Officer L. M. Goldsborough's North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. Operated on the James River in operation that attempted to take Richmond. Picket duty Hampton Roads September 1862 to May 1863. 21 may 1863 Galena was decommissioned for repairs. Her iron plates were stripped off & from that point on operated as a wooden hulled ship. Recommissioned 15 Februrary 1864. After a series of mishaps she joined the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, 20 May 1865. USS Galena was a part of Admiral Farragut's fleet during the Battle of Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864. Decommissioned 22 November 1864 for repairs. Rcommissioned 29 March 1864 for duty with the North Atlantic Squadron. Decomissioned 17 June 1865. Condemned by a board of survey in 1870, Galena was broken up in 1872 at Norfolk Navy Yard.

View attachment 369944 Harper's Weekly drawing of USS Galena showing the interlocking iron bars overlaying her wooden hull.

View attachment 369945 USS Galena "Bombardment of Fort Darling, Dreary's Bluff, VA 15 May 1862. US Naval History & Heritage Command Photo # NH 79910

View attachment 369946 Mathew Brady photograph USS Galena showing damage to funnel shortly after the 15 May 1862 Dreary's Bluff action. The unusual conning tower is camera left.

View attachment 369947 Harper's Weekly wood block engraving of USS Galena with twin masted schooner rig, 1862.

View attachment 369948 Harpers Weekly depiction of USS Galena gun deck.

<navsource.org> NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive USS Galena (I)

View attachment 369949 USS Galena (II) built in 1879 with barque rig 1880-90. U.S. Naval History & Heritage Command photo #57113

And she hosted one of the more infamous meals in the ACW on June 30, 1862

 

[67th Tigers]

And she hosted one of the more infamous meals in the ACW on June 30, 1862

Rodgers lunch?

We know that McClellan wasn't there that long, and that Sears mistranslated Paris' journal.

 

[Rhea Cole]

And she hosted one of the more infamous meals in the ACW on June 30, 1862

Say what? An infamous meal, the imagination runs wild... details, please.

 

[67th Tigers]

Say what? An infamous meal... details, please.

He's talking about Sears' mistranslation of Paris' diary. Sears makes an unsupported case that McClellan sat down to dinner based upon the fact that when Paris alerted McClellan to the attack at Glendale (ca. 1710) he found that the mess of Galena was well stocked with good food, good wines, and the beds had clean white linen sheets.

Sears denies there was any telegraphic communications despite it being reported in Myers report and by McClellan, in the 1864 "hit piece" on McClellan for boarding the Galena, and some of the messages actually being in the SOR. He has McClellan cowering on the Galena despite McClellan being reported to have cross-decked to USS Jacob Bell and ran back downriver (in her log), Major Russell of McClellan's staff boarding Galena at 1730 to find McClellan already gone, Charles Edge seeing McClellan galloping up Malvern Hill at 1800, and McClellan sending a timestamped telegram to Washington from the top of Malvern Hill at 1900.

Most of the observations of McClellan on the McClellan and Jacob Bell come from a pair of hostile Republican officers reporting during the 1864 election, but if discard the verifiably false (such as Bissell's claim that they took McClellan to Fort Monroe!) then a relatively coherent picture emerges:

1. McClellan went to see Rodgers whilst no fighting was occurring, boarding about 1645. This is in response to Rodgers wanting the army to retreat all the way to Dancing Point
2. The rebel river column is spotted ca. 1700 and the Galena moves to shell it
3. After one volley "check fire" is ordered as the rounds dropped amongst Federal troops, and a signal is received that there is an attack at the crossroads. McClellan send a series of orders to reinforce the crossroads
4. McClellan crossdecks to the Jacob Bell, which runs him back to Haxall's Landing
5. McClellan returns ashore and is seen at 1800 galloping back to his CP at the Crew House.

Belfourd's position, as I understand it, is that if McClellan so much as took a bite of Rodger's lunch while having a command conference with him, it is an unconscionable sin that damns him.

 

[Rhea Cole]

He's talking about Sears' mistranslation of Paris' diary. Sears makes an unsupported case that McClellan sat down to dinner based upon the fact that when Paris alerted McClellan to the attack at Glendale (ca. 1710) he found that the mess of Galena was well stocked with good food, good wines, and the beds had clean white linen sheets.

Sears denies there was any telegraphic communications despite it being reported in Myers report and by McClellan, in the 1864 "hit piece" on McClellan for boarding the Galena, and some of the messages actually being in the SOR. He has McClellan cowering on the Galena despite McClellan being reported to have cross-decked to USS Jacob Bell and ran back downriver (in her log), Major Russell of McClellan's staff boarding Galena at 1730 to find McClellan already gone, Charles Edge seeing McClellan galloping up Malvern Hill at 1800, and McClellan sending a timestamped telegram to Washington from the top of Malvern Hill at 1900.

