LIST OF SHIPS

A. B. SEGER

SwStl:
t. 30;
l. 55';
a. 2 guns

A. B. SEGER, also referred to as SEGER, SEGAR, and SEGUR, as acquired by 
the Confederate States Navy in 1861 for service as a gunboat in Berwick 
Bay, La. The steamer operated with the naval force of Flag Officer G. N. 
Hollins, CSN, who was charged with the defense of the Mississippi River 
and Louisiana coast.

The little gunboat was powered by two locomotive engines with "cylinders 
bolted to the top of and axis parallel to" her boiler-also from a 
railroad locomotive.

During 1862 A. B. SEGER served as a dispatch boat, commanded by Acting 
Master I. C. Coons. As the Federal Flotilla under Lt. Comdr. Buchanan 
proceeded up Atchafalaya Bay on 1 November 1862. A. B. SEGER was run 
aground and abandoned near Berwick Bay. She was then seized and placed 
in service by the Union.

A. C. GUNNISON, see GUNNISON

A. D. VANCE

SwStr:

A. D. VANCE, often written ADVANCE, was the former Clyde packet LORD 
CLYDE, built by Caird & Co., Greenock. She was owned in large part by 
the State of North Carolina and named in honor of a leading North 
Carolinian; some portion of her ownership rested in Power, Lord & Co.-a 
Fayetteville newspaper once stated two-thirds-but she was locally 
considered a public vessel.

A. D. VANCE was one of the most successful blockade runners and her 
loss, after more than 20 voyages and 40-odd hairbreadth escapes, was a 
blow keenly felt by the State. Gov. Zebulon B. Vance attributed her 
capture, 10 September 1864, to use of low grade North Carolina 
bituminous coal and denounced Secretary Mallory for giving the stockpile 
of smokeless anthracite to TALLAHASSEE so that none was left for ADVANCE 
to run out of Wilmington safely: Writing 3 January 1865, Vance 
complained, "Why a State struggling for the common good; to clothe and 
provide for its troops in the public service, should meet with no more 
favor than a blockade gambler passes my comprehension."

She was commanded by Capt. Tom Crossan when taken by USS SANTIAGO DE 
CUBA, becoming USS ADVANCE and eventually FROLIC. Lt. John J. Guthrie, 
CSN, commander of CHATTAHOOCHEE at the time of her disaster was her 
earlier captain.

Page 493

A. H. SCHULTZ, see SCHULTZ
SwStr:
t. 144;
l. 127';
b. 30';
dph. 4'8"

A. S. RATHVEN was privately built at Cincinnati, Ohio in 1860. By 
October 1863 she had been chartered for operation with the Texas Marine 
Department [See Annex III] under the Superintendent of Transports, J. H. 
Sterrett, and was operating effectively, one of six such shallow draft 
steamers in Galveston Bay. On 23 August 1864 she was under the control 
of the Quartermaster Department, running on Galveston Bay and 
tributaries, carrying guns, stores and personnel.

Records of the Commerce Department show that she was lost in 1869.

A. W. BAKER
SwStr:
t. 112;
l. 95';
b. 25';
dph. 4'6"

A. W. BAKER was built in 1856 at Louisville, Ky., and served the 
Confederates as a cargo ship carrying salt and bacon from the Red River 
to Port Hudson, La., to supply the Confederate Army in that area. With a 
number of Confederate officers on board, A. W. BAKER was approached 15 
miles below the mouth of the Red River on 2 February 1863 by the Federal 
ram QUEEN OF THE WEST under Col. C. R. Ellet, USA. A. W. BAKER ran 
ashore allowing some of the officers to escape but was herself captured 
by the Union ram and burned by her captors.

ACACIA

Str

ACACIA was a Confederate transport captured by Union Army forces under 
Col. G. N. Fitch near Memphis, Tenn. in early June 1862. Union records 
report her sunk in August 1862.

ADKIN see YADKIN

ADMIRAL

SwStr

ADMIRAL a small steamer, was employed as a picket boat in the 
Mississippi River in the vicinity of New Madrid, Mo. She was captured by 
Flag Officer Foote's naval forces on 7 April 1862. Valued at $10,000 she 
was taken into the Union Army.

ADMIRAL see MORGAN

ADVANCE, see A. D. VANCE

ADVENTURE

ScStr:
t. 972;
l. 250';
b. 28';
dph. 15'6"

ADVENTURE and ENTERPRISE were the larger pair of vessels which 
Confederate overseas agent James D. Bulloch, CSN, writing from 
Liverpool, 15 November 1864, reported to Secretary Mallory as "... the 
four steamers I am now building for the Navy Department specially, which 
are progressing very favorably." Having run the blockade into a 
Confederate port, they were quickly to become cruisers "fully able to 
repeat the operations of the TALLAHASSEE." Mallory told Bulloch to 
choose any common name for her to run the blockade; her permanent name 
was to be WACCAMAW.

But, "upon the eve of events fraught with the fate of the Confederacy," 
Mallory was forced to advise Bulloch 1 March 1865: "You will have to 
dispose of the other two steamers as best you can for the public 
interests, and send us two light-draft, handy vessels instead of them 
... With light-draft vessels we could at once place cotton abroad."

