B. M. MOORE SwStr: t. 38; l. 81'5"; b. 17'1"; dr. 3'8"; a. 2 12-pdr. how. B. M. MOORE was a small steamer which may have served the Confederates in the Mississippi River area. She was captured on 30 September 1862 at Cairo, Ill., and transferred to the U.S. War Department as GENERAL PILLOW. She was sold for $2,000 on 25 November 1865 at an auction at Mound City, Ill. BAHAMA ScBark: t. 888 [1,530; 716]; l. 226'; b. 29'2"; dph. 20'8"; dr. 16-19' BAHAMA of London was a "very fast," iron bark-rigged propeller built in the Pearse yard at Stockton-on-Tees in 1862-in one month-most modern in design and near-sister to BERMUDA. Acquired by the Confederacy as a new ship, late the following year she became tender to CSS ALABAMA (q.v.). The U.S. Consul at London wrote, 24 February 1863, that she had sailed the 21st in ballast with a crew of 34, "double the number required for working the vessel. Her clearance was for Hong Kong, but I understand she goes to meet the ALABAMA. Cunard, Wilson & Co., the same house that cleared her before, cleared her this time. Her captain is W. Rowe. She is bound on mischief and should be captured wherever found." BAHAMA had already been transporting munitions for the Confederate Government for nearly a year. Her first load, under Capt. Eugene L. Tessier, formerly of BERMUDA was "a large and valuable cargo of cannons and small arms" from Hamburg, 27 March 1862, to Nassau via Funchal, for the U.S. Minister in Brussels was so interested in BAHAMA and her million-dollar load, "the most valuable cargo yet shipped by the rebels," that he drew a priceless sketch of the ship, thus preserved to this day in official records with a description, in unaccustomed detail, of "a new screw steamer of about a thousand tons measurement, painted black, with a narrow red stripe around her waist; yellowish-gray below the waterline; yellow houses and boats; much gilt and filigree work about her bows and stern; upper half of her chimney red, lower half black; name gilded on light blue ground on each bow and upon her stern; roofs of her houses rounded and painted white; three masts, two of them square-rigged, carrying topgallant sails; heads and yards painted black; five boats in sight." The consul in Hamburg also reported her to Secretary Seward. BAKER, see A. W. BAKER BALTIC IrcRam: t. 624; l. 186'; b. 38'; dr. 6'5"; s. 5 k.; cpl. 86; a. 2 Dahlgrens, 2 32-pdr., 2 smaller pieces CSS BALTIC, an iron and cottonclad side-wheeler, was built in 1860 as a river tow boat, and belonged to the Southern Steamship Co. She was purchased by the State of Alabama, converted to an armored ram, and turned over to the Confederate States Navy in the middle of 1862. Her first commanding officer was Lt. J. D. Johnston, CSN. Throughout the war BALTIC operated in Mobile Bay and the Mobile, Alabama and Tombigbee Rivers. Reported unfit for service in February 1863, her sinking condition prevented her joining the defense of Mobile Bay in June 1864. She was dismantled by July 1864 and her armor transferred to CSS Nashville. BALTIC was captured at Nanna Hubba Bluff, Tombigbee River, Ala., on 10 May 1865, and sold to the U.S. Government on 31 December 1865. BARATARIA StwIrcGbt: t. 400; l. 125'; dr. 3'6"; a. unknown An unaccountable blackout of information prevails as to the origin and role of little gunboat BARATARIA (as the name is consistently spelled by Army; BARRATARIA in Navy records), before she was captured by the U.S. Army at New Orleans in April 1862. It is generally accepted that she must have been ironclad under the Confederates [cf. Vol. I]: In April 1863 she was cited once as "completely covered with iron one inch thick," yet the recorded repair bill of $409.90 would scarcely cover a partial one-inch shield of mail for a vessel of any appreciable size. Confederate published documents shed no light on her during this period. The little sternwheel ironclad was transferred by Lt. Col. A. N. Shipley, USA, to Farragut's command as of New Year's 1863 and is invariably spelled BARRATARIA thereafter. On 7 April next, she met disaster at 6 a.m. on a snag in Lake Maurepas at