ADMIRAL RAPHAEL SEMMES CAMP #11
SONS OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS
MOBILE, ALABAMA
THESE PAGES (AND MAP) ARE TAKEN FROM "Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks" by W. Craig Gaines. Louisiana State University Press. Baton Rouge, 2008.
state of Alabama
Civil War shipwrecks in Alabama were concentrated mostly in and around Mobile Bay. The port of Mobile and Mobile Bay were blockaded by Union naval forces early in the Civil War. Mobile Bay was not permanently closed to blockade-runners until Adm. David G. Farragut’s fleet ran past Fort Morgan into Mobile Bay on August 5, 1864, and defeated the Confederate Mobile fleet. Farragut’s force lost the monitor USS Tecumseh and small gunboat USS Philippi, while the Confederates lost the gunboat CSS Gaines, which was sunk, as well as the ironclad CSS Tennessee and gunboat CSS Selma, which were captured.
The siege of Mobile continued until the end of the Civil War, with the Confederate defenses along the Blakely River being attacked by land and sea. The entrances to Mobile, the Blakely River, and the Spanish River were blocked by several rows of scuttled vessels and the extensive use of torpedoes. Union naval losses due to torpedoes in the Blakely River and Mobile Bay were the greatest in the war. Torpedoed Union vessels included the USS Althea, USS Ida, USS Itasca, USS Milwaukee, USS Narcissus, USS Osage, R. B. Hamilton, and USS Rose, as well as a launch from the USS Cincinnati. The Confederates scuttled the Mobile fleet, which included the CSS Danube, CSS Huntsville, CSS Phoenix, and CSS Tuscaloosa.
During Gen. James Harrison Wilson’s Union cavalry raid through Alabama at the end of the war, five steamboats were burned at Montgomery; the ironclad CSS Muscogee was scuttled on the Alabama side of the Chattahoochee River near the Columbus, Ga., Navy Yard; and the ironclad CSS Chattahoochee was scuttled on the Georgia side of the Chattahoochee River.
USS Althea (Alfred A. Wotkyns). Union. Steam tug, 72 bulk tons. Length 70 feet, beam 16 feet 4 inches, depth 7 feet. Maximum speed 9 knots. Complement of fifteen, with a 12-pounder. Built in 1863 at New Brunswick, N.J. On March 12, 1865, as it was removing a Confederate torpedo in the Blakely River, its chain ran afoul of an old wreck abreast of Battery Huger, and it ran into the torpedo. Was sunk in 10–12 feet of water, with two killed and three wounded. Was raised on November 7, 1865. Sold on December 8, 1866. (ORN, 22:96, 132–33; ser. 2, 1:33; WCWN, 113; MSV, 6.)
Atlantic No. 2. U.S. Stern-wheel steamer, 53 tons. Length 101 feet 6 inches, beam 22 feet 3 inches, depth 3 feet. Built in 1863 at New Albany, Ind. Snagged on October 9, 1865, at Demopolis on the Tombigbee River or Black Warrior River. (MSV, 15, 243; WPD, 32–33.)
Augusta. Confederate. Steamer. Cargo of cotton and bacon. Was captured with the Henry J. King and Milliner in the Coosa River on April 14, 1865, by the Union 4th Ky. Cavalry Regiment during Wilson’s Raid and taken to Montgomery, where all three boats were burned. (OR, 49:1:352, 497–98.)
California. Confederate. Schooner, 77 tons. Only 1 mast. Length 84 feet, beam 29 feet, depth 4 feet 10 inches. Built in 1855 at Mobile, Ala. Was scuttled to act as an obstruction at the Dog River Bar in Mobile Bay in 1862 or 1863. (Irion, Mobile Bay Ship Channel, Mobile Harbor, 35, 62.)
Carondelet. Confederate. Side-wheel steamer, 87 tons. Length 160 feet. Built in 1849 at St. Louis. Was sunk to act as an obstruction while filled with bricks at the Dog River Bar in Mobile Bay in 1862. Part of the vessel was discovered by archaeologists in 1985. (Irion, Mobile Bay Ship Channel, Mobile Harbor, 35–37, 58; MSV, 30.)
Clipper. U.S. Side-wheel steamer, 242 tons. Built in 1865 at Cincinnati. Was burned on October 5, 1865, 70 miles above Mobile, Ala., with eight members of the crew killed. (MSV, 40, 251.)
Colonel Clay. Confederate. Two-masted side-wheel steamer, 257 tons. Length 145 feet, beam 35 feet 8 inches, depth 7 feet. May have been built in 1847 at Louisville or in 1851 at New Orleans. Was scuttled with a load of bricks to act as an obstruction by Confederates at the Dog River Bar in Mobile Bay in 1862 or 1863. Was probably removed in 1871 by the Mobile Harbor Board. (Irion, Mobile Bay Ship Channel, Mobile Harbor, 36–37, 58; MSV, 40.)
Colonel Cowles. U.S. Ship. Was destroyed at Mobile, Ala., with the Kate Dale when a captured Confederate supply depot, Marshall’s Warehouse, exploded on May 25, 1865, with 20 tons of gunpowder and numerous shells at the corner of Lipscomb and Commercial streets. (OR, 49:1:556–67; 49:22:913.)
Cremona. Confederate. Stern-wheel steamer, 268 or 243 tons. Length 182 feet, beam 30 feet, depth 6 feet 6 inches. Built in 1852 at New Albany, Ind. Was scuttled with a load of bricks by Confederates to act as an obstruction at the Dog River Bar in 1862. Investigated and mapped by archaeologists in 1984 and 1985. (Irion, Mobile Bay Ship Channel, Mobile Harbor, 46, 58; Irion, “Confederate Brick Fleet of Mobile,” 45–47; MSV, 47.)
C.S.M. Confederate. Steamer. Was sunk at a Mobile Bay wharf by a collision with the guard boat steamer Mary in mid-October 1864. (OR, 39:3:841, 851.)
Cuba. Confederate. Side-wheel blockade-runner steamer, 604 bulk tons. Length 250 feet, beam 32 feet 7 inches, draft 9 feet. Cargo worth $1,250,000. Built in 1854 at Greenpoint, N.Y. Was chased on May 19, 1863, by the USS Huntsville for 90 miles, and then the USS De Soto joined the chase. To prevent capture by the Union ships, the crew set it afire, at latitude 28° 47' north, longitude 87° 58' west, off the Alabama coast. The crew was captured. (ORN, 17:442, 444; MSV, 48; LLC, 295.)
CSS Danube. Confederate. Floating battery, 980 tons. Length 170 feet 4 inches, beam 30 feet 11 inches, draft 16 feet 11 inches. Battery of four 42-pounders. Built in 1854 at Bath, Maine. Confiscated by Confederates in Mobile Bay in May 1861. Was sunk to act as an obstruction in December 1864, in the upper line of obstructions in the Spanish River Gap at the Apalachee Battery in Conways Bayou. (OR, 39:3:887; CWC, 6-218; ORA, pl. 71, no. 13.)
Duke W. Goodman. U.S. Stern-wheel steamer, 196 tons. Built in 1858. Was burned in November 1865 at Rainwater. (MSV, 57, 256.)
CSS Dunbar. Confederate. Side-wheel steamer, 213 tons. Probably built in 1859 at Brownsville, Pa. Was sunk up to the guards off the Tennessee River in Cypress Creek, about two miles below Florence in February 1862, to prevent capture by advancing Union vessels. Was burned on April 21, 1862, by the USS Tyler. Was raised by the Union army and later sold in 1865. (ORN, 22:782, 822; 23:77; MSV, 67; CWC, 6-223; WCWN, 246.)
Eclipse. Confederate. Stern-wheel steamer, 156 tons. Length 150 feet, beam 27 feet, depth 4 feet. Built in 1864 at California, Pa. Was sunk to act as an obstruction with a load of bricks at the Dog River Bar in 1862. Probably removed in 1871 by the Mobile Harbor Board. (Irion, Mobile Bay Ship Channel, Mobile Harbor, 35, 36, 59; MSV, 59.)
Emma Boyd. Confederate. Stern-wheel steamer, 172 tons. Built in 1863 at Wheeling, Va. (now W. Va.). Snagged on August 26, 1864, at Selma, Ala. (MSV, 64, 258.)
CSS Gaines. Confederate. Wooden side-wheel gunboat, 863 tons. Length 202 feet, beam 38 feet, depth 13 feet, draft 6 or 7 feet 3 inches, speed 10 knots, armor 2-inch iron. Complement of 130–74, with one 8-inch rifle and five 32-pounder smoothbores. Built in 1861–62 at Mobile, Ala., from unseasoned wood. Shot to pieces on August 5, 1864, by Adm. David G. Farragut’s Union fleet in a heated engagement in Mobile Bay. The vessel left the battle in a sinking condition after being hit by 17 shells with water in the magazines, aft hold, and shell room. Its wheel ropes were cut. Grounded within 500 yards of Fort Morgan in two fathoms of water. The vessel’s ammunition, small arms, and cannon were salvaged by the crew. The crew scuttled and burned the vessel to prevent capture. Two crewmen were killed, and 3 or 4 were wounded in the engagement. Six boats with 129 crewmen rowed across Mobile Bay to the safety of Confederate-held Mobile in spite of the bay being controlled by Admiral Farragut’s victorious Union fleet. May have been located by Clive Cussler’s survey in 1989. (OR, 35:2:224; 39:1:443, 449–53; ORN, ser. 2, 1:253; CWC, 6-230; NUMA Web site, “Survey of Civil War Ships.”)