They were to be iron hulls, twin-screw, and each to be driven by two 
pairs of 130-hp. disconnected engines. [cf. AJAX and HERCULES infra.]

AGRIPPINA

Bark:
t. 285;
l. 97';
b. 24'4";
dph. 16'5"

AGRIPPINA was a British bark built at Scarborough by the Tindall yard in 
1834 and engaged in the Mediterranean trade when bought or chartered 
secretly by the Confederacy in 1862; she acted as the first and 
principal tender to the raider ALABAMA throughout her meteoric career. 
One distinguishing mark recorded of her is hull painted "black with a 
yellow bead along the sides."

Orders of "8 July 1862 written by Commander Bulloch and signed by the 
ostensible "owner," Mr. A. Hamilton, St. Helen's Place, London, told 
British Capt. Alexander .McQueen-whom the U.S. Consul dubbed "a most 
active rebel agent"-to proceed to Praya, Island of Terceira in the 
Azores and await the ENRICA (ALABAMA) which he should recognize when she 
should "stop a white English ensign to the after shroud of the main
rigging * * * you will answer with your number, after which you can 
communicate freely." Captain McQueen was told that Capt. Matthew S. 
Butcher (master until relieved by Semmes at Praya) would give him 
written orders thereafter but, "You are to consider all orders from the 
commander of the steamer ALABAMA] as authorized by us, with or without 
any other letter of advice. "

Later AGRIPPINA coaled and rearmed ALABAMA at uninhabited Blanquilla 
Island in the Caribbean, at Praya again in mid-January 1864, and 
elsewhere, while Federal cruisers searched in her wake all over the 
Caribbean and South Atlantic. Once in May-June 1863 USS MOHICAN and 
ONWARD cornered both AGRIPPINA and CASTOR (GEORGIA'S tender) in Bahia 
and stayed there in Brazilian waters until their presence forced the two 
barks to sell their coal and gunpowder in consideration of a clearance 
from the port; AGRIPPINA loaded "pecava" and rosewood for London, thus 
being unable to meet Semmes at the Cape of Good Hope as ordered.

AID

Sch

AID a schooner of Mobile, Ala., was captured by a boat expedition from 
USS NIAGARA off Mobile on 5 June 1861. She was sunk by Union forces to 
obstruct the pass at the east end of Santa Rosa Island in August 1861.

Str;
a. 1 42-pdr.

AID bought by private individuals in 1861 for the express purpose of 
driving off the Union blockading ships in defense of Charleston, often 
carried the British Consul out of Charleston Harbor to visit British 
ships over the bar. In addition to her crew of six or eight, she was 
reported to carry out Charleston pilots who would gather information 
vital to ships interested in running the blockade of that port. In 
November 1862 it was reported that her engines like those of LADY DAVIS 
had been removed to power the ironclad rams PALMETTO STATE and CHICORA.

AIKEN, WILLIAM, see PETREL

Page 494

AIKEN, see PETREL

AJAX 

ScStr: 
t. 515; 
l. 170'; 
b. 25'; 
dph. 
12'6"; 
dr. 7'6"; 
s. 12 k.;
a. des. for 1 9" r., 1 8" r.

AJAX and her sister, HERCULES, were twin-screw, iron gunboats built 
under contract of 14 September 1864 with an old-line, Scottish yard, 
William Denny & Brothers, Dumbarton, for 17,500 pounds. "Designed as 
towboats to deceive Federal spies," they were the smaller pair ordered 
with ADVENTURE (q.v.) and ENTERPRISE, powered by "two pair of 120-
horsepower collective" engines. Secretary of the Navy Mallory said they 
would "require insignificant alterations to convert them into 
serviceable gunboats for local work."-merely "fill up the space between 
the beams and add a few permanent stanchions under the permanent 
position of the guns."

Mallory wrote Commander Bulloch at Liverpool, 30 July 1864: "We require 
for the port of Wilmington two small steamers with low-pressure engines 
for service in and about the harbor. Their draft should not exceed ... 7 
feet 6 inches, and it would be well if they could have at least 18 
inches or 2 feet drag, so that they might be tipped by the head when 
they get ashore. With this light draft and pressure, two screws would be 
necessary to give them high speed.

"It is proposed to place upon them a single-pivot gun, weighing about 5 
tons, on a circle, and the arrangements for quarters, etc., should be 
designed accordingly ... [or] a pivot gun forward and aft ... at least 
one large-shell gun, say a IX-inch pivot ... They should be small, snug, 
strong, fast, and handy vessels for quick working with light crews ... 
dimensions and details are left to your judgment. Four commission and 
six warrant officers would probably be required for each."

Bulloch reporting the contract signing to Mallory, 16 September, 
revealed: "They will be very strongly built, with heavy decks and beams, 
so as to carry a gun at each end, of from 5 to 6 tons weight, and the 
internal and deck arrangements will be such as to suit them for gun 
vessels, and yet not to excite suspicion. They will be designed for a 
sped of 12 knots on a draft of 7 feet 6 inches aft, but can be loaded to 
8 feet 6 inches with safety as seagoing boats ... one [AJAX] to be 
delivered on January 1, 1865, and the other [HERCULES] 6 weeks later."