the mouth of the Amite River, La. Alternately lightening ship and fighting off guerrillas all day with her two guns and rifle fire by Col. Thomas S. Clark and a company of the 6th Michigan Volunteers, Acting Ensign James F. Perkins, USN, and his command were unable to free BARRATARIA, even after jettisoning the bow gun and emptying her boiler. The Page 503 ship was fired at sunset, and her magazine blew up soon after all hands had escaped in small boats. Capt. Gadi Herren, CSA, of the Mississippi Cavalry, inspected her the next day and reported her "a complete wreck" but still exhibiting the numerals "291" and the remaining brass rifled gun, reporting to Colonel J. M. Simonton CSA, at Ponchatoula, he called BARATARIA (291) "one of the enemy's most formidable boats on the lake" but seemed unaware that she had been Confederate only a year ago. BARTOW, see F. S. BARTOW (Annex I) BAT SwStr: t. 771 or 330; l. 230'; b. 26'; dph. 9'6" or 10'9"; dr. 7'6"; s. 16 k.; cl. Owl BAT and her sisters-OWL, STAG, DEER-were side-wheelers, long, low, molded steel hulls, schooner-rigged, fore and aft, with two funnels. They had twin, 180-nominal h.p., vertical, double-oscillating, Watt engines and capacity for 800 to 850 bales of cotton, plus enough anthracite to return from Nassau, Havana or Bermuda. The quarto was built by Jones, Quiggin & Co., Liverpool, for Capt. James D. Bulloch, CSN, principal Confederate Navy purchasing agent in Britain. They were Government-owned ships, reporting to the Army Chief of Ordnance, were commanded by CSN captains, carried pilots and as many other CSN regulars as available-but keeping a British master to bring the ship out of the United Kingdom and "front" for them so as not to lose her mercantile register before she reached Confederate waters and until any outstanding liens were paid in full. The OWL class was the first new building program after this pattern and, despite the Army's presence in their management, Navy kept a good share of control: Secretary Mallory speaks of the OWLs as "under this Department" and of "this Department having to defray the expenses of the vessels sailing under its direction." [cf. CORNUBIA] BAT, the second ship, reached Halifax on her maiden voyage and ran down to the Cape Fear River, attempting entrance the night of 88 October 1864 with a cargo of shoe machinery and 200 tons of coal; she was turned back by the blockaders EOLUS and EMMA and chased by VICKSBURG. The morning of the 10th, Captain A. Hora, an "old blockade runner," tried again and was hit by USS MONTGOMERY in the forecastle before her speed, double that of MONTGOMERY, could save BAT. The 30-pounder amputated the leg of seaman Match Madick, an Austrian, who had been captain of the forecastle in ALABAMA during her battle with KEARSARGE; Captain Hora surrendered and called MONTGOMERY’s surgeon but Madick died. Less than a month old, BAT was taken into Beaufort and bought by the Navy from the Boston Prize Court in November for $150,000. Valuable to the Union the remainder of the war in the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, USS BAT was sold at public auction in New York, 25 October 1855. One time in March 1866 she had been Admiral Porter's flagship. Renamed TEAZER 1865-72, she next became MIRAMICHI, for the New Brunswick river, and a Canadian institution in the St. Lawrence and Gulf of Newfoundland trade, avoiding the breakers until after 1902. BAYOU CITY Str: dr. 3'; a. 1 32-pdr. BAYOU CITY, originally a mail boat that ran between Galveston and Houston, Tex., was chartered on 26 September 1861 by Comdr. W. Hunter, CSN, commanding the Texas Marine Department, from the Houston Navigation Co. Fitted with cotton cladding, she was operated by the State of Texas [See Annex III] in the area of Galveston harbor and the Trinity River until October 1862 when she was taken over by the War Department. BAYOU CITY played an important part in the battle of Galveston during which she attacked USS HARRIET LANE, ramming and boarding her to effect capture on 1 January 1863. Thereafter, the Marine Department employed her as gunboat and