H. D. MEARS StwStr: t. 338 H. D. MEARS, also known as MEARS and MEARES, and not infrequently confused in Union dispatches with the MARS, was built in 1860 at Wheeling, Va. She was among the Confederate steamers active in western waters through August 1863 when the Confederates scuttled her in the Sunflower River to escape capture by Porter’s forces. H. J. KING, see HENRY J. KING H. L. HUNLEY SS: l. 40’; b. 3 1/2’; dph. 4’; s. 2 1/2 mph.; cpl. 9; [McClintock, James R., in a letter to Matthew F. Maury, 1868, in a collection of Matthew F. Maury’s papers, Vol. 46, Folios 9087 through 9094, Library of Congress.] SS: l. 30’; b. 4’; dph. 5’; s. 4 mph.; cpl. 9; [Alexander, William A. “The HUNLEY”, in the Mobile Daily Herald, July 6, 1902; contains author’s recollection of ship’s dimensions. The submarine H. L. HUNLEY was privately built in the spring of 1863 in the machine shop of Park and Lyons, Mobile, Ala., under the direction of Confederate Army Engineers, Lt. W. A. Alexander and G. E. Dixon, 21st Alabama Volunteer Regiment, from plans furnished by Horace L. Hunley, James R. McClintock and Baxter Watson. H. L. HUNLEY was fashioned from a cylindrical iron steam boiler as the main center section, with tapered ends added, and expressly built for hand-power. She was designed for a crew of 9 persons, eight to turn the hand-cranked propeller and one to steer and direct the boat. A true submarine, she was equipped with ballast tanks at each tapered end which could be flooded by valves or pumped dry by hand pumps. Iron weights were bolted as extra ballast to the underside of her hull; these could be dropped off by unscrewing the heads of the bolts from inside the submarine if she needed additional buoyancy to rise in an emergency. H. L. HUNLEY was equipped with a mercury depth gage, was steered by a compass when submerged, and light was provided by a candle whose dying flame would also warn of dwindling air supply. When near the surface, two hollow pipes equipped with stop cocks could be raised above the surface to admit air. Glass portholes in the combings of her two manholes were used to sight from when operating near the surface with only the manholes protruding above the water. Her original armament was a floating copper cylinder torpedo with flaring triggers which was towed some 200 feet astern. the submarine to dive beneath the target ship, surface on the other side, and continue on course until the torpedo struck the ship and exploded. After successful trials under Lieutenant Dixon in Mobile Bay, General Beauregard ordered railway agents on 7 August 1863 to expedite H. L. HUNLEY to Charleston for the defense of that city. She arrived in Charleston on two flat-cars and under the management of part-owners, B. A. Whitney, J. R. McClintock, B. Watson and others unknown. B. A. Whitney was member of the Secret Service Corps of the Confederate States Army, his compensation to be half the value of any Union property destroyed by torpedoes or submarine devices. Finding the intended target, Union blockader NEW IRONSIDES, in too shallow water for the submarine to pass beneath her keel, the torpedo- on-a-towline was abandoned in favor of a spar torpedo which was a copper cylinder holding 90 pounds of powder and equipped with a barbed spike. The submarine would drive the torpedo into the target by ramming, back away, and by a line attached to the trigger, explode the charge from a safe distance. The submarine was based at Battery Marshall, Breach Inlet, Sullivan’s Island, in Charleston Harbor where smooth waters of interior channels were particularly favorable to the operations of the under-powered submarine which could at best, make only about four knots in smooth water. H. L. HUNLEY was soon given to a volunteer crew of Confederate sailors commanded by Lt. J. A. Payne, CSN, of CSS CHICORA. After several dives about the harbor on 29 August 1893, the submarine moored by lines fastened to steamer ETIWAN at the dock at Fort Johnson. The steamer unexpectedly moved away from the dock, drawing H. L. HUNLEY on her side and she filled and went down. Five seamen of the CSS CHICORA were officially reported to have drowned but Lieutenant Payne and two others escaped. The submarine was raised, and on 21 September 1863, turned over to Horace L. Hunley for fitting out and manning. He brought a crew from Mobile which had previous experience in handling the submarine and was to be headed by Lt. G. E. Dixon, 21st Alabama Volunteers, CSA. In the absence of Lieutenant Dixon, 15 October 1863, Hunley took charge