A Briton, Captain Adams, was in command, representing "Mr. Denny the 
ostensible owner," in order to hold AJAX' mercantile register, but Lt. 
John Low, CSN, went along as "supercargo" and actual commander, under 
orders to take over officially at Nassau. AJAX slipped out of the Clyde 
12 January 1865 for the Bahamas via Madeira. but apparently the shadows 
of impending Confederate defeat deterred her; finis is written in 
Mallory to Bulloch, 1 March 1865: "A notice of the arrival of the AJAX 
at a port in Ireland has reached me through the United States papers, 
but no further advices as to her or the HERCULES or other vessels have
come to hand."

ALABAMA

ScSlp:
t. 1,050;
l. 220';
b. 31'8";
dph. 17'8";
dr. 14';
s. 13 k.;
cpl. 145;
a. 6 32-pdrs., 1 110-pdr., 1 68-pdr.

CSS ALABAMA was a screw sloop-of-war built at Lairds dockyard, 
Liverpool, England, in 1862 for the Confederacy. The famous Hull "290" 
was launched under the name ENRICA, put to sea from Liverpool on 29 July 
1862 and proceeded to Porto Praya in the Azores where Captain R. Semmes, 
CSN, and her other officers boarded and fitted her out as a cruiser. She 
was commissioned at sea off Terceira, Azores on 24 August as the 
Confederate cruiser ALABAMA.

Semmes spent the next 2 months in the North Atlantic where he captured 
and burned some 20 ships, including a dozen whalers. From there he 
departed for the Newfoundland Banks to intercept American grain ships  
bound for Europe, and thence to the West Indies and the coast of Texas 
where he sank HATTERAS and captured her crew. Cruising along the coast 
of Brazil, he used the desolate island of Fernando de Noronha as a base. 
Shrewdly calculating the length of time necessary for word of his deeds 
to reach the United States Government, Semmes next put in at Cape Town 
and sailed for the East Indies where he spent 6 months and destroyed 7 
ships before redoubling the Cape en route to Europe. Arriving at 
Cherbourg, France, on 11 June 1864, he hoped to be allowed to dock and 
overhaul his ship.

As Semmes awaited permission from French authorities, KEARSARGE, Capt. 
J. A. Winslow commanding, arrived at Cherbourg, brought there by word of 
ALABAMA's presence. KEARSARGE took up a patrol at the harbor's entrance 
awaiting Semmes' next move. ALABAMA's log for 15 June 1864 tells 
succinctly of her skipper's decision:

"The admiral sent off his aid-de-camp to say to me that he considered my 
application for repairs withdrawn upon making application for coal, to 
which I assented. We commenced coaling this afternoon. The KEARSARGE is

495

still in the offing. She has not been permitted to receive on board the 
prisoners landed by me, to which I had objected in a letter to the 
admiral. Mailed a note yesterday afternoon for Flag-Officer Barron, 
informing him of my intention to go out to engage the enemy as soon as I 
could make my preparations, and sent a written notice to the U.S. 
consul, through Mr. Bonfils, to the same effect. My crew seem to be in 
the right spirit, a quiet spirit of determination pervading both 
officers and men. The combat will no doubt be contested and obstinate, 
but the two ships are so equally matched that I do not feel at liberty 
to decline it. God defend the right, and have mercy upon the souls of 
those who fall, as many of us must. Barometer low, and weather unusually 
cold and blustering for the middle of June."

On 19 June 1864, ALABAMA stood out of Cherbourg Harbor for her last 
action. Careful of French neutrality, Winslow took KEARSARGE well clear 
of territorial waters, then turned to meet the Confederate cruiser. 
ALABAMA opened fire first while KEARSARGE held her reply until the range 
had closed to less than 1,000 yards. Steaming on opposite courses the 
ships moved around a circle as each commander tried to cross the bows of 
his opponent to deliver deadly raking fire. The battle quickly turned 
against ALABAMA, for the quality of her long stored powder and shells 
had deteriorated while KEARSARGE had been given added protection by 
chain cable triced in tiers along her sides abreast vital spaces. One 
hour after she loosed her first salvo ALABAMA had been reduced to a 
sinking wreck. Semmes struck his colors and sent a boat to KEARSARGE 
with a message of surrender and an appeal for help. KEARSARGE rescued 
the majority of ALABAMAs survivors, but Semmes and 41 others were 
picked up by the British yacht DEERHOUND and escaped in her to England.

In her 21-month cruise to the four corners of the globe, ALABAMA wrought 
havoc among United States merchant shipping, taking more than 60 prizes 
valued at nearly $6,000,000. The most famous of the Confederate 
cruisers, her capture caused the Federal Navy Department to divert 
warships from the blockade to intercepting positions at focal points on 
the world's trade routes. Northern shipowners were compelled to delay 
sailings to pay increased maritime insurance premiums and in many cases, 
to transfer ships to foreign registry. ALABAMAs exploits buoyed the 
morale of the South during some of its darkest days, and wrote a chapter 
of daring in the brief history of the Confederate States Navy. [cf. also 
TEXAS]

ALABAMA, see under JAMES BATTLE

ALABAMA, see FLORIDA

ALAMO

Str

ALAMO was employed during the course of the war primarily as a 
government transport to move troops and supplies on the Arkansas River 
between Little Rock and Van Buren, Ark. During the summer of 1863 she 
operated briefly in the area of Matagorda Bay in connection with the 
Texas Marine Department [See Annex III]

ALAR

SwStr:
t. 150 [86];
l. 134';
b. 17';
dph. 9'3"

ALAR was an iron steamer believed to have been acquired by the 
Confederacy by purchase or charter through the Fraser, Trenholm secret 
channel as a tender to CSS GEORGIA. Welsh built about 1847 at Neath in 
Glamorganshire, her bottom appears to have been coppered a decade later. 
She is listed under a Capt. J. Black in 1863, sailing out of London, 
nominal owner an "H. Maples."