USS Glasgow (Eugenie) (General Buckner). Union. Sidewheel steamer, 252 bulk tons, 428 or 168 registered tons. Length 150 feet or 119 feet 2 inches, beam 23 feet or 22 feet 1 inch, depth 11 feet 9 inches, speed 13 knots. Complement of thirty, with one 20-pounder rifle and one 12-pounder smoothbore. Built in 1862 at Keypost, N.J. Formerly the blockade-runner General Buckner. Was captured as the blockade-runner Eugenie by the USS R. R. Cuyler off Mobile on May 6, 1863. Converted to a Union navy dispatch and supply ship. Hit a submerged obstruction as a Union gunboat off Mobile and sunk on May 8, 1865. Was raised on June 19, 1865. (ORN, 22:188, 202, 212; WCWN, 108; LLC, 301.)
Henry J. King. Confederate. Side-wheel steamer, 409 tons. Cargo of cotton and bacon. Was captured on April 14, 1865, along with the steamboats Augusta and Milliner by the Union 4th Ky. Cavalry Regiment during Wilson’s Raid. Was taken to Montgomery and burned with four other steamboats. (OR, 49:1:352, 497–98; MSV, 94.)
CSS Huntsville. Confederate. Screw ironclad floating battery. Length 150 or 152 feet, beam 32 feet, draft 7 feet, speed 4 knots, armor 4-inch iron. Complement of forty, with three or four 32-pounders and one 6.4-inch rifled gun. Launched in 1863 at Selma, Ala. Completed at Mobile. Had defective engines and lacked a full battery. Escaped up the Spanish River after the fall of Mobile. Was scuttled by Confederates on April 12, 1865, about 12 miles from Mobile. In 1985 divers found small sections of the stern and deck of what was believed to be this vessel. Divers hoped to raise the vessel. (ORN, 22:95, 139; ser. 2, 1:256; CWC, 6-251; Irion, Mobile Bay Ship Channel, Mobile Harbor, 13; WCWN, 207; Hand, “Gunboats of the South to Rise Again,” Skin Diver, 140–41.)
USS Ida. Union. Side-wheel steam tug, 104 bulk tons, 77 tons. Armed with one gun. Built in 1860 at Gretna, La. Was blown up in the Main Ship Channel near Choctaw Pass, Mobile Bay, on April 13, 1865, with three killed and three wounded when a torpedo hit the starboard side, bursting the boiler. Was sunk with water up to the upper deck. The gun and engine were later removed from the wreck. The wreck was raised then sold on September 11, 1865. (ORN, 22:96, 128–33, 256; ser. 2, 1:106; EAS, 173; WCWN, 123; Perry, Infernal Machines, 187–88.)
Isabel. Nationality unknown. Blockade-runner steamer. Cargo of 200 bales of cotton. Grounded within 200 yards of Fort Morgan. Was captured by boats from the USS R. R. Cuyler on May 18, 1863, along with the vessel’s master and six men. As the CSS Gaines approached the Isabel, Union Acting Master’s Mate N. Mayo Dyer and nine of his sailors set fire to the Isabel to prevent recapture. (ORN, 20:198–99; Shomette, Shipwrecks of the Civil War, 435.)
Isabel. Confederate. Two-masted schooner. Length 48 feet 8 inches, beam 15 feet 2 inches, depth 4 feet 11 inches. Built in 1861 at Charleston, S.C. Was scuttled to act as an obstruction by Confederates at the Dog River Bar in Mobile Bay. (Irion, Mobile Bay Ship Channel, Mobile Harbor, 62.)
Ivanhoe. British. Iron side-wheel steamer, 308 bulk tons, 266 gross tons, 173 registered tons. Length 201 feet 5 inches, beam 20 feet 2 inches, depth 9 feet 6 inches. Built in 1864 in Scotland. Ran hard aground by the USS Glasgow, about 2 miles east of Fort Morgan on the night of June 30, 1864, while trying to enter Mobile Bay. Between seven hundred and eight hundred shells were fired at the vessel by the USS Hartford, USS Metacomet, USS Kennebec, and other Union vessels. In spite of the Union attacks, the Confederates saved most of the vessel’s cargo. Was destroyed on the night of July 5–6, 1864, by three boats from Adm. David G. Farragut’s fleet. One Union sailor was killed in a skirmish with Confederates on the beach. The Ivanhoe’s crew brought the feared yellow fever to Mobile. The Confederates salvaged the vessel’s machinery. The wreck was thought to have been located under dry land by Florida State University archaeologists using a magnetometer and ground penetrating sonar in 1991 and 1992, about a meter below the water table. (OR, 39:2:687, 693; ORN, 21:353–57, 904–5, 907, 936; Florida State University, “Remote Sensing Investigation of the Civil War Blockade Runner Ivanhoe,” Web site; LLC, 178–79, 306.) (NUMA Web site, “Survey of Civil War Ships.”)
Josephine. Confederate. Sloop. Forced ashore by the USS Aroostook and burned near Fort Morgan on March 5, 1863. (ORN, 19:649.)
CSS Julius (Julius H. Smith). Confederate. Side-wheel steamer, 224 tons. Cargo from evacuated from Fort Henry. Built in 1859 at Paducah, Ky. Was burned by Confederates upon the approach of the USS Tyler, USS Conestoga, and Sam Orr on February 8, 1862, in the Tennessee River at Florence, at the foot of Muscle Shoals. (OR, 7:154; ORN, 22:782, 821; CWC, 6-257; MSV, 118, 273; WCWN, 247.)
Kate Dale. U.S. Wooden side-wheel steamer, 428 bulk tons. Length 193 feet 9 inches, beam 37 feet, depth 8 feet 4 inches. Built in 1855 at New Albany, Ind. Was captured while outbound from Mobile Bay on July 14, 1863, by the USS R. R. Cuyler near Dry Tortugas and put into Union service. Set afire at Mobile when a captured Confederate supply depot, Marshall’s Warehouse, at the corner of Lipscomb and Commercial streets, blew up on May 25, 1865. The warehouse had 20 tons of gunpowder and numerous shells, and other ammunition. Much of Mobile was devastated by the explosions. (OR, 49:1:566–67; 49:2:913; MSV, 119; LLC, 307.)
Kentucky Brig. Confederate. Length 65 feet. Was scuttled to act as an obstruction by Confederates at the Dog River Bar in Mobile Bay with a load of bricks in 1862. Probably removed in 1871. (Irion, Mobile Bay Ship Channel, Mobile Harbor, 35, 36, 58.)
Lecompte. U.S. Side-wheel steamer, 238 tons. Length 176 feet, beam 33 feet, depth 5 feet 6 inches, 3 boilers. Built in 1855 at Louisville. Was burned on March 27, 1861, at Mobile, Ala. (MSV, 126, 276; WPD, 281.)
Milliner. Confederate. Steamboat. Cargo of cotton, corn, and bacon. Was captured on April 14, 1865, on the Coosa River with the Augusta and Henry J. King by the Union 4th Ky. Cavalry Regiment during Wilson’s Raid. The steamers were taken to Montgomery and were burned. (OR, 49:1:352, 497–98.)
USS Milwaukee. Union. Double-turret monitor, 970 bulk tons, 1,300 displacement tons. Length 257 or 229 overall feet, beam 57 or 56 feet, depth 6 feet, speed 9 knots, turrets armor 8-inch iron, deck armor 1.5-inch iron. Complement of 127–38, with four 11-inch Dahlgren smoothbores. Laid down in 1862 and launched in 1864 at Carondelet, Mo. Was sunk by a torpedo in the Blakely River within 200 yards of the Union fleet on March 28, 1865, while returning to the fleet after attacking a Confederate transport near Spanish Fort. The torpedo exploded under the vessel, 40 feet from the stern. The ship sank with no loss of life in three minutes with the bow section above water for about an hour. Located within a mile and a half of the lower Confederate fort on the left bank of the Blakely River. Its guns and valuables were later salvaged by Union divers. (ORN, 22:67, 70–71, 73–74, 92, 129; ser. 2, 1:144; WCWN, 149; Perry, Infernal Machines, 185.)
Monticello. Nationality unknown. Small blockade-runner schooner. Out of Havana, Cuba. Ran ashore 6 to 8 miles east of Fort Morgan on June 26, 1862, and was set afire by the crew. A boat from the USS Kanawha boarded the vessel but was driven off by fifty Confederate soldiers firing from shore. (ORN, 18:568–69.)