of the submarine for practice dives under the Receiving Ship INDIAN CHIEF. After several successful dives, the submarine again went under INDIAN CHIEF but air bubbles traced the downward course of the submarine which failed to surface. Hunley and his entire crew of seven lost their lives as the water was Page 532 nine fathoms deep and nothing could immediately be done to aid them. H. L HUNLEY was raised and reconditioned by Lt. G. E. Dixon and Lt. W. A. Alexander but General Beauregard refused to permit her to dive again. She was fitted with a “Lee spar-torpedo” and adjusted to float on the surface, being ballasted down so that only her manholes showed above the water. For more than 3 months the submarine went out an average of 4 nights a week from Battery Marshall, Beach Inlet, Sullivan’s Island. Steering compass bearings taken from the beach on Federal ships taking anchor for the night, she failed time and time again because of circumstances: the distance of the closest blockader often 6 to 7 miles away, the conditions of tide, wind and sea, or physical exhaustion of her crew who sometimes found themselves in danger of being swept out to sea in the underpowered craft. Then on the night of 17 February 1864 she found her destiny in the Federal steam sloop-of-war HOUSATONIC anchored in about 27 feet of water some 2 miles from Battery Marshall in the north channel entrance to Charleston Harbor. Approaching silently through calm waters, H. L. HUNLEY made a daring attack in bright moonlight and approached within a hundred yards of the blockader before HOUSATONIC’s lookouts spied the Confederate craft. By the time observers determined she was not a log or other harmless object, she was so close that the heavy guns of HOUSATONIC could not be depressed sufficiently to come to bear. She approached the keel of her victim at right angles and came under small arms fire from the watch officers and men of the HOUSATONIC. HOUSATONIC slipped her cable in great haste to try to back away. Her maneuver proved vain as H. L. HUNLEY’s torpedo struck home under water just abaft the mizzenmast. There was a stunning crash of timbers and a muffled explosion like the report of a 12-pound howitzer and a severe shock. Some of HOUSATONIC’s crew reported pieces of timber hurtling to the top of the mizzenmast itself while a dark column of smoke rose high in the sky. HOUSATONIC, in shallow water, settled rapidly to the bottom as all her crew, save five who were killed by drowning or explosion, scrambled to the safety of the rigging which remained above the water’s surface. H. L. HUNLEY failed to return from her mission. The exact cause of her loss is not known; she may have gone down beneath HOUSATONIC; or in backing away, been swamped by waves caused by her sinking victim; or she may have been swept out to see. In giving their lives the heroic crew wrote a new page in history-the first submarine to sink a warship in combat-and cast a shadow far ahead to the enormous new power of seapower in undersea war. H. R. W. HILL SwStr: t. 602 H. R. W. HILL, also known as HILL, was built in 1852 at New Albany, Ind., and employed by the Confederates as a transport in the Mississippi River area. Under Captain Newell she participated in the Battle of Belmont, Mo., on 7 November 1861. As part of the force under Maj. Gen. L. Polk, CSA, she stood fearlessly at her post while under heavy Union fire ready to transport troops back and forth across the river in the course of the battle. H. R. W. HILL fell into Union hands at the Battle of Memphis on 6 June, 1862. HABANA, see SUMTER HALIFAX StGbt: l. 91’ HALIFAX, a steam towboat completing as a gunboat at the Confederate Navy Yard, Halifax, N. C., was taken captive on the ways, 12 May 1865, when forces under Comdr. W. H. Macomb, USN, in SHAMROCK advanced up the Roanoke River. Commodore Macomb commended Carpenter Mark W. Paul, USN, “who managed, with the small means at his command, to launch this craft without any injury, though on account of the low state of the river the vessel was full 30 feet above the level and only a few yards distant from the bank. The ways he constructed are 200 feet long and very steep.” She was toward to Norfolk by CERES about 25 June and was in Philadelphia 18 July. HALIFAX does not appear further in published naval records. HALLIE JACKSON PvtrBrig Privateer brig HALLIE JACKSON is alleged to have been built in 1860 of the strongest available materials-white and live oak, copper fastened-to the specifications of a B. S. Sanchez of Savannah. Sanchez applied