ALBATROSS

SwStr:
t. 1,063;
l. 240';
b. 30';
dph. 13';
dr. 10';
cl. ALBATROSS

ALBATROSS was the first of a pair of fast (260 nominal h.p.) ships 
designed for the Confederate Navy to the order of Fraser, Trenholm & 
Co., Liverpool, and negotiated by Comdr. James D. Bulloch, CSN. Ordered 
in the well known Birkenhead yard, she was built as Lairds Hull No. 319 
early in 1865, but it is unlikely that she was delivered in time to 
serve the Confederacy. Later she was sold to an Admiral Grenfell, RN, 
and was renamed ISABEL.

ALBEMARLE

StwStr:
t. 183

ALBEMARLE was built in 1855 at Wheeling, Va. She served the Confederates 
as a cargo ship and transport off Hatteras Inlet and New Berne, N.C. 
ALBEMARLE was captured on 15 March 1862 off New Berne by USS DELAWARE. 
Federals employed her in the same area but on 5 April, while 
transporting wounded servicemen, she accidentally ran on the piles in 
New Berne harbor and sank immediately. Being hopelessly damaged, 
ALBEMARLE's destruction was ordered by Lt. A. Murray, USN, commanding 
USS LOUISIANA.

IrcRam:
l. 152';
b. 34';
dr. 9';
a. 2 6.4" r.;
type ALBEMARLE

CSS ALBEMARLE was built in the Roanoke River at Edwards Ferry, N.C., in 
1863-64 under supervision of Comdr. J. W. Cooke, CSN, who became her 
first commanding officer. She was commissioned on 17 April 1864 and 2 
days later played the leading role in an attack on the Union forces at 
Plymouth, N.C., during which SOUTHFIELD was rammed and sunk and MIAMI,
CERES, and WHITEHEAD were forced to withdraw. The following day Plymouth 
surrendered to the Confederate forces.

On 5 May ALBEMARLE, accompanied by CSS BOMBSHELL, former United States 
Army transport, attacked a Federal squadron below Plymouth during which 
BOMBSHELL was captured, but ALBEMARLE received only damage to one gun 
and several hits on her smokestack which seriously reduced her speed. 
She was taken up the Roanoke River for repairs; before their completion, 
however, she was torpedoed and sunk by Lt. W. B. Cushing, USN
whose daring crew of 14 officers and men sailed an improvised torpedo 
boat in the night exploit of 27-28 October 1864.

ALBEMARLE was raised after the Union forces captured Plymouth. Following 
the end of hostilities, she was towed to Norfolk Navy Yard by USS CERES, 
arrived there on 27 April 1865, was condemned as a prize, and purchased 
by the Navy who sold her in October 1867.

ALENA

Slp

ALENA, a small sloop used to transport Confederate troops from Maryland 
across to Virginia, was seized in June 1861 in the Pamunkey River by 
Union forces in the steamer Mount Vernon under Lt. J. M. Prichett USN. 
She was then towed to the Navy Yard for Federal service.

Page 496

ALERT

Sch:
cpl. 31;
a. 1 32-pdr.

ALERT was a lighthouse tender seized by State authorities at Mobile, 
Ala., in 1861. During 1861-62 she served under Acting Master A. Pacetty, 
CSN, on the Mobile Station then commanded by Flag Officer V. Randolph, 
CSN.

ALEXANDRA

ScStr:
t. 124

ALEXANDRA, a prospective cruiser, was a bark-rigged, very strong, wooden 
steamer with "rakish masts, round stern, very straight stem." Built in 
the United Kingdom by William C. Miller & Sons, Liverpool, to the order 
of Charles K. Prioleau of Fraser, Trenholm & Co., the Liverpool firm 
with Charleston roots whose partner, George A. Trenholm, was the able 
Confederate Secretary of the Treasury, ALEXANDRA was built through the 
agency of Fawcett, Preston & Co. She quickly became a cause celebre in 
testing British policy toward Confederate building in British shipyards 
to fight the United States at sea.