Most of the observations of McClellan on the McClellan and Jacob Bell come from a pair of hostile Republican officers reporting during the 1864 election, but if discard the verifiably false (such as Bissell's claim that they took McClellan to Fort Monroe!) then a relatively coherent picture emerges:

1. McClellan went to see Rodgers whilst no fighting was occurring, boarding about 1645. This is in response to Rodgers wanting the army to retreat all the way to Dancing Point
2. The rebel river column is spotted ca. 1700 and the Galena moves to shell it
3. After one volley "check fire" is ordered as the rounds dropped amongst Federal troops, and a signal is received that there is an attack at the crossroads. McClellan send a series of orders to reinforce the crossroads
4. McClellan crossdecks to the Jacob Bell, which runs him back to Haxall's Landing
5. McClellan returns ashore and is seen at 1800 galloping back to his CP at the Crew House.

Belfourd's position, as I understand it, is that if McClellan so much as took a bite of Rodger's lunch while having a command conference with him, it is an unconscionable sin that ****s him.

This is disappointing... no hooch-coochie girls... Infamy in the AoP certainly had a hair trigger. The legalized prostitution in Nashville & idiotic attempts to deport ladies of the night on riverboats is more the AoC definition of infamous that I am accustomed to.

 

[Bruce Vail]

Th USS Galena earns a footnote in American political history when the very Republican Harper's Weekly publishes this cartoon suggesting that the Democratic Party presidential candidate was guilty of cowardice during the 1862 Battle of Malvern Hill.

The accusaton was quite unfair, as 67th Tigers notes above, but carried some weight in the 1864 political fight for the presidency because of McClellan's larger military record. Author Stephen Sears is not the originator of the accusation against McClellan (blame likely belongs to Stanton) but Sears elaborated on it in the several books he has authored on McClellan.

 

[Ole Miss]

These are the specifics about the USS Galena (I) as provided by NavSource Online.* There are additonal drawings and photos at the site listed below.
Regards
David

Ironclad Screw Steamer

• Laid down, date unknown at C.S. and H.L. Bushnell, Mystic, CT.
• Launched, 14 February 1862
• Commissioned USS Galena, 21 April 1862, CDR. Alfred Taylor in command
• Galena, one of the first three ironclads, each of a different design, built by the Union Navy during the Civil War
• Towed from New York to arrive off Fortress Monroe, VA., 24 April, she joined Flag Officer L. M. Goldsborough's North Atlantic Blockading Squadron
• Galena operated on the James River providing protection to the daily movement of Army transports and supply ships and attempted to reach Richmond and compel its surrender
• Detached from James River Flotilla to do picket duty in Hampton Roads from September 1862 to May 1863
• USS Galena arrived at Philadelphia and was decommissioned for repairs, 21 May 1863, during overhaul she was stripped of her iron plating allowing her to operate as a wooden-hulled ship
• Recommissioned, 15 February 1864, for duty in the Gulf of Mexico, after a series of mishaps she finally joining the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, 20 May 1865, from duty at Mobile, AL.
• USS Galena was a unit of Admiral Farragut's fleet in the Battle of Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864
• Returned to Philadelphia, 22 November 1864, for decommissioning and repairs
• Recommissioned, 29 March 1865, for duty with the North Atlantic Squadron
• Decommissioned, 17 June 1865, at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Portsmouth, N.H.
• Recommissioned, 9 April 1869, for movement to Hampton Roads
• Decommissioned, 2 June 1869
• Condemned by a board of survey in 1870, Galena was broken up in 1872 at the Norfolk Navy Yard
• Specifications:
  Displacement 730 t.
  Length 210'
  Beam 36'
  Depth 12' 8"
  Draft 11'
  Speed 8kts
  Complement 164 Armament (1862) four 9" Dahlgren smooth bore guns and two 100 pounders
• Propulsion steam and sail

*http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/86/86037.htm

 

[KianGaf]

View attachment 369958

Th USS Galena earns a footnote in American political history when the very Republican Harper's Weekly publishes this cartoon suggesting that the Democratic Party presidential candidate was guilty of cowardice during the 1862 Battle of Malvern Hill.

The accusaton was quite unfair, as 67th Tigers notes above, but carried some weight in the 1864 political fight for the presidency because of McClellan's larger military record. Author Stephen Sears is not the originator of the accusation against McClellan (blame likely belongs to Stanton) but Sears elaborated on it in the several books he has authored on McClellan.

Great bit of satire.

