J. A. BELL, see JOSIAH A. BELL J. A. COTTON IrcSwStr: t. 549; a. 1 32-pdr. sb., 1 9-pdr. r. J. A. COTTON, also known as COTTON, was built at Jeffersonville, Ind., in 1861 for use on the bayous of Louisiana. She was purchased by the Confederate Army in 1862, clad at least partially with iron, and placed under the command of Capt. E. W. Fuller, CSA. She operated in Berwick Bay and Bayou Teche where from 1 to 6 November 1862, she fought a series of actions against Union gunboats CALHOUN, COLONEL KINSMAN, DIANA, and ESTRELLA. Casualties and damage were light on both sides. On 15 January 1863, off Brashear City La., J. A. COTTON after a 2-day engagement with her adversaries of the previous November, was burned to prevent capture. Page 537 SwStr: t. 372; l. 186'; b. 34' 6"; dph. 8' 9"; dr. 4’ 10"; a. 2 24-pdr., 2 12-pdr., 1 how. J. A. COTTON, also known as MARY T., COTTON, and COTTON JR., was built at Jeffersonville, Ind., in 1860, as MARY T. for the New Orleans, Coast, and La Fourche Transportation Co. She was seized by the Confederate Army in the Red River early in 1863. Renamed J. A. COTTON she was fitted out as a gunboat and protected with cotton bales. On 4 May 1863 at Fort De Russy, La., in company with CSA Ship GRAND DUKE, she fought a sharp but inconclusive action with the Federal gunboat ALBATROSS, during which J. A. COTTON suffered minor damage. She served in various capacities until the end of the war when she was surrendered to Union forces at Alexandria, La. J. D. CLARKE SwStr J. D. CLARKE, a sidewheel steamer, operated as a Confederate army transport in the Red River. On 9 April 1863 Admiral Farragut on board USS HARTFORD gave chase to two steamers outside the mouth of the Red River and captured J. D. CLARKE. On 10 April the captors removed the steamer's machinery and scuttled her. J. D. STELLE, see COLONEL STELL J. D. SWAIM SwStr: t. 350; l. 150' 6"; b. 30'; dph. 6' J. D. SWAIM, also known as J. D. SWAIN and SWAIN, a steamboat of New Orleans, was built at Jeffersonville, Ind., in 1859. She was taken into Confederate service and sunk sometime in 1862 in the mouth of McCall's River where Union forces raised her early in April 1864. Considered a fine prize, she was used thereafter as a Union transport. J. D. SWAIN, see J. D. SWAIM J. D. COFFEE, see WINSLOW J. F. CARR, see JOHN F. CARR J. F. PARGOUD, see PARGOUD J. H. JARVIS Str The main particulars and fate of J. H. JARVIS or JARVIS are an enigma: She may have been the embryo of "the new steamer built at" Columbus, Ga., early in 1864. It seems certain that she did exist and was commanded by Lt. John W. Bennett, CSN, in June 1863 in the Mobile-West Florida area. If she was the same ship as the newbuilding, she was later commanded by daredevil mastermind Lt. George W. Gift, CSN; it is matter of record that he was detached from CHATTAHOOCHEE just before or after the famous boiler explosion that sank her, 27 May 1863, for he was principal informant to the press following the disaster. It is known that Gift reported to Bennett, Commanding Officer "on board the JARVIS", 8 June, for duty, because Bennett so endorsed Gift's orders from Capt. John K. Mitchell, CSN. On 15 February 1864 Lt. Gift was detached from Naval Station, Charleston, S.C., to command "the new steamer at Columbus, Ga.", relieving Lt. Augustus McLaughlin, CSN, who appears to have been commanding CHATTAHOOCHEE concurrently; then on 5 March Captain Mitchell in Richmond directed Gift to relieve McLaughlin in CHATTAHOOCHEE. Apparently this change in command enabled Gift to take the luckless gunboat to Eufaula, Ala., for on l0 June he was ordered to bring her back to Columbus "and turn her over to Lt. Comdr. A. McLaughlin for repairs," while Chief Constructor J. L. Porter was to come from Wilmington as soon as possible to inspect her. These bits of fact establish little directly about JARVIS herself but define an intriguing area of probability which could eternally link JARVIS and the interesting personality of George Gift. Two letters from Gift published in official records point to him as a colorful, unrecognized idea man of the Confederate Navy: On 9 May he proposed to Lt. John J. Guthrie, CSN, CHATTAHOOCHEE's captain, a daring raid by the latter's men using steamer Swan to capture USS PORT ROYAL in