ALEXANDRA was intended to be a gift from the Trenholm firm to the 
Confederacy. Commander Bulloch to Secretary Mallory, 30 June 1863, 
explains: "The gunboat presented to the Confederate Government by 
Messrs. Fraser, Trenholm & Co. happened to be launched on the day [7 
March 1863] the present Princess of Wales entered London, and in 
compliment or in commemoration of that event, was named ALEXANDRA ... 
while the ALEXANDRA was fitting in the Toxtetle dock the customs officer 
of this port seized her in obedience to orders from London" on 5 April 
under the "Foreign Enlistment Act." Bulloch continues bitterly, "... 
such was the apparent haste of the British authorities to carry out the 
wishes of the American minister that the  seizure was effected on 
Sunday. The ALEXANDRA ... was still the actual property of the 
contractors, Messrs. Fawcett, Preston & Co.... but the British 
authorities showed a further disposition to favor the United States 
through its officials here by causing the ship to be 'exchequered,' a 
proceeding by which there would be indefinite delay in obtaining the 
release of the ship, even if she should not be condemned, and by which 
the Government, even though it failed to prove its case, would debar the 
defendants from any right or claim for damages or costs. The trial 
resulted in favor of the defendants ... but this ship is still held 
pending the issue of the attorney-general's 'bill of exceptions,' which 
cannot be argued until November." Meanwhile the Russians had made 
overtures to buy her at a bargain from Comdr. James H. North, CSN, in 
Britain. That the Confederacy still had friends in high places is shown 
by North to Mallory, 3 July: "Judging from the speech of Sir Hugh Cairns 
and the charge of the Lord Chief Baron to the jury, anyone has a right 
to buy arms and build ships." Litigation dragged on while all 
Confederate shipbuilding in Britain marked time awaiting the decision. 
Agents such as Bulloch, North et al. shifted their sights increasingly 
to France not only as a source of ships but of new "owners" and "fences" 
for the hulls building in Britain "as a probable and very plausible 
means of security." ALEXANDRA was not released for a full year; by May 
1864 seizure of the Laird rams the previous October was ancient history 
and a scapegoat had been discovered in Clarence R. Yonge, a deserter 
from CSS ALABAMA who had turned informer. The new political climate must 
have ended hope of using ALEXANDRA as a commerce destroyer. In the 
meantime, she had become MARY of Liverpool, ostensibly a peaceful 
merchant vessel owned by Henry Lafone, another secret agent of the 
Confederacy. U.S. Consul Thomas H. Dudley, not deceived, reported to 
London, 10 July: "ALEXANDRA has had her insides taken out and houses put 
up on her decks and has sailed." He thought she would be armed in 
Bermuda or Nassau, but there is no evidence she ever

Page 497

was. Consul M. M. Jackson at Halifax telegraphed Secretary Seward, 9 
September: "Steamer Mary, formerly ALEXANDRA ... is now at Liverpool, 
Nova Scotia, and carries, as is reported, 4 guns." She had arrived that 
night in ballast from Bermuda with a crew of 24. The U.S. Consul in 
Nassau on 16 November remarked she was a "very slow boat," 8 days 
Halifax-Nassau. But her slow passage did not deter the United States 
from arranging to have her libeled at Nassau, 13 December 1864, and MARY 
was not released again until after war's end, 30 May 1865.

ALFRED ROBB

StwStr:
t. 79;
l. 114'9";
b. 20';
dph. 4';
s. 9 k.

ALFRED ROBB, built at Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1860, was used by the 
Confederates as a transport on the upper Tennessee River. She was 
captured 19 April 1862, at Florence, Ala., by USS TYLER, a unit of Lt. 
W. Gwin's division of gunboats. Her fine condition prompted the Union 
leaders to arm her with a howitzer from USS LEXINGTON and, after 
conversion and commissioning as USS ALFRED ROBB, to use her in 
transporting goods and patrolling on the Tennessee River. She briefly 
carried the name LADY FOOTE, but instruction from Flag Officer A. H. 
Foote restored the original name. She was also referred to frequently as 
ROBB in later Union correspondence.

ALICE VIVIAN, see under JAMES BATTLE

ALLIANCE

Sch

ALLIANCE, D. Ireland, master, was boarded at Eastville Va., on the night 
of 19 September 1863 by a party of 25 Confederate guerrillas under 
Acting Master J. Y. Beall, C.S. Navy. Loaded with valuable military 
stores and provisions, she was used to capture schooner J. J. HOUSEMAN 
on 21 September, as well as the schooners SAMUEL PEARSALL and ALEXANDRIA 
on the 22d. The helms of the three prizes were lashed by the Confederate 
raiders who started them over the bar at Wachapreague Inlet, Va.

On 23 September 1863, ALLIANCE was discovered in Old Haven Creek by the 
Union ships of the Potomac Flotilla. Taken under fire, she was run 
ashore where some 30 or more small boats became busily employed in 
removing her cargo. USS FREEBORN fired three shells in an effort to 
scatter the boats but could not land an armed party to stop the 
proceedings because of a heavy sea. The Richmond Globe reported cargo 
valued at approximately $10,000 was saved by the small boats before 
ALLIANCE was burned at Milford Haven in the Chesapeake Bay to prevent 
capture by Union forces.

Str

ALLIANCE was listed by the Commander of the Federal North Atlantic 
Blockade Squadron in January 1863 as being fitted out and purchased by 
the Confederate States to run the blockade at Wilmington. She was still 
on the wanted list of the Union Fleet in December of the same year, said 
to be very active on sea lanes running from Nassau and Bermuda to 
Wilmington and other Atlantic ports of the Confederacy. She was captured 
some time prior to 3 May 1861 when Acting Rear Adm. S. P. Lee was 
ordered by the Secretary of the Navy to send the prize steamer ALLIANCE 
to Boston if not already sent out.