guardboat along the coast of Texas until the end of the war. BEAUFORT ScTug: t. 85 (80); l. 86'; b. 17'5"; dph. 6'11"; a. 1 gun CSS BEAUFORT, built at Wilmington, Del., in 1854, as CALEDONIA was put in commission at Norfolk, Va., on 9 July 186; by Lt. R. C. Duvall, North Carolina Navy, and sailed immediately for New Bern, N.C. While en route she engaged the large steamer ALBATROSS, in an inconclusive battle off Oregon Inlet. After North Carolina seceded, BEAUFORT was turned over to the Confederate States Navy and on 9 September Lt. W. H. Parker CSN, was placed in command. Thereafter she participated in the battles of Roanoke Island on 7-8 February 1862, and Elizabeth City, N.C., 2 days later. Escaping via the Dismal Swamp Canal to Norfolk, she was tender to CSS VIRGINIA (ex-MERRIMACK) off Hampton Roads, Va., on 8-9 March 1862. The Confederate Congress tendered thanks to the officers and crew for their gallantry during the action. From May 1862, BEAUFORT operated on the James River, her commander in November 1863 being Lt. W. Sharp, CSN. She served until the evacuation of Richmond 3 April 1865 when she was taken into the United States Navy. She was sold 15 September 1865. BEAUREGARD Sch: t. 101; s. 7 k.; cpl. 40; a. 1 24-pdr. rifle C. S. privateer brig BEAUREGARD, formerly the schooner PRISCILLA C. FERGUSON, owned by a group headed by A. F. W. Abrams of Charleston, S.C., was commissioned there 14 October 1861. She sailed short in complement on 5 November, commanded by Capt. Gilbert Hay as master, with two lieutenants a purser and 23 seamen. BEAUREGARD ran the blockade unobserved, although reported 24 October by a Northern shipmaster to Secretary of the Navy Welles in Washington as fitting out at Charleston along with DIXIE, destined for longer life as a privateer than BEAUREGARD. One week out of home port, Captain Hay was surprised in the Bahama Channel by U.S. bark W. G. ANDERSON, Lt. William C. Rogers, whose attention was attracted to the schooner when only 4 miles off by "many men on her decks." Rogers overhauled BEAUREGARD after a 2-hour chase and recorded that Hay "brought a letter of marque from J. Davis which he surrendered with his vessel. We put a prize master and crew on board and transferred the prisoners to our ship. * * * On boarding her the crew * * * committed all the destruction they could, throwing overboard the arms and ammunition spiking the gun, and cutting the sails and rigging to pieces. She was otherwise in bad order and poorly found. * * * Took prisoners and vessel to Key West." Arrived there the 19th, the $15,000 BEAUREGARD was in due course condemned by the prize court, sold to the U.S. Navy for $1,810 on 24 February 1862 and, name unchanged, ably served Flag Officer McKean thereafter in the Eastern Gulf Blockading Squadron. SwStr Certain references to CSN transport BEAUREGARD in official documents where area of operation is not specified, are difficult to separate from those pertaining to the larger C.S. Army steamer of the same name plying the western rivers. Apparently an old vessel whose former name has not been preserved, she was operated by the C.S. Navy carrying troops, guns and munitions Page 504 along the Georgia and South Carolina coasts. From November 1861 or earlier until Savannah fell, 21 December 1864, it is frequently noted that her services were much in demand, although neither their nature nor her particulars are precisely described. Her last known assignment, along with GENERAL LEE and JEFF DAVIS, was to tow the floating battery GEORGIA to a better position. Less than 2 weeks later she and GENERAL LEE were both captured by General Sherman's forces entering Savannah. Sch C.S. Schooner BEAUREGARD is several times referred to in Confederate records as "one of our transports," moving cargo for both Navy and Army along the Virginia-North Carolina coast early in 1862. On 4 May Capt. J. Milligan, CSA, Signal Officer at Norfolk, reported to Richmond, "Schooner BEAUREGARD, bound from City Point to Norfolk with a cargo of coal for the Virginia, was burned by the enemy off Ragged Island this morning at 2 a.m. * * *" Str