CSS Muscogee (CSS Jackson). Confederate. Screw ironclad ram. Length 223 feet 6 inches overall, beam 40 or 59 feet, draft 6 feet 6 inches to 7 feet 6 inches, casemate armor 4-inch iron, 2-foot layer of pitch pine. Armed with six Brooke rifled guns (another source—four 7-inch and two 6.4-inch). Laid down in 1862 and launched in 1864 at Columbus, Ga. Was burned at the Columbus, Ga., Navy Yard and set adrift on April 17, 1865, to prevent capture by Union forces under Gen. James Harrison Wilson. Was discovered in the Fort Benning Military Reservation on the Alabama side of the Chattahoochee River in 1960. The wreck was visible at low water with half of the vessel under a 10-foot high bank. Salvaged by local interests. The CSS Muscogee is now located in the Civil War Museum at Port Columbus (Ga.). Listed in the National Register of Historic Places. (OR, 49:1:344, 352, 365, 384, 392, 482, 485; ORN, 22:259; CWC, 6-373; WCWN, 119; Civil War Museum at Port Columbus Web site.)
CSS Narcissus (Mary Cook). Union. Screw steam tug, 101 tons, 115 bulk tons. Length 81 feet 6 inches, beam 18 feet 9 inches, draft 6 feet, speed 6–14 miles per hour. Complement of between nineteen and thirty-two, with one 20-pounder Parrott and one 12-pounder smoothbore. Built in 1863 at East Albany, N.Y. Struck a Confederate torpedo on December 7, 1864, while anchored on picket duty at the Dog River Bar in Mobile Bay. The torpedo made a large hole amidships in the starboard side. Was sunk in 9 feet of water within fifteen minutes, with four crewmen scalded. All guns, small arms, and supplies were salvaged. Was raised by Union forces in December 1864. Wrecked again on January 4, 1866, at Egmont Key, Fla. (ORN, 21:752–54, 793–94; ser. 2, 1:155; WCWN, 119.)
CSS Nelms. Confederate. Steamer. May have been lost in Mobile Bay. Outfitted at the Pensacola Navy Yard, Fla., in 1861. (CWC, 6-275–76; DANFS, 2:552.)
USS Osage. Union. Iron-hulled, single-turret monitor, 523 bulk tons. Length 180 feet, beam 45 feet, depth 9 feet, draft 4 feet 6 inches, maximum speed 12 miles per hour, turret armor 6-inch iron, deck armor 2.25-inch iron. Complement of 100–142, with two 11-inch Dahlgren smoothbore guns in the revolving turret and one 12-pounder deck gun. Laid down in 1862 and launched in 1863 at Carondelet, Mo. Was sunk in two fathoms of water by a Confederate torpedo under the bow in the Blakely River, with five crewmen killed and eleven wounded on March 29, 1865, while recharting the river. Was raised and later sold for scrap on November 22, 1867. (ORN, ser. 2, 1:167; Miller, Photographic History, 6:147; WCWN, 149.) Naval History Center – USS Osage
USS Philippi (Ella). Union. Wooden side-wheel gunboat, 311 bulk tons, 368 gross tons, 124 registered tons. Length 140 or 150 feet, beam 24 or 23 feet, depth 9 feet 10 inches or 8 feet 6 inches. Complement of forty-one, with one 20-pounder Parrott, one 24-pounder howitzer, and two 12-pounder rifled guns. Built in 1863 at Brooklyn, N.Y. Was captured as the blockade-runner Ella by the USS Howquah on November 10, 1863, off New Inlet, N.C. Used as a dispatch steamer in Adm. David G. Farragut’s fleet. Hit in the boiler on August 5, 1864, by a shell from Fort Morgan and immobilized on the West Bank Shoals while attempting to pass Fort Morgan, contrary to orders to remain outside Mobile Bay. The vessel suffered two killed and two wounded. After being disabled, the USS Philippi was burned by a small boat from the CSS Morgan. Acting Mate James T. Seaver, the USS Philippi’s commander, was later court-martialed and dishonorably discharged from the U.S. Navy for disobeying orders and causing his vessel’s loss. May have been located by a Clive Cussler survey in 1989. (OR, 35:2:224; 39:1:429, 435; ORN, 21:505–7, 522, 575, 584, 586, 800, 806; ser. 2, 1:177; LLC, 297; NUMA Web site, “Survey of Civil War Ships.”)
CSS Phoenix. Confederate. Floating ironclad battery, 500 tons. Outfitted as a ram similar to the CSS Nashville. Length 250 feet. Armed with 6 guns. Built in 1863–64 at Selma, Ala. Severely damaged when launched in March 1864, and could not be used as a normal warship. Sunk to act as an obstruction on August 7, 1864, at the Dog River Bar and to serve as a battery. A few nights later the vessel was burned and blown up by sailors from the USS Metacomet then burned to the waterline by Confederates. In 1985 divers discovered the well preserved vessel. Also investigated by remote sensing for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Archaeological work done in the fall of 1993 by the Florida State University Department of Anthropology and Academic Diving Program. (OR, 39:3:794; ORN, ser. 2, 1:262; CWC, 6-282–83; Irion, Mobile Bay Ship Channel, Mobile Harbor, 59; WCWN, 235; Florida State University, “Exploration of the Phoenix Wreck” Web site.)
USS Pink (Zouave). Union. Wooden screw steamer, 184 bulk tons. Length 110 feet 4 inches, beam 24 feet 6 inches, depth 7 feet. Complement of between twenty-four and twenty-nine, with two heavy 12-pounder smoothbores and one 30-pounder Parrott. Built in 1863 at Newburgh, N.Y. Ran aground and bilged off Dauphin Island while trying to make the Sand Island Light on September 23, 1865, during a gale. Was raised and later sold. (ORN, 22:250–51; ser. 2, 1:179; MSV, 236; WCWN, 120.)
CSS Pioneer II (American Diver). Confederate. Submarine. Length 36 feet, beam 3 feet, draft 4 feet, speed 5 knots. Had hand cranks to power the propeller. Complement of five. Built in 1863 at Mobile, Ala., from an old boiler with backing from Horace L. Hunley and James McClintock. Was sunk off Fort Morgan on February 14, 1863, while being towed in rough weather on the way to Fort Morgan to attack the Union fleet. (Bass, Ships and Shipwrecks of the Americas, 226; WCWN, 221; Cussler and Dirgo, Sea Hunters, 183–84; Hicks and Kropf, Raising the Hunley, 24–31.)
R. B. Hamilton. Union army. Stern-wheel steam transport, 175 tons. Built in 1858 at Symmes Creek, Ohio. While carrying part of the 3rd Mich. Cavalry Regiment, it struck a Confederate torpedo and sank on May 12, 1865, in Mobile Bay with the loss of thirteen killed and wounded. (MSV, 179; Perry, Infernal Machines, 188; WPD, 382.)
R. B. Taney. U.S. Side-wheel steamer, 301 tons. Built in 1857 at Mobile. Stranded on October 27, 1865, at Mobile. (MSV, 180, 291.)
USS Rodolph (Number 48). Union. Stern-wheel tinclad, 217 tons. Complement of sixty, with two 30-pounder Parrotts and four 24-pounder howitzers. Built in 1863 at Cincinnati. Hit a Confederate torpedo 30 feet aft of the bow and sunk in a few minutes in 12 feet of water on April 1, 1865, in the Blakely River with four killed and eleven wounded. Was towing a barge with a machine on board for raising the USS Milwaukee, which had sunk on March 28, 1865. The torpedo made a 10-foot diameter hole in the starboard bow. Union divers later salvaged the vessel’s guns and valuables. (OR, 22:70, 72–74, 129, 132; ORN, ser. 2, 1:194; DANFS, 2:147; WCWN, 178.)
USS Rose (Ai Fitch). Union. Armed steam tug, 96 tons. Length 84 feet, beam 18 feet 2 inches, depth 7 feet 3 inches, speed 8.5 knots. Complement of seventeen, with one 20-pounder Parrott and one 12-pounder smoothbore. Built in 1863 at New Brunswick, N.J. Was sunk in April 1865, by a Confederate torpedo in Mobile Bay with two killed and three wounded. Was raised and continued in service in the U.S. Navy. (ORN, ser. 2, 1:195; Scharf, History of the Confederate Navy, 767; DANFS, 6:158; WCWN, 120.)
Saint Mary’s (St. Marys) (Genesee) (Nick King). Union. Side-wheel steam transport, 337 tons. Built in 1857 at Wilmington, Del. Originally the Confederate steamer Saint Mary’s, which was sunk to avoid capture in May 1862 in Florida and later raised by Confederates. Was sunk by the USS Norwich on February 9, 1864. Was raised and rebuilt by Union forces. Was destroyed by a Confederate torpedo in April 1864, in the Alabama River. Served in the United States Quartermaster Division as the Genesee from 1864 to 1868. Renamed Nick King for commercial trade. Sank on June 30, 1874, near Darien, Ga. (MSV, 192; WCWN, 105; LLC, 319.)
