" USS Steamer Baltic M MB "

[JPK Huson 1863]

Have no memory from whence this came, the problem with not keeping good records. Bumped into it again a few minutes ago and thought I'd look it up. There's an S.S. Baltic, 1850, not this ship and a charter steamer which seems right. I could not find a photo. Also could not find what " M MB " stood for?

Seems to have had a fairly active service from Day 1. I like ships without knowing much- as in nothing. Seemed surprising not to find another photo, perhaps this is misidentified?

https://books.google.com/books?id=5...DQGi#v=onepage&q=uss baltic civil war&f=false

 

[1stMS-Arty]

Mississippi Marine Brigade

 

[Mike Serpa]

...The Mississippi Marine Brigade (MMB) was a little-known unit of the Union armed forces that saw service on the rivers north and south of Vicksburg during the American Civil War. Brigadier-General Alfred W. Ellet commanded this brigade of mounted infantry, cavalry and artillery on a fleet of steamboats and ram ships under the overall, if often tenuous, command of Rear-Admiral David Porter. Its purpose was to raid Confederate-held territory in response to the Confederate's own guerilla tactics. The soldiers of the MMB were stationed aboard five transport steamers: Autocrat, B. J. Adams, Diana, John Raine and Baltic. The Baltic was a 624-ton, 186-foot long wooden-hulled side-wheel packet steamer built in New Albany, Indiana, in 1857 for the New Orleans trade. Like the other transports, the Baltic's coal bunkers were expanded and the boilers were protected with heavy timbers. The cabins from the lower deck to the hurricane roof were shielded by two layers of two-inch thick oak planks with holes for rifles and large doors which could be opened for ventilation. This explained the odd appearance of the Baltic in the photograph. The pilothouse had sheets of boiler iron around it for protection. Each ship was fitted with a crane that could drop a gateway wide enough for two horses to disembark, and a hot-water hose to repel boarders. The ships could carry around 125 cavalry, with horses, and 250 infantry...
http://www.archivists.org/saagroups/mss/summer2008.asp

 

[1stMS-Arty]

Also the "Baltic" in the article in the OP is not the "Baltic" in the photo.

The MMB Baltic (photo probably taken at Vicksburg) is a river steamer, the Baltic named in the article is an ocean going vessel...

Both of them are sidewheel steamers but they are different vessels...

 

[1stMS-Arty]

found a photo of the "Autocrat" which was also a MMB boat.....appears to be almost the same as the "Baltic"...

 

[1stMS-Arty]

and the "Woodford" which was a hospital boat for the MMB and lost during the Red River Campaign..

 

[Rank and File]

Hello all -
I'm looking for information on James E. Stonum, who was in the MS Marine Brigade. I believe he was from Missouri, but don't have any further info. Wonder when he enlisted, what battles he was involved in, and if he survived the war.
Thanks for any help.

 

[AndyHall]

There was also a Washington Stoneum/Stonum in the unit, presumably a relative.