Official references as early as March 1864 indicate C.S. Army steamer BEAUREGARD had been for some time an outstanding unit of the western river fleet serving the Confederate Army's Quartermaster Department. On 22 March she is mentioned as "the most valuable boat" transporting cannon and ammunition from Grand Ecore to Shreveport, La. She and steamers GENERAL QUITMAN and COUNTESS moved two divisions of infantry, cavalry and artillery across the Red River in mid-April 1866. Maj. Gen. F. J. Herron, USA, found her with the pump boat CHAMPION at Mound City, 6 June, and took possession of both. BEAUREGARD, see also GENERAL BEAUREGARD BEE, see GENERAL BEE BEEBE, see GENERAL SUMTER BELL, see JOSIAH A. BELL BELLE ALGERINE Str BELLE ALGERINE operated in conjunction with the River Defense Fleet under Capt. J. A. Stevenson at Forts Jackson and St. Philip. Following action early in April 1862 she was represented as unfit for service having sustained bow damage while landing guns at Fort St. Philip, and handling the fire rafts with which the Confederates illuminated the channel below the forts against the passage of Farragut's fleet assembled there. Comdr. Beverly Kennon in the GOVERNOR MOORE reported that during the engagement at Forts Jackson and St. Philip BELLE ALGERINE had twice run afoul of his ship and he eliminated the danger by ramming and sinking her on 24 April 1862. BEN MCCULLOCH StwStr: t. 80 BEN MCCULLOCH, a small river steamer built in 1860 at Cincinnati, Ohio, was impressed into Confederate Army transport service. Early in 1863 she conveyed supplies on the Tallahatchie and Sunflower Rivers and on Tchula Lake. Following the capture of Yazoo City by the Federals, she was one of the four remaining Confederate vessels that escaped up the Tallahatchie and Yalobusha Rivers. In July 1863 she was burned on Tchula Lake by Confederate cavalry to avoid capture. BERMUDA ScBrig: t. [888]; l. 226'; b. 29'; dph. 20'; dr. 16'-19'-see note BERMUDA was at one time in her career as a Confederate blockade runner indicated as tender to CSS FLORIDA then known as ORETO, and was expected to deliver her battery to her in Palermo, since she was officially bound there, in March and April 1862. She seems to have been the ship that made the delivery to FLORIDA in the Bahamas, under command of Capt. Eugene L. Tessier and Capt. C. W. Westendorf. BERMUDA, with 5 watertight bulkheads and first "owned" by cotton man Edward Haigh, was built, 1861 in 7 months as near-sister to BAHAMA in the same yard (the particulars given in parentheses above are based on that assumption) but is also mentioned as sister to CZAR which has not been verified. That BERMUDA and BAHAMA were true public vessels operated by the Confederate Government all or part of the war is not certain though plausible. Fraser, Trenholm & Co., Confederate agency in Great Britain, officially bought them. Note: If she was tender to FLORIDA, this ship was clearly a different BERMUDA from the one captured by USS MERCEDITA, 27 April 1862, and sent to Philadelphia for adjudication. One BERMUDA became GENERAL MEADE later. BEROSA Str BEROSA was an antiquated and worn out craft used by the Confederates to transport cargo. While sailing from St. Mary's River on 8 April 1863 she sprang a leak and defied attempts to save her. BEROSA was abandoned in the Gulf Stream at latitude 29ø50', longitude 79ø50'. BERWICK BAY Str: t. 64 BERWICK BAY was a steamer engaged in transporting supplies for the Confederates in the Mississippi River area. She was captured and destroyed on 3 February 1863 by Ellet's Ram Fleet as she came out of the Red River heavily laden with supplies for Port Hudson. BIENVILLE SwStr: a. 5 guns; cl. BIENVILLE BIENVILLE was a light draft steamer "substantially built" of yellow pine and white oak under contract by John Hughes and Co., at Bayou St. John, La., in 1861-62. Collaborating and inspecting for the Government in the Hughes yard was S. D. Porter, Acting Constructor, CSN. She was launched in February 1862 and delivered on 5 April. Her commanding officer was Lt. C. B. Poindexter, CSN. On 21 April 1862, as the