Sam Kirkman. Confederate. Stern-wheel steamer, 271 tons. Length 157 feet, beam 36 feet 6 inches, depth 5 feet. Carried a cargo from Fort Henry. Built in 1857 at Paducah, Ky. Was burned in the Tennessee River by Confederates on February 7–8, 1862, at Florence at the foot of Muscle Shoals when the USS Tyler, USS Conestoga, and Sam Orr approached. (OR, 7:154; ORN, 18:669; 22:821; CWC, 6-297; MSV, 193, 296; WPD, 417.)
USS Sciota. Union. Wooden screw steam two-masted schooner gunboat, 507 bulk tons, 691 displacement tons. Length 158 feet, beam 28 feet, depth 12 feet, draft 7 feet or 9 feet 6 inches. Complement of 65–114, with one 20-pounder Parrott, three 24-pounder howitzers, one 11-inch Dahlgren, and one 12-pounder smoothbore. Built in 1861 at Philadelphia. Was sunk in Louisiana in 1863 and raised. Was sunk in 12 feet of water by a Confederate torpedo on April 14, 1865, in the Blakely River, with four killed and six wounded. Was raised by Union forces on July 7, 1865. Sold by auction on October 25, 1865. (ORN, 22:96, 130, 237; ser. 2, 1:203; Miller, Photographic History, 6:193; Scharf, History of the Confederate Navy, 767; WCWN, 49, 53.)
CSS Selma (Florida) (USS Selma). Confederate. Sidewheel gunboat, 320 bulk tons. Length 252 feet, beam 30 feet, draft 6 feet, speed 9 knots. Complement of between sixty-five and ninety-four, with two 9-inch smoothbores, one 8-inch smoothbore, and one 6.4-inch rifled gun, all pivots. Built in 1856 at Mobile. Carrying one hundred extra men on the way to board a blockader at the entrance to Mobile Bay. Hit an iron-pointed pile or snag while crossing the Dog River Bar on February 5, 1863, and sank in eight feet of water. Was raised by Confederates on February 13, 1863, and put back into service. Was captured by Union forces during the Battle of Mobile Bay on August 5, 1864, after losing seven killed and eight wounded. Became the USS Selma in Union service. (ORN, 19:627; ser. 2, 1:266; MSV, 197; CWC, 6-300–301, WCWN, 86, 236.)
USS Tecumseh. Union. Single-turreted monitor, 1,034 tons. Length 223 feet, beam 43 feet 4 inches, depth 13 feet 4 inches, draft 14 feet loaded / 13 feet 4 inches light, speed 8 knots. Complement of 118, with two 15-inch Dahlgren smoothbores. Launched in 1863 at Jersey City, N.J. Was sunk by a Confederate torpedo in less than 25 seconds, about 500–600 yards from Fort Morgan in Mobile Bay on August 5, 1864, at 7:40 a.m. when Adm. David G. Farragut’s Union fleet attacked the Confederate forts at the entrance to Mobile Bay. Cdr. Tunis A. M. Craven and ninety-three crewmen were lost with the ship, while twenty-four survived. Six of the vessel’s crew were captured by Confederate soldiers from Fort Morgan after they swam ashore. Union divers examined the wreck a week after it was sunk in 7 fathoms of water with 3 fathoms over the vessel. The USS Tecumseh’s anchor has been salvaged. In 1966 the Smithsonian Institution received title to the wreck, but dropped plans to raise it in 1974 after Congress refused to fund the project. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places. East Carolina University archaeologists have surveyed the wreck. (OR, 35:2:223–24; 39:1:431–35; 39:2:225–27, 230, 755, 759, 785–86; ORN, 21:405, 415–17, 419, 422, 438–40, 442, 445, 465, 489–93, 496, 518–19, 521–22, 532, 542, 567, 569, 575, 579, 581, 597–99, 669, 818; ser. 2, 1:221; Irion, Mobile Bay Ship Channel, Mobile Harbor, 13; WCWN, 10–11; Naval Historical Center Web site, “USS Tecumseh.”)
CSS Time. Confederate. Side-wheel steamer, 263 tons. Cargo of $100,000 worth of Confederate stores. Built in 1860 at Elizabeth, Pa. Was burned by Confederates and sank on February 7, 1862, in the Tennessee River at Florence with the CSS Julius and Sam Kirkman when the USS Tyler, USS Conestoga, and Sam Orr steamed upriver. (ORN, 22:782, 821–22; MSV, 212, 301.)
CSS Tuscaloosa. Confederate. Screw ironclad steam ram, 500 tons. Length 152 feet overall, beam 34 feet, depth 10 feet 6 inches, draft 7–8 feet, speed 3 knots. Complement of forty, with one 6.4-inch Brooke rifled gun and possibly four 32-pounder smoothbores. Used as a floating battery. Laid down in 1862 and launched in 1863 at Selma, Ala. Completed in 1864 at Mobile. Was scuttled on April 12, 1865, mid-channel of the Spanish River, 12 miles north of Mobile. Its crew and material were put aboard the CSS Nashville and moved upriver. The wreck was located in 1985. (ORN, 20:705; 22:95, 139; ser. 2, 1:269; CWC, 6-318; WCWN, 207; Hand, “Confederate Ironclads,” Skin Diver, 140–41.)
Vernon. Confederate. One-mast barge, 113 tons. Length 120 feet, beam 25 feet 6 inches. Built in 1854 at Mobile. Was scuttled by Confederates to serve as an obstruction at the Dog River Bar in Mobile Bay. (Irion, Mobile Bay Ship Channel, Mobile Harbor, 62.)
Wave. Confederate. Sloop. Cargo of 60 sacks and 2 barrels of flour. En route from Mobile to Mississippi City. Was captured on June 27, 1862, and destroyed by the USS Bohio after the Wave’s cargo was removed. (ORN, 18:569.)
William B. King. Confederate. Schooner. Was scuttled to serve as an obstruction at the Dog River Bar at Mobile Bay. Probably removed in 1871. (Irion, Mobile Bay Ship Channel, Mobile Harbor, 59; WCWN, 233.)
William Jones. Confederate. Length possibly 170 feet. Was scuttled to serve as an obstruction at the Dog River Bar in Mobile Bay. Was probably removed in 1871. (Irion, Mobile Bay Ship Channel, Mobile Harbor, 58.)
➢ Vessels without Names
barge. Confederate. Length 117 feet, beam 26 feet. Capacity of 900 cotton bales. Was scuttled by Confederates to act as obstruction at the Dog River Bar in Mobile Bay. (Irion, Mobile Bay Ship Channel, Mobile Harbor, 62.)
launch from USS Cincinnati. Union. Sank while dragging for torpedoes on April 14, 1865, in the Blakely River, with three killed. The wreck was raised to within 2 feet of the surface, but the mooring parted and strain brought the rope to stern, so the launch sank back into the water and was not recovered. (ORN, 22:96, 131; Porter, Naval History, 786.)
ram. Confederate. Unnamed side-wheel ram under construction. Was destroyed on the stocks at Oven Bluff sometime during the war. (WCWN, 209.)
schooner. Confederate. Carried cotton and naval stores. Grounded a mile or so south of Fort Morgan on January 23, 1862, while trying to come out of the eastern Swash Channel. The USS Huntsville and USS R. R. Cuyler set the schooner afire. (ORN, 17:82–83.)
schooner. Confederate. Ran ashore by the USS Kanawha in early July 1862. Was burned by the Confederates near Mobile. (ORN, 18:669.)
schooner. Confederate. Cargo of cotton. Beached on shoals eastward of the northern point of Sand Island during a gale, on its way out of Mobile Bay. Was destroyed by the crew on December 15, 1862. (ORN, 19:412–13.)
schooner. Confederate. Was scuttled to act as an obstruction at the Dog River Bar during the Civil War. (Irion, Mobile Bay Ship Channel, Mobile Harbor, 62.)
steamboats. Confederate. Two steamboats. Cargo of cotton, corn, and commissaries. Was burned along with the steamboats Augusta, Henry J. King, and Milliner on the Coosa River on April 14, 1865, at Montgomery by Wilson’s Union raiders. (OR, 49:1:352.)
Abbreviations
CWC U.S. Department of the Navy, Civil War Chronology, 1861–1865 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1971).
DANFS U.S. Department of the Navy,Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, 8 vols. (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1959–81).
EAS Bruce D. Berman, Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks (Boston: Mariners Press, 1972).
LLC Stephen R. Wise, Lifeline of the Confederacy: Blockade Running in the Civil War (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1988).
MSV William M. Lytle and Forrest R. Holdcamper, Merchant Steam Vessels of the United States: 1790–1868, “The Lytle Holdcamper List,” ed. C. Bradford Mitchell (Staten Island, N.Y.: Steamship Historical Society of America, 1975).
NUMA National Underwater and Marine Association, founded by Clive Cussler, www.numa.net.
OR The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confeerate Armies, 128 vols. (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1880–1901), ser. 1 unless noted otherwise.
ORA Thomas Yoseloff, ed., The Official Atlas of the Civil War (New York: Harper and Row, 1967).
ORN Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, 30 vols. (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1894–1922).