for a letter of marque 18 April 1861, one of the first two citizens to do so under President Jefferson Davis’ 17 April proclamation, although he expressed his preference for selling HALLIE JACKSON for $9,000 “as a coast guard.” [cf. Annex I] More important, there seems to be no particular reason to challenge Mr. Sanchez’ claim that, “This vessel has the exalted honor of having hoisted the first Confederate flag within the limits of a foreign country ... for one week while in the port of Matanzas [Cuba] ... although not yet recognized, it was respected.” But HALLIE JACKSON never got back to Georgia to arm: en route she was captured by USS UNION and sent to New York for condemnation by the prize court. HAMPTON ScGbt: dp. 166; l. 106’; b. 21’; dph. 8’; dr. 5’; cl. HAMPTON CSS HAMPTON was a wooden gunboat built at Norfolk Navy Yard in 1862 and based there until May when the yard was abandoned and the fleet moved up the James River. With Lt. J. S. Maury, CSN, in command, HAMPTON participated in significant river actions including Page 533 the battle at Dutch Gap on 13 August 1864; operations against Fort Harrison, 29 September-1 October; and the engagement at Chaffin's Bluff, 22 October. HAMPTON was burned by the Confederates as they evacuated Richmond on 3 April 1865. HAMPTON Class: Known as "Maury Gunboats," 100 of which were planned- brain children of Comdr. Matthew Fontaine Maury, CSN, the father of hydrography. These "Jeffersonian-type" gunboats were a "contemporary manifestation of a recurrent theory that wars may be fought economically with mosquito fleets." Flag Officer L. M. Goldsborough, USN, wrote Secretary Welles, 14 February 1862, "I forward herewith a very remarkable letter [19 January] from Mr. M. F. Maury, late of our Navy, to Flag Officer Lynch, which was found among the papers of the latter gentleman when his vessel, the SEA BIRD, was captured by our forces ... [Enclosure: Comdr. George] 'Minor has the guns in hand, most of the engines and boilers are provided for and by the end of this week I hope to be able to say that in 90 days or less all the hulls will be ready for the machinery ... for 100 steam launches ... A call has been made upon the Army for a transfer to us of all the sailors in the State [N.C.], and a law has been passed offering a bounty of $50 ... also a law for the appointment of 50 lieutenants and masters ... considering ... that all the vessels are steamers of the same model and that they are intended for bay and river navigation only, I think that we can manufacture a pretty good set of officers and capital guns' crews ... I expect my son John [v. penult. para. supra], your pet, here in a day or two. I shall propose to him to try for a master's place in one of these boats ... At any rate, if you can take him as a supernumerary and work him up as a middy, requiring him to do any and everything, it will be the "very dandy" ... The boat that is at present proposed as the model for all is 21 feet beam, 112 feet long, and 6 feet draft, with 171 tons and an armament of a 9-inch gun forward and a 32-pounder aft. I am protesting with all my might against such a large boat and such a feeble stern gun.' " Surprisingly, no drawings have come to light to support the very detailed specifications extant, despite the notation thereon that "the inboard plans will be furnished by the Department," for many sets must have been issued. Individual yards may have made minor modifications, but nothing approaching what Maury himself sought. Only HAMPTON and NANSEMOND saw service, NORFOLK, PORTSMOUTH and others being burned on the stocks. Such mass production of "standard ships" as Maury desired was not achieved until 1918. N.B.: Sec. Mallory to Pres. Davis, 29 Mar '62 recommends that the "$2,000,000 appropriated for the [Maury] gunboats ... be expended upon building iron-clad vessels: and I suggest ... the expediency of completing those vessels already commenced according to the original design but of making iron-clad gunboats of the others as far as the appropriation will allow. Fifteen of these boats have been commenced- these vessels cannot advantageously be plated-but will be serviceable as originally designed." HANNAH Sch HANNAH was an armed schooner under Captain Jack Sands, CSA. She attempted to get over the reef into Nueces Bay on 12 October 1862 when the Federal fleet advanced on Corpus Christi, Tex. Finding the channel made dangerously narrow by a grounded steamer which was reportedly loaded with powder, Sands was unable to enter the bay and ran HANNAH