ALLISON

Str

CSS ALLISON was employed as a transport in the James River area. While 
operating with the James River Squadron under Flag Officer J. Mitchell, 
CSN, she took an active part in the attempted passage through the 
obstructions at Trent's Reach on 23-24 January 1865. On 26 January 1865 
she collided with the steam torpedo-boat HORNET, causing that ship to 
sink.

ALONZO CHILD

SwStr:
t. 493;
l. 222';
b. 36';
dph. 6';
a. 8",10", and 6" rifles

ALONZO CHILD, which is also frequently cited as A. CHILDS or CHILDS, was 
built in 1857 at Jeffersonville, Ind., and fell under Confederate 
control in the Mississippi River area. Near Yazoo City, Miss., in May 
1863 her engines and machinery were taken out and sent to Mobile, Ala., 
for TENNESSEE (No. 2). The Confederates used ALONZO CHILD's hulk to 
obstruct the channel at Hayne's Bluff on the Yazoo River. She was found 
there in the same month by units of a Federal naval force under Acting 
Rear Adm. D. D. Porter, USN, and taken into Union service.

Page 498

AMAZON

SwStr:
t. 372;
dr. 2'

AMAZON, a high pressure, iron-hulled steamer was built at Wilmington, 
Del., in 1856, for the cotton trade. Taken into Confederate service, she 
was used in transporting material and laying torpedoes in the Savannah 
River. On 2 March 1865 she surrendered to USS PONTIAC and was sent into 
Savannah as a prize.

AMELIA, see TALLAHASSEE

AMERICA, see MEMPHIS

AMERICA (ex-GEORGIA, ex-SHANGHAI), see under Texas (corvette)

ANGLO-NORMAN

SwStr:
t. 558;
l. 176'2";
b. 29'5";
dr. 9';
cpl. 35;
a. 1 32-pdr.

ANGLO-NORMAL, built at Algiers, La., in 1850 and employed as a towboat 
by the Southern Steamship Company, New Orleans, La., was impressed for 
public service by order of the Confederate Secretary of War. The order 
was implemented by Brig. Gen. M. Lovell on 15 January 1862 when 14 ships 
were seized for the Mississippi River Defense Fleet for possible 
conversion to gunboats and rams.

At the time of the action at Forts Jackson and St. Philip, April 1862, 
ANGLO-NORMAN was not mentioned as one of the River Defense Fleet, 
however, the gunboat ANGLO-NORMAN is one of the 22 listed in the prize 
cases before arbitrators on 1 May 1862.

ANGLO-SAXON

SwStr:
t. 508;
l. 120'3";
b. 28';
dph. 11'

ANGLO-SAXON, built in New York City in 1848 and owned by the Southern 
Steamship Company, was one of 14 steamers seized in January 1862 by Maj. 
Gen. M. Lovell, CSA, under orders of the War Department. While 
participating in the defense of Forts Jackson and St. Philip on 24 April 
1862, she was taken under vigorous attack by the Union Mortar Flotilla. 
ANGLO-SAXON caught fire and drifted downstream in a sinking condition. 
The Federals seized and repaired her for use as an army transport during 
the rest of the war.

ANNA DALE

Sch:
t. 70;
a. 1 12-pdr.

The schooner, ANNA DALE was operated by the Confederates off the Texas 
coast and may have engaged in privateering. She was commanded by Master 
J. E. Stevenson when surprised and captured in February 1865 off Pass 
Cavallo, Tex., by a boarding party from USS PINOLA in charge of Acting 
Ensign J. Brown, USN. The captors set sail in her but running aground 
they set her afire on 18 February to prevent recapture.

ANNA PERRETTE

StwStr:
t. 173;
l. 130';
b. 32';
dr. 4'6"

ANNA PERRETTE, built in 1857 at Jeffersonville, Ind. operated in the 
Mississippi and Red Rivers under Confederate control from 1863 to 1865. 
During March 1865 she was permitted by Union officials to transport 
cotton from the Red River to New Orleans under a flag-of-truce. The 
Confederates seized her cargo and imprisoned her captain in late March 
1865 while ordered to treat all persons trading cotton under Yankee 
permits as spies.

APPLETON BELLE

Str

APPLETON BELLE is known to have served Confederate forces under Lt. Col. 
J. H. Miller, CSA, at Paris, Tenn., where she was burned with two other 
steamers on 7 February 1862 to prevent her falling into Union hands. All 
on board escaped safely. She may have been the 103-ton stern-wheel 
steamer built in 1856 at West Newton, Pa., which operated out of 
Pittsburgh, Pa., prior to the outbreak of Civil War.

APPOMATTOX

Tug:
a. 2 guns

APPOMATTOX, as Empire, was bought at Norfolk in 1861, converted to a 
gunboat, and assigned to the waters along the North Carolina coast, 
under the command of Lt. C. C. Simms, CSN. Appomattox helped to obstruct 
channels in the Hatteras area by towing block-ships to strategic points 
for sinking. Immediately afterward, she fought valiantly during the 
battles of Roanoke Island on 7-8 February 1862 and Elizabeth City, N.C., 
2 days later. Following the rout of the Confederate fleet in the 
Pasquotank River on 10 February 1862, APPOMATTOX tried to escape but her 
beam was 2 inches too great to let her into the lock and so prevented 
passage through the Dismal Swamp Canal. Accordingly Lieutenant Simms set 
her on fire and she blew up. [See Empire, infra.]