SCH Robert Wilden Nesser, Statistical and Chronological History of the U.S. Navy, 1775–1907 (New York: Burt Franklin, 1970).
WCWN Paul H. Silverstone, Warships of the Civil War Navies (Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1989).
WPD Frederick Way Jr., Way’s Packet Directory, 1848–1983 (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1983).
WSTD Frederick Way Jr. and Joseph W. Rutter, Way’s Steam Towboat Directory (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1990).
The siege of Mobile continued until the end of the Civil War, with the Confederate defenses along the Blakely River being attacked by land and sea. The entrances to Mobile, the Blakely River, and the Spanish River were blocked by several rows of scuttled vessels and the extensive use of torpedoes. Union naval losses due to torpedoes in the Blakely River and Mobile Bay were the greatest in the war. Torpedoed Union vessels included the USS Althea, USS Ida, USS Itasca, USS Milwaukee, USS Narcissus, USS Osage, R. B. Hamilton, and USS Rose, as well as a launch from the USS Cincinnati. The Confederates scuttled the Mobile fleet, which included the CSS Danube, CSS Huntsville, CSS Phoenix, and CSS Tuscaloosa.
During Gen. James Harrison Wilson’s Union cavalry raid through Alabama at the end of the war, five steamboats were burned at Montgomery; the ironclad CSS Muscogee was scuttled on the Alabama side of the Chattahoochee River near the Columbus, Ga., Navy Yard; and the ironclad CSS Chattahoochee was scuttled on the Georgia side of the Chattahoochee River.
USS Althea (Alfred A. Wotkyns). Union. Steam tug, 72 bulk tons. Length 70 feet, beam 16 feet 4 inches, depth 7 feet. Maximum speed 9 knots. Complement of fifteen, with a 12-pounder. Built in 1863 at New Brunswick, N.J. On March 12, 1865, as it was removing a Confederate torpedo in the Blakely River, its chain ran afoul of an old wreck abreast of Battery Huger, and it ran into the torpedo. Was sunk in 10–12 feet of water, with two killed and three wounded. Was raised on November 7, 1865. Sold on December 8, 1866. (ORN, 22:96, 132–33; ser. 2, 1:33; WCWN, 113; MSV, 6.)
Atlantic No. 2. U.S. Stern-wheel steamer, 53 tons. Length 101 feet 6 inches, beam 22 feet 3 inches, depth 3 feet. Built in 1863 at New Albany, Ind. Snagged on October 9, 1865, at Demopolis on the Tombigbee River or Black Warrior River. (MSV, 15, 243; WPD, 32–33.)
Augusta. Confederate. Steamer. Cargo of cotton and bacon. Was captured with the Henry J. King and Milliner in the Coosa River on April 14, 1865, by the Union 4th Ky. Cavalry Regiment during Wilson’s Raid and taken to Montgomery, where all three boats were burned. (OR, 49:1:352, 497–98.)
California. Confederate. Schooner, 77 tons. Only 1 mast. Length 84 feet, beam 29 feet, depth 4 feet 10 inches. Built in 1855 at Mobile, Ala. Was scuttled to act as an obstruction at the Dog River Bar in Mobile Bay in 1862 or 1863. (Irion, Mobile Bay Ship Channel, Mobile Harbor, 35, 62.)
Carondelet. Confederate. Side-wheel steamer, 87 tons. Length 160 feet. Built in 1849 at St. Louis. Was sunk to act as an obstruction while filled with bricks at the Dog River Bar in Mobile Bay in 1862. Part of the vessel was discovered by archaeologists in 1985. (Irion, Mobile Bay Ship Channel, Mobile Harbor, 35–37, 58; MSV, 30.)
Clipper. U.S. Side-wheel steamer, 242 tons. Built in 1865 at Cincinnati. Was burned on October 5, 1865, 70 miles above Mobile, Ala., with eight members of the crew killed. (MSV, 40, 251.)
Colonel Clay. Confederate. Two-masted side-wheel steamer, 257 tons. Length 145 feet, beam 35 feet 8 inches, depth 7 feet. May have been built in 1847 at Louisville or in 1851 at New Orleans. Was scuttled with a load of bricks to act as an obstruction by Confederates at the Dog River Bar in Mobile Bay in 1862 or 1863. Was probably removed in 1871 by the Mobile Harbor Board. (Irion, Mobile Bay Ship Channel, Mobile Harbor, 36–37, 58; MSV, 40.)
Colonel Cowles. U.S. Ship. Was destroyed at Mobile, Ala., with the Kate Dale when a captured Confederate supply depot, Marshall’s Warehouse, exploded on May 25, 1865, with 20 tons of gunpowder and numerous shells at the corner of Lipscomb and Commercial streets. (OR, 49:1:556–67; 49:22:913.)
Cremona. Confederate. Stern-wheel steamer, 268 or 243 tons. Length 182 feet, beam 30 feet, depth 6 feet 6 inches. Built in 1852 at New Albany, Ind. Was scuttled with a load of bricks by Confederates to act as an obstruction at the Dog River Bar in 1862. Investigated and mapped by archaeologists in 1984 and 1985. (Irion, Mobile Bay Ship Channel, Mobile Harbor, 46, 58; Irion, “Confederate Brick Fleet of Mobile,” 45–47; MSV, 47.)
C.S.M. Confederate. Steamer. Was sunk at a Mobile Bay wharf by a collision with the guard boat steamer Mary in mid-October 1864. (OR, 39:3:841, 851.)
Cuba. Confederate. Side-wheel blockade-runner steamer, 604 bulk tons. Length 250 feet, beam 32 feet 7 inches, draft 9 feet. Cargo worth $1,250,000. Built in 1854 at Greenpoint, N.Y. Was chased on May 19, 1863, by the USS Huntsville for 90 miles, and then the USS De Soto joined the chase. To prevent capture by the Union ships, the crew set it afire, at latitude 28° 47' north, longitude 87° 58' west, off the Alabama coast. The crew was captured. (ORN, 17:442, 444; MSV, 48; LLC, 295.)
CSS Danube. Confederate. Floating battery, 980 tons. Length 170 feet 4 inches, beam 30 feet 11 inches, draft 16 feet 11 inches. Battery of four 42-pounders. Built in 1854 at Bath, Maine. Confiscated by Confederates in Mobile Bay in May 1861. Was sunk to act as an obstruction in December 1864, in the upper line of obstructions in the Spanish River Gap at the Apalachee Battery in Conways Bayou. (OR, 39:3:887; CWC, 6-218; ORA, pl. 71, no. 13.)
Duke W. Goodman. U.S. Stern-wheel steamer, 196 tons. Built in 1858. Was burned in November 1865 at Rainwater. (MSV, 57, 256.)
CSS Dunbar. Confederate. Side-wheel steamer, 213 tons. Probably built in 1859 at Brownsville, Pa. Was sunk up to the guards off the Tennessee River in Cypress Creek, about two miles below Florence in February 1862, to prevent capture by advancing Union vessels. Was burned on April 21, 1862, by the USS Tyler. Was raised by the Union army and later sold in 1865. (ORN, 22:782, 822; 23:77; MSV, 67; CWC, 6-223; WCWN, 246.)
Eclipse. Confederate. Stern-wheel steamer, 156 tons. Length 150 feet, beam 27 feet, depth 4 feet. Built in 1864 at California, Pa. Was sunk to act as an obstruction with a load of bricks at the Dog River Bar in 1862. Probably removed in 1871 by the Mobile Harbor Board. (Irion, Mobile Bay Ship Channel, Mobile Harbor, 35, 36, 59; MSV, 59.)
Emma Boyd. Confederate. Stern-wheel steamer, 172 tons. Built in 1863 at Wheeling, Va. (now W. Va.). Snagged on August 26, 1864, at Selma, Ala. (MSV, 64, 258.)
CSS Gaines. Confederate. Wooden side-wheel gunboat, 863 tons. Length 202 feet, beam 38 feet, depth 13 feet, draft 6 or 7 feet 3 inches, speed 10 knots, armor 2-inch iron. Complement of 130–74, with one 8-inch rifle and five 32-pounder smoothbores. Built in 1861–62 at Mobile, Ala., from unseasoned wood. Shot to pieces on August 5, 1864, by Adm. David G. Farragut’s Union fleet in a heated engagement in Mobile Bay. The vessel left the battle in a sinking condition after being hit by 17 shells with water in the magazines, aft hold, and shell room. Its wheel ropes were cut. Grounded within 500 yards of Fort Morgan in two fathoms of water. The vessel’s ammunition, small arms, and cannon were salvaged by the crew. The crew scuttled and burned the vessel to prevent capture. Two crewmen were killed, and 3 or 4 were wounded in the engagement. Six boats with 129 crewmen rowed across Mobile Bay to the safety of Confederate-held Mobile in spite of the bay being controlled by Admiral Farragut’s victorious Union fleet. May have been located by Clive Cussler’s survey in 1989. (OR, 35:2:224; 39:1:443, 449–53; ORN, ser. 2, 1:253; CWC, 6-230; NUMA Web site, “Survey of Civil War Ships.”)