ashore about 7 miles above Corpus Christi. A party of unarmed men were driven away from salvage efforts by shots from a Federal ship which anchored 400 yards out and commenced manning a boat to land an armed party. Fearing this party would cut out HANNAH, Captain Sands immediately fired her and she was consumed. HANSA SwStr: t. 257; s. 12 k. HANSA was operated by the State of North Carolina (cf. DON supra), running to Havana and Nassau for munitions out of Wilmington. She was commanded by Captains James E. Randle, T. Atkinson and Murray during the course of the war, which it may be assumed that she survived, in the absence of evidence to the contrary. She had two stacks and must have been a fast steamer when acquired by the Confederates, but she appears to have fouled her boilers-by February 1864, if not earlier-and may have been retired to less hazardous service; many steamers ruined their tubes by burning turpentine soaked cotton from their cargo to get steam for flank speed in a dire extremity such as might be encountered any or every run through the blockade. HARMONY SwTtug: t. 78; a. 2 32-pdr. r. CSS HARMONY, a small steam tug built at Philadelphia, Pa., in 1859, was placed under exclusive control of Page 534 A. B. Fairfax, Confederate Inspector General of Naval Ordnance at Norfolk Navy Yard on 24 April 1861 and was used primarily for ordnance transport throughout the war; Flag Officer Forrest, CSN, wrote in September l861, "Her services are indispensable as an ordnance transportation boat." On 30 August 1861 Commander Fairfax took command, armed her with a rifled gun and attacked sloop-of- war SAVANNAH, riding at anchor off Newport News. HARMONY inflicted considerable damage on SAVANNAH who was unable to train her guns effectively upon her attacker. HARRIET LANE [Miss Lane was Pres. Franklin Buchanan's niece and acted as First Lady in the White House during the administration of America' only bachelor First Executive.] SwStr: t. 674; l.180'; b. 30'; dr. 12'6"; s. 11 k.; a. 3 9", 2 24-pdr., 1 30-pdr. r. CSS HARRIET LANE was built for the United States Revenue Cutter Service in 1857-58 by the celebrated William H. Webb, New York, and was the only steam vessel in that service at the time. Taken over by the Navy on 17 September 1861, she performed valiant service on the Atlantic coast, the Mississippi River, and coast of Texas. Following the battle at Galveston on 1 January 1863 in which her commanding officer, Comdr. Jonathan M. Wainwright, USN, was killed, she surrendered to the Confederates. The Confederate Secretary of War turned HARRIET LANE over to the Confederate Navy Department, and Lt. J. N. Barney, CSN, was given command. She served with the Confederate Army's Marine Department of Texas [See Annex III] until 31 March 1863 when all naval officers were detached and she was turned back to the Confederate War Department. Early in 1864 she was converted into a blockade runner to carry cotton to Havana to pay for war supplies. She lay in wait at Galveston until 30 April to escape, arriving safely, only to remain idle at Havana the duration of the war under the name LAVINIA. In 1867, recovered from Cuba and taken to New York, she was converted from brigantine to bark rig and named ELLIOTT RICHIE. In 1884, being water logged, she was abandoned off Pernambuco, Brazil. HARRIET PINCKNEY ScBrig: t. 715[682]; l. 190'; b. 28'5"; dph. 17'5" HARRIET PINCKNEY (more often spelled PINKNEY in official naval records) was a fast, new, British brig, of iron with coppered bottom and a 90- horsepower auxiliary steam engine; she was completed in Richardsons yard at Middlesborough in Yorkshire, 23 July 1862, registered at London next day and was alleged to have done 18 knots on her builders' trials. Because of her sped and other characteristics she was immediately bought up by Confederate agents working through Fraser, Trenholm & Co., Liverpool, and Comdr. James D. Bulloch CSN, as secretly as possible. Her "owner," therefore, was a "Mr. Thomas Sterling Begbie of 4 Mansion House Place, London," to whom Lloyd's Register adds a "Mr. R. Hamilton" [cf. AGRIPPINA]. But "Begbie" was a red light to Consul F. H. Morse, who lost no time in relaying the new Confederate steamer's particulars to Washington: he described her as having "one deck, two masts, brig rig, elliptic stern, clench build, no gallery, no head; iron frame." He also seemed to be aware that she promptly loaded 24,000 rifles, 18 cannon and a cargo of other vital munitions in the Thames, transshipped from the SYLPH, just in from Hamburg, and