ARCADIA

Str

ARCADIA may have served the Confederates as a transport in the Yazoo 
River, Miss., under the control of Comdr. I. N. Brown, CSN, in charge of 
Confederate vessels in the Yazoo. Commander Brown burned and scuttled 
ARCADIA in the Yazoo River in July 1863 to keep her from falling into 
the hands of a Union naval force under Acting Rear Adm. D. D. Porter, 
USN.

ARCHER

Sch:
t. ca. 90;
a. 1 12-pdr. how.

ARCHER, a fishing schooner, was captured on 24 June 1863 off Portland, 
Maine, by the bark TACONY under Lt. C. W. Read, CSN. Realizing that the 
U.S. Navy was carrying on an intensive search for his raiding ship, 
Lieutenant Read, in order to elude his pursuers, transferred his force 
to ARCHER and burned TACONY.

ARCHER was piloted into Portland, Maine, by two unsuspecting fishermen 
from whom Lieutenant Read learned of the presence in port of the U.S. 
Revenue Cutter CALEB CUSHING. In the early morning hours of 27 June, 
Read and his men quietly boarded and seized CALEB CUSHING, and locked 
her crew below in irons. It was Read's plan to get the cutter away from 
Union shore batteries and then return before daylight and set fire to 
merchant shipping in the harbor. ARCHER with three of Read's men on 
board, and CALEB CUSHING with the rest of Read's crew were unable to 
clear the Union forts before daybreak and found it impossible to return 
to carry out their plan

About 20 miles at sea in late morning of 27 June CALEB CUSHING, 
surrounded by Federal ships, was fired by Lieutenant Read to prevent 
capture. He and his prisoners in small boats surrendered to the steamer 
FORREST

Page 500

Yazoo River, encountered the ram and a spirited engagement took place. 
QUEEN OF THE WEST got away but CARONDELET, Comdr. Henry Walke, USN, 
exposed his unprotected stern to ARKANSAS' efficient fire long enough to 
be put out of command and went aground; ARKANSAS, of deeper draft, could 
not ram her there but was already too close aboard to use her guns to 
finish off CARONDELET ("could train our guns laterally very little"). 
Furthermore Brown maintained afterward that Walke had struck his colors, 
which the latter hotly denied. ARKANSAS, under the circumstances, 
properly pursued Tyler instead, inflicting heavy casualties.

Entering the Mississippi, ARKANSAS ran through the Union fleet to take 
refuge under the Vicksburg batteries, but she was heavily damaged and 
sustained many casualties.

Gift noted that since her boilers were "not lined on the fire-front with 
non-conducting material * * * the whole mass of iron about the boilers 
became red hot." Brown further explained, "The connections between the 
furnace and smoke-stack (technically called the breechings) were shot 
away, destroying the draught and letting the flames come out into the 
shield, raising the temperature to 120 degrees, while it had already 
risen to 130 degrees in the fire-room * * * We went into action with 120 
pounds of steam * * * came out with 20 pounds."

Admiral Farragut reported, "it was so dark by the time we reached the 
town that nothing could be seen except the flashes of the guns." In the 
heavy cannonade as Farragut's ships continued down the river below 
Vicksburg, WINONA. and SUMTER were substantially damaged-probably as 
much by ARKANSAS' guns as by the shore batteries.

Confederate Secretary of the Navy Mallory said of the event: "Naval 
history records few deeds of greater heroism or higher professional 
ability than this achievement of the ARKANSAS."

Arkansas evoked amazement and praise, however grudging, from her 
adversaries also: Walke wrote, "Strange to say, the ARKANSAS, in spite 
of her strength and weight, is quite fast-nearly as much so as the 
TYLER. * * * Her bow is made sharp * * * and her stern tapers so as to 
permit the water to close readily behind her. In the center of her hull 
she is broad and of great capacity, and for nearly 80 feet along the 
middle she is almost flat-bottomed, like an ordinary freight or 
passenger boat on the Western waters.

"The engines of the ARKANSAS are low pressure and of 900 H.P., all 
placed below the water-line, and well protected from injury by hostile 
missiles. Her cylinders are said to be 24" diameter and 7-foot stroke. 
She is provided with two propellors, working in the stern and acting 
independently. * * * 7 feet in diameter and are each provided with 4 
wings or flanges, and are capable of making 90 revolutions to the 
minute. In consequence of the independent action of the engines, one 
propellor can be revolved forward while the other is reversed, thus 
permitting the boat to be turned in little more than her own length.

"Forward she carries an enormous beak of cast iron, which is so made 
that the entire bow of the boat fits into it like a wedge into a piece 
of timber. * * * A sharp cast-iron beak, about 3 feet deep on her stem, 
projecting 4 feet therefrom, and clasping the bow 6 feet on either side, 
and bolted through solid timber about 10 feet. Her cut-water was heavily 
iron-shod. * * * The supporting sides of this beak are perforated in 
numerous places, to admit huge bolts that pass completely through the 
bow and are riveted at either end. The entire beak weighs 18,000 pounds, 
and is of sufficient strength to penetrate the hull of any war vessel on 
the river. The sides of the boat are of 18 inches solid timber, and, 
with their mail covering of railroad and plate iron are proof against 
any but the heaviest projectiles. * * * Thoroughly covered with T-rail 
iron upon heavy timber bulwarks, and cotton pressed casementing, almost 
impervious to shot. Her port-holes were small, with heavy iron 
shutters."