USS Glasgow (Eugenie) (General Buckner). Union. Sidewheel steamer, 252 bulk tons, 428 or 168 registered tons. Length 150 feet or 119 feet 2 inches, beam 23 feet or 22 feet 1 inch, depth 11 feet 9 inches, speed 13 knots. Complement of thirty, with one 20-pounder rifle and one 12-pounder smoothbore. Built in 1862 at Keypost, N.J. Formerly the blockade-runner General Buckner. Was captured as the blockade-runner Eugenie by the USS R. R. Cuyler off Mobile on May 6, 1863. Converted to a Union navy dispatch and supply ship. Hit a submerged obstruction as a Union gunboat off Mobile and sunk on May 8, 1865. Was raised on June 19, 1865. (ORN, 22:188, 202, 212; WCWN, 108; LLC, 301.)
Henry J. King. Confederate. Side-wheel steamer, 409 tons. Cargo of cotton and bacon. Was captured on April 14, 1865, along with the steamboats Augusta and Milliner by the Union 4th Ky. Cavalry Regiment during Wilson’s Raid. Was taken to Montgomery and burned with four other steamboats. (OR, 49:1:352, 497–98; MSV, 94.)
CSS Huntsville. Confederate. Screw ironclad floating battery. Length 150 or 152 feet, beam 32 feet, draft 7 feet, speed 4 knots, armor 4-inch iron. Complement of forty, with three or four 32-pounders and one 6.4-inch rifled gun. Launched in 1863 at Selma, Ala. Completed at Mobile. Had defective engines and lacked a full battery. Escaped up the Spanish River after the fall of Mobile. Was scuttled by Confederates on April 12, 1865, about 12 miles from Mobile. In 1985 divers found small sections of the stern and deck of what was believed to be this vessel. Divers hoped to raise the vessel. (ORN, 22:95, 139; ser. 2, 1:256; CWC, 6-251; Irion, Mobile Bay Ship Channel, Mobile Harbor, 13; WCWN, 207; Hand, “Gunboats of the South to Rise Again,” Skin Diver, 140–41.)
USS Ida. Union. Side-wheel steam tug, 104 bulk tons, 77 tons. Armed with one gun. Built in 1860 at Gretna, La. Was blown up in the Main Ship Channel near Choctaw Pass, Mobile Bay, on April 13, 1865, with three killed and three wounded when a torpedo hit the starboard side, bursting the boiler. Was sunk with water up to the upper deck. The gun and engine were later removed from the wreck. The wreck was raised then sold on September 11, 1865. (ORN, 22:96, 128–33, 256; ser. 2, 1:106; EAS, 173; WCWN, 123; Perry, Infernal Machines, 187–88.)
Isabel. Nationality unknown. Blockade-runner steamer. Cargo of 200 bales of cotton. Grounded within 200 yards of Fort Morgan. Was captured by boats from the USS R. R. Cuyler on May 18, 1863, along with the vessel’s master and six men. As the CSS Gaines approached the Isabel, Union Acting Master’s Mate N. Mayo Dyer and nine of his sailors set fire to the Isabel to prevent recapture. (ORN, 20:198–99; Shomette, Shipwrecks of the Civil War, 435.)
Isabel. Confederate. Two-masted schooner. Length 48 feet 8 inches, beam 15 feet 2 inches, depth 4 feet 11 inches. Built in 1861 at Charleston, S.C. Was scuttled to act as an obstruction by Confederates at the Dog River Bar in Mobile Bay. (Irion, Mobile Bay Ship Channel, Mobile Harbor, 62.)
Ivanhoe. British. Iron side-wheel steamer, 308 bulk tons, 266 gross tons, 173 registered tons. Length 201 feet 5 inches, beam 20 feet 2 inches, depth 9 feet 6 inches. Built in 1864 in Scotland. Ran hard aground by the USS Glasgow, about 2 miles east of Fort Morgan on the night of June 30, 1864, while trying to enter Mobile Bay. Between seven hundred and eight hundred shells were fired at the vessel by the USS Hartford, USS Metacomet, USS Kennebec, and other Union vessels. In spite of the Union attacks, the Confederates saved most of the vessel’s cargo. Was destroyed on the night of July 5–6, 1864, by three boats from Adm. David G. Farragut’s fleet. One Union sailor was killed in a skirmish with Confederates on the beach. The Ivanhoe’s crew brought the feared yellow fever to Mobile. The Confederates salvaged the vessel’s machinery. The wreck was thought to have been located under dry land by Florida State University archaeologists using a magnetometer and ground penetrating sonar in 1991 and 1992, about a meter below the water table. (OR, 39:2:687, 693; ORN, 21:353–57, 904–5, 907, 936; Florida State University, “Remote Sensing Investigation of the Civil War Blockade Runner Ivanhoe,” Web site; LLC, 178–79, 306.) (NUMA Web site, “Survey of Civil War Ships.”)
Josephine. Confederate. Sloop. Forced ashore by the USS Aroostook and burned near Fort Morgan on March 5, 1863. (ORN, 19:649.)
CSS Julius (Julius H. Smith). Confederate. Side-wheel steamer, 224 tons. Cargo from evacuated from Fort Henry. Built in 1859 at Paducah, Ky. Was burned by Confederates upon the approach of the USS Tyler, USS Conestoga, and Sam Orr on February 8, 1862, in the Tennessee River at Florence, at the foot of Muscle Shoals. (OR, 7:154; ORN, 22:782, 821; CWC, 6-257; MSV, 118, 273; WCWN, 247.)
Kate Dale. U.S. Wooden side-wheel steamer, 428 bulk tons. Length 193 feet 9 inches, beam 37 feet, depth 8 feet 4 inches. Built in 1855 at New Albany, Ind. Was captured while outbound from Mobile Bay on July 14, 1863, by the USS R. R. Cuyler near Dry Tortugas and put into Union service. Set afire at Mobile when a captured Confederate supply depot, Marshall’s Warehouse, at the corner of Lipscomb and Commercial streets, blew up on May 25, 1865. The warehouse had 20 tons of gunpowder and numerous shells, and other ammunition. Much of Mobile was devastated by the explosions. (OR, 49:1:566–67; 49:2:913; MSV, 119; LLC, 307.)
Kentucky Brig. Confederate. Length 65 feet. Was scuttled to act as an obstruction by Confederates at the Dog River Bar in Mobile Bay with a load of bricks in 1862. Probably removed in 1871. (Irion, Mobile Bay Ship Channel, Mobile Harbor, 35, 36, 58.)
Lecompte. U.S. Side-wheel steamer, 238 tons. Length 176 feet, beam 33 feet, depth 5 feet 6 inches, 3 boilers. Built in 1855 at Louisville. Was burned on March 27, 1861, at Mobile, Ala. (MSV, 126, 276; WPD, 281.)
Milliner. Confederate. Steamboat. Cargo of cotton, corn, and bacon. Was captured on April 14, 1865, on the Coosa River with the Augusta and Henry J. King by the Union 4th Ky. Cavalry Regiment during Wilson’s Raid. The steamers were taken to Montgomery and were burned. (OR, 49:1:352, 497–98.)
USS Milwaukee. Union. Double-turret monitor, 970 bulk tons, 1,300 displacement tons. Length 257 or 229 overall feet, beam 57 or 56 feet, depth 6 feet, speed 9 knots, turrets armor 8-inch iron, deck armor 1.5-inch iron. Complement of 127–38, with four 11-inch Dahlgren smoothbores. Laid down in 1862 and launched in 1864 at Carondelet, Mo. Was sunk by a torpedo in the Blakely River within 200 yards of the Union fleet on March 28, 1865, while returning to the fleet after attacking a Confederate transport near Spanish Fort. The torpedo exploded under the vessel, 40 feet from the stern. The ship sank with no loss of life in three minutes with the bow section above water for about an hour. Located within a mile and a half of the lower Confederate fort on the left bank of the Blakely River. Its guns and valuables were later salvaged by Union divers. (ORN, 22:67, 70–71, 73–74, 92, 129; ser. 2, 1:144; WCWN, 149; Perry, Infernal Machines, 185.)
Monticello. Nationality unknown. Small blockade-runner schooner. Out of Havana, Cuba. Ran ashore 6 to 8 miles east of Fort Morgan on June 26, 1862, and was set afire by the crew. A boat from the USS Kanawha boarded the vessel but was driven off by fifty Confederate soldiers firing from shore. (ORN, 18:568–69.)