was off about 9 August for Bermuda. On 8th and 9th August 1862, assiduous Consul Morse sent Secretary of State Seward sketches and descriptions of a new mine which he thought "H.P.," as she was frequently called, would certainly be carrying: these "infernal machines or torpedoes" were "an invention for destroying ships in harbor" and he warned that "if the explosion takes place at the right distance, the consequences will be most horrible." The horrendous contraptions employed an unknown "poisonous fluid and explosive balls filled with poisonous matter." While it is doubtful that this intelligence was released in Bermuda, "H.P." caused a considerable stir there on 5 October when the whole populace turned out to watch her and fellow blockade-runner MINHO try to escape, only to be chased back into port by USS SONOMA, there for that purpose. HARRIET PINCKNEY was diverted from her transport functions through the blockade when a tender was chosen for CSS RAPPAHANNOCK (q.v.) but when the raider was held indefinitely in port at Brest, "H.P." was no longer seen in the area and presumably disappeared back into the demimonde of the blockade runner to deliver essential cargoes to the Confederacy. HART Str HART, an iron-clad steamer under Lt. E. Montague, CSA, transported stores, ordnance and troops in support of Camp Bisland on Bayou Teche and in Berwick Bay, La. On 1 November 1862 she gallantly went to the assistance of Confederate gunboat J. A. COTTON in her unequal contest with Federal gunboats until ordered to resume her tow of a government sugar barge up Bayou Teche. Later in the month she transported from Camp Bisland to Petite Anse Island, four guns of a Confederate army battery for operations against Federal gunboats. She was sunk on 14 April 1863 to avoid capture when Camp Bisland, Bayou Teche, La., fell to the combined efforts of Federal gunboats and troops under Maj. Gen. N. P. Banks, USA. On 28 July 1863, an intelligence report from USS CLIFTON stated that HART had been nearly raised but sunk again on reappearance of the Federal gunboats. HARTFORD CITY Str: t. 150 HARTFORD CITY was a small river steamer built at McKeesport, Pa., in 1856 and first homeported at Cincinnati, Ohio. In May 1862 she was impressed into Confederate service out of Vicksburg, Miss., to tow rafts and other craft for obstruction of Union gunboat navigation in the Yazoo River. She later transported supplies out of that same Confederate base, but sought refuge in the Yalobusha in July 1863 as the Federal fleet took over control of the Yazoo. On 18 July 1863 Capt. A. H. Forrest, CSA, at Carrollton, Miss., was ordered to send a detachment to burn the steamboats including HARTFORD CITY, said to be located in the Tallahatchie and Yazoo Rivers. HAWLEY Sch HAWLEY was used as a Confederate transport in coastal waters of North Carolina during the latter part of 1861. HELEN Str HELEN, a small steamer employed as guard boat and transport, was burned by Confederate army troops at Pensacola in May 1862 to prevent capture. Page 535 (Slp) HELEN used in transporting Confederate provisions along the Florida coast was captured with a cargo of corn by a boat from USS SAGAMORE near Bayport on April 1863. She was then destroyed by fire. HENRY DODGE, see DODGE HENRY J. KING Str HENRY J. King, also known as H. J. KING and KING served as a Confederate transport between Selma and Mobile, Ala., during 1864. On 14 April 1865 she was captured with a valuable cargo of provisions by Union Army forces on the Coosa River, Ala., and sent in to Montgomery as a prize. HERCULES ScStr: t. 515; l. 170'; b. 25'; dph. 12'6"; dr. 7'6"; s. 12 k.; a. 1 9" r., 1 8" r. HERCULES was building on the Clyde at Denny's and presumably nearly finished at war's end in 1865 [v. AJAX supra]. (N.B.: Not to be in any way confused with the tug HERCULES which delivered arms to ALABAMA in Beaumaris Bay, Wales, in July 1862 ). HERCULES, see COLONEL LOVELL HIBBEN Str HIBBEN was operated by Confederate army forces in transporting men and materials in the vicinity of Charleston harbor during 1863-64. During the Federal attack on that city in August 1863 HIBBEN sustained damage while lying at the wharf of Fort Sumter, however, a year later army officials reported her in good condition and she apparently continued to operate. HILL, see H. R. W. HILL HILLMAN, see C. E. HILLMAN HINE, see T. D. HINE StwStr: t. 193; l. 128'; b. 34'; dr. 5' HOPE, built in Louisville, Ky., in 1855, was operated in the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers during 