Apalachicola, Fla. Two days later he suggested to Secretary Mallory a plot to purchase secretly and operate a Confederate cruiser on Lake Erie and to terrorize Union commerce throughout the Great Lakes, "although," he added, "the scheme may be as Quixotic as it is audacious." Whatever his confreres may have thought of Gift's daydreams-probably not much-his Lake Erie stratagem just might have succeeded at that time: witness the GEORGIAN (q.v.) affair which so nearly did 18 months later, although the sands of time were running out for the Confederacy. Gift was no Maffitt, Semmes, Wilkinson or John Taylor Wood in deed, but he was a bold thinker. J. J. CRITTENDEN Sch J. J. CRITTENDEN was serving the Confederacy in 1862 when captured off Newbegun Creek, N.C., by USS WHITEHEAD. She was subsequently "sunk as an obstruction." JACKSON SwStr: t. 297; cpl. 75; a. 2 32-pdr. JACKSON, a fast river tug built at Cincinnati in 1849, called YANKEE, was purchased at New Orleans, La., on 9 May 1861 by Capt. L. Rousseau, CSN, strengthened and fitted for service in the Confederate Navy. On 6 June Lt. W. Gwathmey, CSN, was ordered to her command, and after shipping a crew, took her up the Mississippi to Columbus, Ky., to join the squadron under Capt. G. N. Hollins charged with the defense of the river. Oh 4 September 1861 Jackson supported by shore batteries briefly and inconclusively engaged gunboats LEXINGTON and TYLER off Hickman, Ky. The Federal ships finding the current fast setting them down upon the Confederate batteries returned to their former position. Six days later the little gunboat took part in a spirited engagement at Lucas Bend, Mo., between Confederate artillery and cavalry and Union gunboats LEXINGTON and CONESTOGA during which she received an 8-inch shell in her wheel house and side which forced her to retire on one engine. JACKSON sailed with Hollins' squadron to attack five of the Federal blockaders at the Head of the Passes, Mississippi River, on 12 October 1861. They successfully routed the Union forces and proceeded to the defense of Forts Jackson and St. Philip which the United States Mortar Flotilla under Comdr. David D. Porter bombarded from 18 to 24 April 1862. On 23 April Jackson was dispatched to make the canals above the fort inaccessible to Union ships. When the commanding officer, Lt. F. B. Renshaw, Page 538 CSN, found it impossible to stem the Federal advance he retired to New Orleans. After the surrender of that city, JACKSON was destroyed by the Confederates. JACOB MUSSELMAN StwStr: t. 144 JACOB MUSSELMAN, built in 1860 at Paducah, Ky., was a Union steam transport serving near Memphis where a Confederate guerrilla band captured her on 6 January 1863. Capt. J. H. McGehee's Arkansas cavalry band was acting under orders to reconnoiter the area, "burning cotton in that country and annoying the enemy on the Mississippi River" wherever possible. The Confederates ran the steamer in to Bradley's Landing and there destroyed her. JAMES BATTLE SwStr: t. 407 JAMES BATTLE or BATTLE was a fast, shallow-draft river steamer of Mobile, built in New Albany, Ind., in 1860 with high pressure machinery. Considered for arming as a gunboat to defend Mobile, BATTLE was not armed like the MORGAN class only because of the farsighted policy of Flag Officer Victor M. Randolph, CSN, who rejected palliatives and would have nothing to do with anything but ironclads for his fleet. Turned down finally as a gunboat, BATTLE undoubtedly served the Confederate Army in varied transport services, under Capt. Jesse J. Coxe, until captured running the blockade; she was laden with naval stores and over 600 bales of cotton on 18 July 1863 70 miles southeast of Mobile bar when overhauled by USS DE SOTO and OSSIPEE. Armed with four 12-pounders and kept for "temporary use ... to scour the coast" from Tampa to St. Marks, Fla., prize steamer BATTLE under Lt. Comdr. A. A. Semmes, USN, was instrumental in bringing about the destruction of another blockade runner, a cotton warehouse at Bayport and assisting other naval operations in Florida. BATTLE, in the words of Adm. Theodorus Bailey, USN was "the finest packet on the Alabama River and was altered to suit her for a blockade runner at a large expense." As such, whether within the scope of this listing as fully Confederate Government-owned or not, BATTLE deserves special mention as representative of a class of the newer river steamers with high-pressure plants whose light hulls the Confederates converted at great expense but with relative success for quick dashes across the Gulf to Havana or Nassau with cotton. Admiral Bailey complained: "The WARREN, FANNIE, WILLIAM BAGLEY [captured same day as BATTLE by same blockaders], W. H. SMITH, ALABAMA, ALICE VIVIAN and ST. MARY's are other vessels of the same class. The DE SOTO is the only vessel I have with sufficient speed to overtake any of these traders."