battle of New Orleans impended, BIENVILLE was still without a crew consequently her officers were obliged to destroy her in Lake Pontchartrain to prevent capture. BLACK DIAMOND SwStr: l. 156'; b. 48'; dph. 5'6" BLACK DIAMOND was constructed in 1865 for river navigation. She was one of four ships that were surrendered formally on 10 May 1865 by Commodore E. Farrand, commanding Confederate Naval Forces in the State of Alabama, at Nanna Hubba Bluff in the Tombigbee River. As she was not suitable to Navy use, BLACK DIAMOND was sold by December 1865. Page 505 BLACK WARRIOR Sch.: a. 2 32-pdr. BLACK WARRIOR was a large schooner pressed into service by the Confederate to assist in the defense of Roanoke Island on 7-8 February 1862 and Elizabeth City, N.C., 2 days later. She was commanded by Acting Master F. M. Harris, CSN. At the end of the fighting on 10 February she was set on fire to prevent capture by Union forces. Her crew escaped through the marshes of the Pasquotank River. BLACK WARRIOR, see ENTERPRISE BLANCHE, see GENERAL RUSK BLUE WING SwStr: t. 170 BLUE WING, employed by Confederates near Helena, Ark. in November 1862, was found to be carrying contraband for planters. In December 1862 she was seized for violating the river blockade and then employed as a Union army transport. In late December 1862 while towing army coal she was fired upon by the Confederates near Napoleon. Her captain being sympathetic to the southern cause ran her into the bank and there delivered her over to them. BOMBSHELL Str: l. 90'; dr. 3'6"; cpl. 37; a. 3 how., 1 20-pdr. BOMBSHELL-believed to have been an Erie Canal steamer-as a U.S. Army transport was sunk by the Confederate batteries in Albemarle Sound, N.C., on 18 April 1864. She was raised by the Confederate forces and taken into their navy under the command of Lt. A. G. Hudgins, CSN. BOMBSHELL was recaptured in Albemarle Sound by MATTABESETT and SASSACUS on 5 May 1864 and sent to New York. BOSTON ScTug: dr. 6'-9' est. BOSTON was a U.S. naval towboat captured by Acting Master James Duke, CSN, in a famous exploit, 8 June 1863, in Pass a l'Outre, La. Duke and his men left Mobile in a launch, 28 May, and returned there in triumph in Boston, 11 June, with 19 prisoners-crewmen from three captured ships the other two, barks LENOX and TEXANA, were burned and sunk. From the latter part of August 1863 until the next February the Federal blockading squadron was keeping close watch outside Mobile to intercept Boston, believed to be armed as a privateer [see Annex I] with 2 to 5 boat howitzers, hull "painted lead color" and ready to escape with "a double crew of 56 men" through Grant's Pass. She had been lengthened about 25 feet, but delayed by fire damage on the ways a mile above Mobile; when this was done is not altogether clear, nor is there agreement on BOSTON's speed and draft among Union sources, on which we now depend largely for data on her. Capt. Thornton A. Jenkins, USN, commanding off Mobile in mid-January 1864, thought she "appeared to be fast (when seen in the bay)". It is not fully established whether this was the BOSTON that fell prize 8 July 1864, between Bermuda and Wilmington, to USS FORT JACKSON. [cf. Cutter Teaser infra] BRACELET SwStr: t. 169 BRACELET, a steamer built in 1857 at Louisville, Ky. was outfitted with cotton-cladding by the Confederates who used her as a transport in the White and Arkansas Rivers during the early part of 1863. BRADFORD Gbt BRADFORD was used by the Confederates as a storeship at Pensacola, Fla., in early 1862, and as part of the defense of Deer Point before its evacuation in February of that year. BREAKER Sch: cpl. 3 BREAKER was employed by the Confederates as a pilot boat at Pass Cavallo off the Texas coast. On 12 August 1862 USS CORYPHEUS, under Lt. J. Kittredge, USN, gave chase to BREAKER which was returning from a reconnoitering expedition with a detachment of men under Capt. R. Jones. BREAKER was run ashore and fired by her crew, but Union forces succeeded in saving her for later use as a tender along the Texas coast. BRECKINRIDGE, see GENERAL BRECKINRIDGE BURTON, see W. BURTON