1862-63, successfully eluding capture by Admiral Porter's squadron until August 1863. SwStr: t. 1,800 [1,200; 1,000; 1,697bom]; l. 281.5 bp; b. 35'; dr. 11'; cpl. 66 HOPE was a "very large" and "very strong" Wilmington, N. C., iron and steel paddlewheeler, called the "finest and fastest steamer in the trade" by one observer in Britain. She was procured there for the Confederate Government shortly before or after she left the Liverpool yard of Jones, Quiggin & Co. She was Hull No. 169, sister to the noted COLONEL LAMB (q.v.), which she resembled except for the presence of the usual turtleback forward. The name HOPE was already well known from a recent blockade-runner. She could carry over 1,800 cotton bales on a draft of only 11 feet and possessed the safety factor of five watertight compartments-highly unusual in her day. She first appeared in U.S. consular dispatches 10 July as consigned to Fraser, Trenholm & Co., the Confederate Government "front" in Liverpool. USS SACRAMENTO hurried over from Cork to Falmouth to try to capture HOPE at sea but she reached Nassau unscathed early in August, having avoided Bermuda because of yellow fever raging there that summer. Two fore-and-aft engines of 350 nominal horsepower, supplied by 4 boilers, gave HOPE power to outrun most of her contemporaries. Yet she was cornered on 22 October 1864 by USS EOLUS, trying to enter Cape Fear River, the loss of her cargo and particularly her mail bags was a blow to the Confederacy. A week later she was sighted near New York bound to Boston for adjudication, under a prize master. An excellent model of HOPE is on permanent display at Mariners Museum, Newport News, Va. HORNET Str: l. 46'; b. 6'3"; dph. 3'9"; a. 1 18' spar torpedo percussion type, 5" dia.; cl. SQUIB CSS HORNET was a steam launch fitted out as a torpedo boat on the James River late in 1864. Under Master Samuel P. Blanc, CSN, she took an active part in the attempted passage through the obstruction at Trent's Reach on 23 and 24 January 1865. She sank 2 days after colliding with the flag-of-truce steamer ALLISON. "HOUSTON", see AUSTIN HOWARD, see GENERAL POLK HUNLEY, see H. L. HUNLEY HUNTRESS SwStr: t. 500; l. 230'; b. 24'6"; dr. 6'6"; s. 16-20 k. (flat calm); a. 1 to 3 guns CSS HUNTRESS was purchased in New York City in March 1861 for the State of Georgia which later relinquished her to the Confederate States Navy. Her first commanding officer was Lt. Wilburn B. Hall, CSN in that he went North to buy and bring her South; Hall was then detached and reported to SAVANNAH, being succeeded by Lt. C. Manigault Morris, CSN. HUNTRESS had been a crack Boston-Portland mail packet, "very narrow beam, low in the water, immense side-wheels, painted black", she had been built at New York City in 1838. HUNTRESS-first ship to raise the Confederate flag on the high seas, it is claimed-served on the Charleston station during 1861-62, taking part in the battle of Port Royal, S.C., 7 November 1861. During the summer of 1862 she served as a transport in Charleston harbor, taking the duty of Planter (q.v.) which fell into Federal hands. HUNTRESS had been advertised for sale in May but was not sold until 29 October, when she finally went for $133,650 to A. J. White & Son, Charleston merchants. Converting to a blockade runner, she was renamed TROPIC. Attempting to escape to sea with turpentine and cotton on 18 January 1863, she was accidentally burned off Charleston; USS QUAKER CITY rescued passengers and crew. Page 536 HUNTSVILLE IrcStFlBtry: l. 150'; dr. 7'; s. 4 k.; cpl. 40; a. 4 32-pdr.; type Heavy ALBERMARLE HUNTSVILLE, launched 7 February at Selma, was completed at Mobile Ala., and commissioned in 1863, Lt. J. Myers, CSN, in command. Although designed an ironclad she was only partially armored. Owing to defective engines and the lack of a full complement of guns HUNTSVILLE rendered no active service although she guarded the waters around Mobile. After the battle of Mobile Bay on 5 August 1864 she escaped up the Spanish River only to be sunk 12 miles from Mobile on 12 April 1866 upon the evacuation of that city. HUNTSVIILE was a propeller ordered by the Confederate Navy from Henry D. Bassett, 1 May 1862 for $100,000 and delivered about 1 August 1863. Her high-pressure engines are believed to have been transferred from a river steamer, although it had been intended to supply them from Columbus, Ga., Naval Iron Works, commanded by Lts. Julian Myers and James McC. Baker, CSN. Her armor plate was delivered at Mobile by Shelby Iron Co. and Schofield & Markham of Atlanta.