From: Dictionary of American Fighting Ships, Vol. III, 1968, Navy  

Department, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Naval History  

Division, Washington, D.C.



ISAAC SMITH



ScStr:

t. 463;

l. 171' 6";

b. 31' 4";

dph. 9';

cpl. 56;

a. 1 30-pdr. P.r., 8 8-inch D.sb.



ISAAC SMITH, built in 1851 at Nyack, N.J., as ISAAC P. SMITH, was 

purchased at New York from E. J. Hamilton



September 1861. On 16 October she was assigned to the South Atlantic 

Blockading Squadron in time to join Flag Officer S. F. Du Pont's assault 

against Port Royal, S.C. An intense hurricane occurred during the voyage 

south compelling the ship to jettison her guns. Nevertheless, she 

gallantly ignored her own distress and attempted to assist Marine Corps 

transport, GOVERNOR, which foundered off Cape Hatteras.



During a reconnaissance in force on 4 and 6 November, she engaged and 

repelled three attacking Confederate steamers and silenced batteries at 

Hilton Head and Bay Point, S.C. Two days later she towed sailing sloop 

VANDALIA into action during the landings which wrested Port Royal from 

Confederate hands providing the Union a splendid base for the fleet and 

combined operations that steadily destroyed the Confederacy.



ISAAC SMITH participated in operations against the coast of South 

Carolina until 21 January 1862 when she sailed to join the expedition to 

Savannah, Ga., led by Captain C. H. Davis, USN, and Brig. Gen. H. G. 

Wright of the Army. This operation was primarily a diversionary effort 

to cover up a projected attack on Fernandina, Fla.; but it also provided 

valuable information about Confederate defenses of the water approaches 

to Savannah, and it interrupted communications between Fort Pulaski and 

Savannah.



During the latter half of March and all of April, ISAAC SMITH was active 

in the vicinity of St. Augustine, Fla. She took possession of the post 

office there 18 March and two days later mounted a gun upon the ramparts 

of Fort Marion in a position to command the main road to the city Her 

boats captured blockade runner BRITISH EMPIRE 3 April.



ISAAC SMITH stood out of St. Augustine and entered St. John's River 4 

May to begin a period of 3 months' service in the vicinity of 

Jacksonville, Fla. Her presence there helped tighten the blockade, 

provided sanctuary for refugees, drew Southern troops away from more 

active fronts, and facilitated Union intelligence activity.



In need of repair, ISAAC SMITH sailed for New York 10 August for 

“beaching, breeming, and improvements” which kept her away from her 

squadron until 11 October. Then Rear Admiral Du Pont ordered her to the 

Stono River where she served until 30 January 1863. That day she was 

caught in a cross fire from masked shore batteries. Disabled by accurate 

fire and with her deck covered with wounded men, her captain surrendered 

the ship rather than risk their lived. Eight men were dead and 17 were 

wounded.



ISAAC SMITH served the Confederate Navy in Charleston waters under the 

name STONO until she was wrecked on the breakwater near Fort Moultrie, 

S.C., while attempting to run the blockade with a load of cotton 5 June 

1863. (q.v. “Confederate Appendix”, DANFS II, 569.) No data on salvage 

operation for STONO has been found, but the OFFICIAL RECORDS OF THE 

UNION AND CONFEDERATE NAVIES IN THE WAR OF THE REBELLION state that she 

was “burned by the Confederates at the evacuation of Charleston in 

1865.”