CSS Muscogee (CSS Jackson). Confederate. Screw ironclad ram. Length 223 feet 6 inches overall, beam 40 or 59 feet, draft 6 feet 6 inches to 7 feet 6 inches, casemate armor 4-inch iron, 2-foot layer of pitch pine. Armed with six Brooke rifled guns (another source—four 7-inch and two 6.4-inch). Laid down in 1862 and launched in 1864 at Columbus, Ga. Was burned at the Columbus, Ga., Navy Yard and set adrift on April 17, 1865, to prevent capture by Union forces under Gen. James Harrison Wilson. Was discovered in the Fort Benning Military Reservation on the Alabama side of the Chattahoochee River in 1960. The wreck was visible at low water with half of the vessel under a 10-foot high bank. Salvaged by local interests. The CSS Muscogee is now located in the Civil War Museum at Port Columbus (Ga.). Listed in the National Register of Historic Places. (OR, 49:1:344, 352, 365, 384, 392, 482, 485; ORN, 22:259; CWC, 6-373; WCWN, 119; Civil War Museum at Port Columbus Web site.)
CSS Narcissus (Mary Cook). Union. Screw steam tug, 101 tons, 115 bulk tons. Length 81 feet 6 inches, beam 18 feet 9 inches, draft 6 feet, speed 6–14 miles per hour. Complement of between nineteen and thirty-two, with one 20-pounder Parrott and one 12-pounder smoothbore. Built in 1863 at East Albany, N.Y. Struck a Confederate torpedo on December 7, 1864, while anchored on picket duty at the Dog River Bar in Mobile Bay. The torpedo made a large hole amidships in the starboard side. Was sunk in 9 feet of water within fifteen minutes, with four crewmen scalded. All guns, small arms, and supplies were salvaged. Was raised by Union forces in December 1864. Wrecked again on January 4, 1866, at Egmont Key, Fla. (ORN, 21:752–54, 793–94; ser. 2, 1:155; WCWN, 119.)
CSS Nelms. Confederate. Steamer. May have been lost in Mobile Bay. Outfitted at the Pensacola Navy Yard, Fla., in 1861. (CWC, 6-275–76; DANFS, 2:552.)
USS Osage. Union. Iron-hulled, single-turret monitor, 523 bulk tons. Length 180 feet, beam 45 feet, depth 9 feet, draft 4 feet 6 inches, maximum speed 12 miles per hour, turret armor 6-inch iron, deck armor 2.25-inch iron. Complement of 100–142, with two 11-inch Dahlgren smoothbore guns in the revolving turret and one 12-pounder deck gun. Laid down in 1862 and launched in 1863 at Carondelet, Mo. Was sunk in two fathoms of water by a Confederate torpedo under the bow in the Blakely River, with five crewmen killed and eleven wounded on March 29, 1865, while recharting the river. Was raised and later sold for scrap on November 22, 1867. (ORN, ser. 2, 1:167; Miller, Photographic History, 6:147; WCWN, 149.) Naval History Center – USS Osage
USS Philippi (Ella). Union. Wooden side-wheel gunboat, 311 bulk tons, 368 gross tons, 124 registered tons. Length 140 or 150 feet, beam 24 or 23 feet, depth 9 feet 10 inches or 8 feet 6 inches. Complement of forty-one, with one 20-pounder Parrott, one 24-pounder howitzer, and two 12-pounder rifled guns. Built in 1863 at Brooklyn, N.Y. Was captured as the blockade-runner Ella by the USS Howquah on November 10, 1863, off New Inlet, N.C. Used as a dispatch steamer in Adm. David G. Farragut’s fleet. Hit in the boiler on August 5, 1864, by a shell from Fort Morgan and immobilized on the West Bank Shoals while attempting to pass Fort Morgan, contrary to orders to remain outside Mobile Bay. The vessel suffered two killed and two wounded. After being disabled, the USS Philippi was burned by a small boat from the CSS Morgan. Acting Mate James T. Seaver, the USS Philippi’s commander, was later court-martialed and dishonorably discharged from the U.S. Navy for disobeying orders and causing his vessel’s loss. May have been located by a Clive Cussler survey in 1989. (OR, 35:2:224; 39:1:429, 435; ORN, 21:505–7, 522, 575, 584, 586, 800, 806; ser. 2, 1:177; LLC, 297; NUMA Web site, “Survey of Civil War Ships.”)
CSS Phoenix. Confederate. Floating ironclad battery, 500 tons. Outfitted as a ram similar to the CSS Nashville. Length 250 feet. Armed with 6 guns. Built in 1863–64 at Selma, Ala. Severely damaged when launched in March 1864, and could not be used as a normal warship. Sunk to act as an obstruction on August 7, 1864, at the Dog River Bar and to serve as a battery. A few nights later the vessel was burned and blown up by sailors from the USS Metacomet then burned to the waterline by Confederates. In 1985 divers discovered the well preserved vessel. Also investigated by remote sensing for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Archaeological work done in the fall of 1993 by the Florida State University Department of Anthropology and Academic Diving Program. (OR, 39:3:794; ORN, ser. 2, 1:262; CWC, 6-282–83; Irion, Mobile Bay Ship Channel, Mobile Harbor, 59; WCWN, 235; Florida State University, “Exploration of the Phoenix Wreck” Web site.)
USS Pink (Zouave). Union. Wooden screw steamer, 184 bulk tons. Length 110 feet 4 inches, beam 24 feet 6 inches, depth 7 feet. Complement of between twenty-four and twenty-nine, with two heavy 12-pounder smoothbores and one 30-pounder Parrott. Built in 1863 at Newburgh, N.Y. Ran aground and bilged off Dauphin Island while trying to make the Sand Island Light on September 23, 1865, during a gale. Was raised and later sold. (ORN, 22:250–51; ser. 2, 1:179; MSV, 236; WCWN, 120.)
CSS Pioneer II (American Diver). Confederate. Submarine. Length 36 feet, beam 3 feet, draft 4 feet, speed 5 knots. Had hand cranks to power the propeller. Complement of five. Built in 1863 at Mobile, Ala., from an old boiler with backing from Horace L. Hunley and James McClintock. Was sunk off Fort Morgan on February 14, 1863, while being towed in rough weather on the way to Fort Morgan to attack the Union fleet. (Bass, Ships and Shipwrecks of the Americas, 226; WCWN, 221; Cussler and Dirgo, Sea Hunters, 183–84; Hicks and Kropf, Raising the Hunley, 24–31.)
R. B. Hamilton. Union army. Stern-wheel steam transport, 175 tons. Built in 1858 at Symmes Creek, Ohio. While carrying part of the 3rd Mich. Cavalry Regiment, it struck a Confederate torpedo and sank on May 12, 1865, in Mobile Bay with the loss of thirteen killed and wounded. (MSV, 179; Perry, Infernal Machines, 188; WPD, 382.)
R. B. Taney. U.S. Side-wheel steamer, 301 tons. Built in 1857 at Mobile. Stranded on October 27, 1865, at Mobile. (MSV, 180, 291.)
USS Rodolph (Number 48). Union. Stern-wheel tinclad, 217 tons. Complement of sixty, with two 30-pounder Parrotts and four 24-pounder howitzers. Built in 1863 at Cincinnati. Hit a Confederate torpedo 30 feet aft of the bow and sunk in a few minutes in 12 feet of water on April 1, 1865, in the Blakely River with four killed and eleven wounded. Was towing a barge with a machine on board for raising the USS Milwaukee, which had sunk on March 28, 1865. The torpedo made a 10-foot diameter hole in the starboard bow. Union divers later salvaged the vessel’s guns and valuables. (OR, 22:70, 72–74, 129, 132; ORN, ser. 2, 1:194; DANFS, 2:147; WCWN, 178.)
USS Rose (Ai Fitch). Union. Armed steam tug, 96 tons. Length 84 feet, beam 18 feet 2 inches, depth 7 feet 3 inches, speed 8.5 knots. Complement of seventeen, with one 20-pounder Parrott and one 12-pounder smoothbore. Built in 1863 at New Brunswick, N.J. Was sunk in April 1865, by a Confederate torpedo in Mobile Bay with two killed and three wounded. Was raised and continued in service in the U.S. Navy. (ORN, ser. 2, 1:195; Scharf, History of the Confederate Navy, 767; DANFS, 6:158; WCWN, 120.)
Saint Mary’s (St. Marys) (Genesee) (Nick King). Union. Side-wheel steam transport, 337 tons. Built in 1857 at Wilmington, Del. Originally the Confederate steamer Saint Mary’s, which was sunk to avoid capture in May 1862 in Florida and later raised by Confederates. Was sunk by the USS Norwich on February 9, 1864. Was raised and rebuilt by Union forces. Was destroyed by a Confederate torpedo in April 1864, in the Alabama River. Served in the United States Quartermaster Division as the Genesee from 1864 to 1868. Renamed Nick King for commercial trade. Sank on June 30, 1874, near Darien, Ga. (MSV, 192; WCWN, 105; LLC, 319.)
Sam Kirkman. Confederate. Stern-wheel steamer, 271 tons. Length 157 feet, beam 36 feet 6 inches, depth 5 feet. Carried a cargo from Fort Henry. Built in 1857 at Paducah, Ky. Was burned in the Tennessee River by Confederates on February 7–8, 1862, at Florence at the foot of Muscle Shoals when the USS Tyler, USS Conestoga, and Sam Orr approached. (OR, 7:154; ORN, 18:669; 22:821; CWC, 6-297; MSV, 193, 296; WPD, 417.)