-Farragut's OSSIPEE apparently was another. Histories of these ships are omitted since it is not certain they all were public vessels, but ALICE VIVIAN at least did some troop carrying as evidenced at the time of her capture by DE SOTO, 16 August 1863, with the whole staff and baggage of Brig. Gen. James E. Slaughter, CSA-only by merest accident missing the general too. JAMES FUNK Str: t. 120 JAMES FUNK, Pilot Boat No. 22 of New York, was captured by the audacious CSS TALLAHASSEE off Montauk Point on 11 August 1864. She may have been used briefly as a tender before being burned by her captor. JAMES GRAY, see LADY DAVIS JAMES JOHNSON SwStr: t. 526 JAMES JOHNSON, built in 1856 at Jeffersonville, Ind. was one of several steamers purchased at Nashville, Tenn., late in 1861 by Lt. I. N. Brown, CSN, for conversion to a gunboat. She was not yet completed when the advance of the Union gunboats caused Brown to order her destruction by February 1862. JAMES L. DAY SwStr: t. 414; l. 187'; b. 25' 6"; dr. ca. 6'; dph. 9' JAMES L. DAY, also known as DAY was a Mississippi River towboat which was built in 1843 at New York, N.Y. She was seized at New Orleans, La., by the Confederates and used under the control of Flag Officer G. N. Hollins, CSN, as a gunboat in that area. On 12 October 1861, in conjunction with Ivy and other vessels of Hollins' "Mosquito Fleet," she engaged in a harassing action with Federal blockading ships near Head of the Passes, La. JAMES WOOD, see JAMES WOODS JAMES WOODS SwStr: t. 585 JAMES WOODS, also known as JAMES WOOD, was built at Jeffersonville, Ind., in 1860 and operated out of Nashville, Tenn. Offered by her owner for sale to the Confederacy, she was purchased by Lt. I. N. Brown, CSN, for use as a gunboat. The approach of Union forces interrupted her conversion and caused the Confederates to destroy her at Nashville in February 1862. JAMESTOWN SwStr: t. 1,300; l. 250'; b. 34'; dph. 17'; a. 2 guns JAMESTOWN, originally a passenger steamer, was built at New York, N.Y., in 1853, and seized at Richmond, Va., in 1861 for the Commonwealth of Virginia Navy She was commissioned by the Confederate Navy the following July, renamed THOMAS JEFFERSON but was generally referred to as JAMESTOWN. Brigantine-rigged JAMESTOWN was designed and constructed by the well known William H. Webb for the New York and Old Dominion Line as a sister to YORKTOWN (v. PATRICK HENRY). With Lt. J. N. Barney, CSN, in command she was actively employed until the end of her career in May 1862. Her service was highlighted by the battle of Hampton Roads on 8-9 March 1862 during which she assisted CSS VIRGINIA in attacking CONGRESS and CUMBERLAND and stood by during the battle between MONITOR and VIRGINIA. The Confederate Congress tendered special thanks to the officers and crew of JAMESTOWN for their "gallant conduct and bearing" in combat. Some 4 weeks later, on 11 April 1862, JAMESTOWN, CSS VIRGINIA, and five other Confederate ships sailed from Norfolk into Hampton Roads in full view of the Union squadron there. When it became clear that the Federal ships were not going to attack JAMESTOWN covered by VIRGINIA and the others, moved in, captured three merchant ships, and helped by CSS RALEIGH towed them to Norfolk. Later that month JAMESTOWN was dispatched from Norfolk to cooperate with Major General Magruder, CSA, in the James River and early in May she was used to transport army sick and wounded to Richmond. Page 539 On the night of 5 May, JAMESTOWN and CSS PATRICK HENRY proceeded to Norfolk and returned the following night with CSS RICHMOND, CSS HAMPTON and ordnance store boats, passing the Federal battery at Newport News unobserved on both occasions. A