 

[JOHN42768]

In her short lifetime She sure went through a lot of changes not to mention Decommissioning and Recommissioning so many times

 

[Bruce Vail]

In her short lifetime She sure went through a lot of changes not to mention Decommissioning and Recommissioning so many times

Maybe some of our CWT naval experts can help out here: Doesn't the repeated commissioning and decommissioning of the ship -- and its relatively short service life -- suggest that there was something wrong with the design and/or orginal construction of the vessel?

 

[Western Reserve Volunteer]

In Galena's case, definitely. Her armor was too thin and constructed in such a way that it wasn't really useful. And given that her design was really centered around being armoured, that meant that the design compromises made to be able to support that armor weren't ultimately worth it. That led to a lot of reworking her, in an attempt to come up with a vessel that was at best adequate.

 

[Rhea Cole]

In regard to the Galena's decommissioning for refit, that was standard practice. I encourage everyone to explore the NavSource sites histories of practically every ship that fought on both sides. The necessity of regular refits is obvious when you read the service histories of vessels. Like the Galena's innovative roll top desk tambore jointed iron armor, things that didn't work out were removed during routine refits. Depending on a lot of factors, a refit could take a couple of months to a couple of years.

 

[NFB22]

In the first photo you can see some of the damage (near the water line at the bottom of the photo) she received during the Battle of Drewry's Bluff in May of 1862. Cpl John Mackie was aboard and was the first U.S. Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions that day.

 

[Rhea Cole]

In the first photo you can see some of the damage (near the water line at the bottom of the photo) she received during the Battle of Drewry's Bluff in May of 1862. Cpl John Mackie was aboard and was the first U.S. Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions that day.

View attachment 370365

The reason that there are only a few CW references to U. S. Marines is that the Corps was very small. Because of the far more lucrative inducements to enlist in volunteer units, the Marines did not even reach their modest authorized strength. They were assigned to guard facilities, escort officers, ceremonial duties & other non-combat roles. The CW Corps bears little resemblance to 2020 combatant force we know.

 

[Belfoured]

He's talking about Sears' mistranslation of Paris' diary. Sears makes an unsupported case that McClellan sat down to dinner based upon the fact that when Paris alerted McClellan to the attack at Glendale (ca. 1710) he found that the mess of Galena was well stocked with good food, good wines, and the beds had clean white linen sheets.

Sears denies there was any telegraphic communications despite it being reported in Myers report and by McClellan, in the 1864 "hit piece" on McClellan for boarding the Galena, and some of the messages actually being in the SOR. He has McClellan cowering on the Galena despite McClellan being reported to have cross-decked to USS Jacob Bell and ran back downriver (in her log), Major Russell of McClellan's staff boarding Galena at 1730 to find McClellan already gone, Charles Edge seeing McClellan galloping up Malvern Hill at 1800, and McClellan sending a timestamped telegram to Washington from the top of Malvern Hill at 1900.

Most of the observations of McClellan on the McClellan and Jacob Bell come from a pair of hostile Republican officers reporting during the 1864 election, but if discard the verifiably false (such as Bissell's claim that they took McClellan to Fort Monroe!) then a relatively coherent picture emerges:

1. McClellan went to see Rodgers whilst no fighting was occurring, boarding about 1645. This is in response to Rodgers wanting the army to retreat all the way to Dancing Point
2. The rebel river column is spotted ca. 1700 and the Galena moves to shell it
3. After one volley "check fire" is ordered as the rounds dropped amongst Federal troops, and a signal is received that there is an attack at the crossroads. McClellan send a series of orders to reinforce the crossroads
4. McClellan crossdecks to the Jacob Bell, which runs him back to Haxall's Landing
5. McClellan returns ashore and is seen at 1800 galloping back to his CP at the Crew House.

Belfourd's position, as I understand it, is that if McClellan so much as took a bite of Rodger's lunch while having a command conference with him, it is an unconscionable sin that ****s him.

It's good to develop a sense of humor, if possible. I had it about 99.9% that my one-sentence post would yield this lecture - in other words, "NL" at the betting windows. And let's not revisit yet again that always-scintillating debate about all of those mystery orders that McClellan issued to Sumner/Heintzelman/Franklin/Hooker/Kearney/McCall/Sedgwick between 3 PM and 8 PM (even though none of them recalled any such "orders").

 

[Belfoured]

This is disappointing... no hooch-coochie girls... Infamy in the AoP certainly had a hair trigger. The legalized prostitution in Nashville & idiotic attempts to deport ladies of the night on riverboats is more the AoC definition of infamous that I am accustomed to.

No question - if Joe Hooker had been sent on this mission by McClellan, my guess is that we'd have something a little more entertaining.