USS Sciota. Union. Wooden screw steam two-masted schooner gunboat, 507 bulk tons, 691 displacement tons. Length 158 feet, beam 28 feet, depth 12 feet, draft 7 feet or 9 feet 6 inches. Complement of 65–114, with one 20-pounder Parrott, three 24-pounder howitzers, one 11-inch Dahlgren, and one 12-pounder smoothbore. Built in 1861 at Philadelphia. Was sunk in Louisiana in 1863 and raised. Was sunk in 12 feet of water by a Confederate torpedo on April 14, 1865, in the Blakely River, with four killed and six wounded. Was raised by Union forces on July 7, 1865. Sold by auction on October 25, 1865. (ORN, 22:96, 130, 237; ser. 2, 1:203; Miller, Photographic History, 6:193; Scharf, History of the Confederate Navy, 767; WCWN, 49, 53.)
CSS Selma (Florida) (USS Selma). Confederate. Sidewheel gunboat, 320 bulk tons. Length 252 feet, beam 30 feet, draft 6 feet, speed 9 knots. Complement of between sixty-five and ninety-four, with two 9-inch smoothbores, one 8-inch smoothbore, and one 6.4-inch rifled gun, all pivots. Built in 1856 at Mobile. Carrying one hundred extra men on the way to board a blockader at the entrance to Mobile Bay. Hit an iron-pointed pile or snag while crossing the Dog River Bar on February 5, 1863, and sank in eight feet of water. Was raised by Confederates on February 13, 1863, and put back into service. Was captured by Union forces during the Battle of Mobile Bay on August 5, 1864, after losing seven killed and eight wounded. Became the USS Selma in Union service. (ORN, 19:627; ser. 2, 1:266; MSV, 197; CWC, 6-300–301, WCWN, 86, 236.)
USS Tecumseh. Union. Single-turreted monitor, 1,034 tons. Length 223 feet, beam 43 feet 4 inches, depth 13 feet 4 inches, draft 14 feet loaded / 13 feet 4 inches light, speed 8 knots. Complement of 118, with two 15-inch Dahlgren smoothbores. Launched in 1863 at Jersey City, N.J. Was sunk by a Confederate torpedo in less than 25 seconds, about 500–600 yards from Fort Morgan in Mobile Bay on August 5, 1864, at 7:40 a.m. when Adm. David G. Farragut’s Union fleet attacked the Confederate forts at the entrance to Mobile Bay. Cdr. Tunis A. M. Craven and ninety-three crewmen were lost with the ship, while twenty-four survived. Six of the vessel’s crew were captured by Confederate soldiers from Fort Morgan after they swam ashore. Union divers examined the wreck a week after it was sunk in 7 fathoms of water with 3 fathoms over the vessel. The USS Tecumseh’s anchor has been salvaged. In 1966 the Smithsonian Institution received title to the wreck, but dropped plans to raise it in 1974 after Congress refused to fund the project. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places. East Carolina University archaeologists have surveyed the wreck. (OR, 35:2:223–24; 39:1:431–35; 39:2:225–27, 230, 755, 759, 785–86; ORN, 21:405, 415–17, 419, 422, 438–40, 442, 445, 465, 489–93, 496, 518–19, 521–22, 532, 542, 567, 569, 575, 579, 581, 597–99, 669, 818; ser. 2, 1:221; Irion, Mobile Bay Ship Channel, Mobile Harbor, 13; WCWN, 10–11; Naval Historical Center Web site, “USS Tecumseh.”)
CSS Time. Confederate. Side-wheel steamer, 263 tons. Cargo of $100,000 worth of Confederate stores. Built in 1860 at Elizabeth, Pa. Was burned by Confederates and sank on February 7, 1862, in the Tennessee River at Florence with the CSS Julius and Sam Kirkman when the USS Tyler, USS Conestoga, and Sam Orr steamed upriver. (ORN, 22:782, 821–22; MSV, 212, 301.)
CSS Tuscaloosa. Confederate. Screw ironclad steam ram, 500 tons. Length 152 feet overall, beam 34 feet, depth 10 feet 6 inches, draft 7–8 feet, speed 3 knots. Complement of forty, with one 6.4-inch Brooke rifled gun and possibly four 32-pounder smoothbores. Used as a floating battery. Laid down in 1862 and launched in 1863 at Selma, Ala. Completed in 1864 at Mobile. Was scuttled on April 12, 1865, mid-channel of the Spanish River, 12 miles north of Mobile. Its crew and material were put aboard the CSS Nashville and moved upriver. The wreck was located in 1985. (ORN, 20:705; 22:95, 139; ser. 2, 1:269; CWC, 6-318; WCWN, 207; Hand, “Confederate Ironclads,” Skin Diver, 140–41.)
Vernon. Confederate. One-mast barge, 113 tons. Length 120 feet, beam 25 feet 6 inches. Built in 1854 at Mobile. Was scuttled by Confederates to serve as an obstruction at the Dog River Bar in Mobile Bay. (Irion, Mobile Bay Ship Channel, Mobile Harbor, 62.)
Wave. Confederate. Sloop. Cargo of 60 sacks and 2 barrels of flour. En route from Mobile to Mississippi City. Was captured on June 27, 1862, and destroyed by the USS Bohio after the Wave’s cargo was removed. (ORN, 18:569.)
William B. King. Confederate. Schooner. Was scuttled to serve as an obstruction at the Dog River Bar at Mobile Bay. Probably removed in 1871. (Irion, Mobile Bay Ship Channel, Mobile Harbor, 59; WCWN, 233.)
William Jones. Confederate. Length possibly 170 feet. Was scuttled to serve as an obstruction at the Dog River Bar in Mobile Bay. Was probably removed in 1871. (Irion, Mobile Bay Ship Channel, Mobile Harbor, 58.)
➢ Vessels without Names
barge. Confederate. Length 117 feet, beam 26 feet. Capacity of 900 cotton bales. Was scuttled by Confederates to act as obstruction at the Dog River Bar in Mobile Bay. (Irion, Mobile Bay Ship Channel, Mobile Harbor, 62.)
launch from USS Cincinnati. Union. Sank while dragging for torpedoes on April 14, 1865, in the Blakely River, with three killed. The wreck was raised to within 2 feet of the surface, but the mooring parted and strain brought the rope to stern, so the launch sank back into the water and was not recovered. (ORN, 22:96, 131; Porter, Naval History, 786.)
ram. Confederate. Unnamed side-wheel ram under construction. Was destroyed on the stocks at Oven Bluff sometime during the war. (WCWN, 209.)
schooner. Confederate. Carried cotton and naval stores. Grounded a mile or so south of Fort Morgan on January 23, 1862, while trying to come out of the eastern Swash Channel. The USS Huntsville and USS R. R. Cuyler set the schooner afire. (ORN, 17:82–83.)
schooner. Confederate. Ran ashore by the USS Kanawha in early July 1862. Was burned by the Confederates near Mobile. (ORN, 18:669.)
schooner. Confederate. Cargo of cotton. Beached on shoals eastward of the northern point of Sand Island during a gale, on its way out of Mobile Bay. Was destroyed by the crew on December 15, 1862. (ORN, 19:412–13.)
schooner. Confederate. Was scuttled to act as an obstruction at the Dog River Bar during the Civil War. (Irion, Mobile Bay Ship Channel, Mobile Harbor, 62.)
steamboats. Confederate. Two steamboats. Cargo of cotton, corn, and commissaries. Was burned along with the steamboats Augusta, Henry J. King, and Milliner on the Coosa River on April 14, 1865, at Montgomery by Wilson’s Union raiders. (OR, 49:1:352.)
Abbreviations
CWC U.S. Department of the Navy, Civil War Chronology, 1861–1865 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1971).
DANFS U.S. Department of the Navy,Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, 8 vols. (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1959–81).
EAS Bruce D. Berman, Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks (Boston: Mariners Press, 1972).
LLC Stephen R. Wise, Lifeline of the Confederacy: Blockade Running in the Civil War (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1988).
MSV William M. Lytle and Forrest R. Holdcamper, Merchant Steam Vessels of the United States: 1790–1868, “The Lytle Holdcamper List,” ed. C. Bradford Mitchell (Staten Island, N.Y.: Steamship Historical Society of America, 1975).
NUMA National Underwater and Marine Association, founded by Clive Cussler, www.numa.net.
OR The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confeerate Armies, 128 vols. (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1880–1901), ser. 1 unless noted otherwise.
ORA Thomas Yoseloff, ed., The Official Atlas of the Civil War (New York: Harper and Row, 1967).
ORN Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, 30 vols. (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1894–1922).
SCH Robert Wilden Nesser, Statistical and Chronological History of the U.S. Navy, 1775–1907 (New York: Burt Franklin, 1970).
WCWN Paul H. Silverstone, Warships of the Civil War Navies (Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1989).
WPD Frederick Way Jr., Way’s Packet Directory, 1848–1983 (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1983).
WSTD Frederick Way Jr. and Joseph W. Rutter, Way’s Steam Towboat Directory (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1990).