Another of her officers, Actg. Master's Mate John A. Wilson, CSN, 
preserved for posterity that ARKANSAS "being painted a dull brown color 
could not be seen at a distance." Her protective coloration attracted 
Admiral Farragut's attention also: "The ram is chocolate color, very 
low." Gift said, "Our sides were the color of rust.

On 22 July ESSEX and QUEEN OF THE WEST ran down past Vicksburg and 
unsuccessfully attacked ARKANSAS. Again on 6 August 1862 she was engaged 
by ESSEX about 5 miles above Baton Rouge, La. Plagued by engine

Page 501

trouble, she was unable to fight or flee and drifted ashore. There she 
was abandoned and fired to prevent capture.

ARROW Str: a. 1 32-pdr.

ARROW was seized by the Governor of Louisiana in 1861 and turned over to 
the Confederate Army. Fitted out as a gunboat, ARROW operated in 
Mississippi Sound protecting the water route between New Orleans and 
Mobile. On 13 July 1861 she steamed in company with OREGON to the 
vicinity of Ship Island Light where they sought unsuccessfully to lure 
USS MASSACHUSETTS under the shore batteries. She aided in removing 
Confederate troops from Ship Island, Miss., during September 1861. When 
the Confederacy evacuated New Orleans in April 1862 she sailed up the 
West Pearl River. There on 4 June 1862 she was burned to prevent 
capture.

Str

ARROW, a tug, was operated by the Virginia State Navy at Norfolk, Va. 
early in 1861. She was ordered on picket duty in the vicinity of Craney 
Island under command of Lt. Peter U. Murphey. Deemed "inefficient" as a 
picket she may have rendered towing service in that area. There is no 
evidence that she was actually taken into the Confederate States Navy.

ATALANTA, see TALLAHASSEE

ATLANTA

IrcRam:
t. 1,006;
l. 204';
b. 41';
dr. 15'9";
s. 7 to 10 k.;
cpl. 145:
a. 2 7" r., 2 6.4" r.

CSS ATLANTA was originally the English blockade runner FINGAL, built at 
Glasgow, Scotland, in 1861. She was procured by the Confederate 
Government in 1862 and converted into an ironclad ram at Savannah by 
Messrs. N. and A. F. Tift. This vessel, with Commander W. McBlair, CSN, 
in command, was active on the Savannah station, usually flying the flag 
of Commodore Tattnall, who lived ashore in Savannah. On 17 June 1863 she 
was captured at dawn in Wassaw Sound, Ga., by monitors WEEHAWKEN and 
NAHANT.

ATLANTIC

SwStr:
t. 623 or 660

ATLANTIC was a wooden steamer, one of 14 belonging to Charles Morgan's 
Southern S. S. Co. seized for "public service" by order of Brig. Gen. 
Mansfield Lovell at New Orleans, 14 January 1862. Surprisingly, she 
became a Government-owned blockade runner instead of a gunboat: Her 
engines being low-pressure-easier to protect against shot and offering 
relative fuel economy-would have made her a logical choice for a 
cottonclad, but General Lovell the following day found her "small and 
poor" and asked for Galveston (q.v.) in her place. Apparently Secretary 
of War Benjamin honored his request, for Atlantic, under Captain Smith, 
turned up in Havana, 19 April, and again in May and September, with over 
1,000 bales of cotton. The U.S. Consul in Havana mentions her again in 
June 1863 as leaving for Nassau. It is not altogether clear when her 
name was changed to Elizabeth under British registry, Capt. Thomas J. 
Lockwood; owned by the Confederacy's secret office abroad, Fraser, 
Trenholm & Co., Liverpool. Her operations changed to Wilmington, N.C., 
running in there 24 September 1863 she grounded and was burned to escape 
capture at Lockwood's Folly in the Cape Fear River. 12 miles from Fort 
Caswell.

Page 502

AUGUSTA (ex-MISSISSIPPI., ex-YEDDO), See under TEXAS (corvette)

AUSTIN

SwStr:
t. 1,160 gr, 604 dw.;
l. 200' bp.;
b. 34';
dph. 10';
dr. 8';
s. 7-10 k.

AUSTIN was an iron side-wheeler, Harlan & Hollingsworth's Hull 65, built 
on the Delaware at Wilmington in 1859, sailing on the New Orleans-
Galveston line of Southern S. S. Co. and similar to ARIZONA, with 
vertical beam engine. Seized at New Orleans by order of Secretary of War 
Benjamin, 14 January 1862, as one of 14 steamers belonging to the 
Charles Morgan interests, she apparently was intended for a gunboat by 
Maj. Gen. Mansfield Lovell, CSA, but ended as a Government-owned 
blockade-runner under Master's Mate Charles Fowler, CSN, formerly 
commanding CSS NEPTUNE. She was unarmed when captured by USS METACOMET 
off Mobile Bay, 6 June 1864, operating under British registry as DONEAL, 
her name also in the U.S. Navy, where she finished out the war. She 
served the Morgans again from 1865 to 1876.

AZUMA, see STONEWALL