second attempt to return to Norfolk met with failure. On 8 May JAMESTOWN was ordered to notify the Secretary of the Confederate States Navy of the continuing engagement of two Federal gunboats and ironclad GALENA with the Confederate batteries at Day's Point. Unable to carry out her assignment JAMESTOWN retired up the James River as far as Drewry's Bluff where on 15 May 1862 she was sunk to obstruct the channel. JAPAN, see GEORGIA JEFF DAVIS StGbt JEFF DAVIS, a steam gunboat, was employed by the Confederates on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers during the early years of the war. She was captured at Memphis by gunboats of the Mississippi Squadron in early June 1862, and later taken into Union service. Str The chartered steamer JEFF DAVIS used as a transport by the Texas Marine Department [See Annex III] was reported in poor condition in October 1863. Sch JEFF DAVIS, a small Confederate schooner, was captured off New Berne, N.C., in early June 1864 and taken into Union service. Str The steamer JEFF DAVIS was used by Confederate Navy and Army forces near Savannah, Ga. Late in 1864 she assisted operation of the ironclad GEORGIA, and remained in that area through the end of the war. JEFFERSON DAVIS Brig: t. 187; dr. 10' 6"; cpl. 76; a. 2 32-pdr., 2 24-pdr., 1 18-pdr. JEFFERSON DAVIS or JEFF DAVIS was a New Orleans full-rigged brig, built in Baltimore about 1846 as PUTNAM and captured off Cuba 21 August 1858 by Lt. John Newland Maffitt, USN, in USS DOLPHIN as the slaver ECHO; her cargo of 271 Negroes was returned to Africa in NIAGARA and ECHO forfeited to the United States. Auctioned in January 1859, ECHO reverted to her original name, PUTNAM, and was owned by Capt. Robert Hunter of Charleston, S. C. Hunter signed up 27 shareholders, including the elite of Charleston, and 10 of them applied for a letter of marque for PUTNAM to be known as RATTLESNAKE, but a name change to JEFFERSON DAVIS was approved by the State Department, 23 May, and the brig commissioned a privateer 18 June 1861 at Charleston. [Annex I]. She was armed with five 60-year old, British, iron cannon. JEFF DAVIS was described by a prisoner as having "black mastheads and yards and a black hull" and being "very rusty." Another victim was misled by her "French-cut hempen sails." Master and shareholder was the "impudent sea robber," Louis M. Coxetter, a name soon to be placed high on the list of "pirates" most wanted by the U.S. Navy, although he treated his prisoners well, by their own account. His mate, Lt. William Ross Postell, once pride of the Republic of Texas Navy, also ex- Lieutenant, USN, was equally sought. On 28 June, celebrated by Charleston as the anniversary of driving off Admiral Sir Peter Parker in the Revolution, JEFF DAVIS received a gala send-off as she escaped to sea through Maffitt’s Channel, "notwithstanding," as the Mercury quipped, "the very efficient blockade of Abraham I." Coxetter took 9 sail in 7 weeks in "the last truly classic cruise in the history of private-armed sea power." These included 3 brigs, 3 schooners, 2 ships and a bark; causing consternation on the coast from Maine to Delaware. Seeking to make Florida ENCHANTRESS was recaptured by USS ALBATROSS and her prize-master, William W. Smith, a Savananh pilot, was nearly hanged as a pirate, along with his prize- crew, by a New York court-perhaps the most celebrated case of its type during this war. Bark ALVARADO was chased ashore by JAMESTOWN and burned to prevent recapture at Fernandina, Fla. Coxetter released schooner WINDWARD, brig MARY E. THOMPSON and ship MARY GOODELL with prisoners, but had to burn JOHN CARVER, an Army ship with anthracite for the blockade. Schooner S. J. WARING was taken into New York by her cook, who killed the three leaders of her prize crew with an ax 100 miles off Charleston. Brigs JOHN WELSH and SANTA CLARA got into Savannah safely as prizes and were auctioned at handsome figures. JEFF DAVIS' crew was augmented by deserters from several of her prizes. JEFF DAVIS arrived off St. Augustine, Fla., 16 August but had to wait nearly two days for a half-gale to blow over, going in, finally, she grounded and even jettisoning the starboard guns did not save the brig; only stores and small arms were saved. Church bells rang and the town gave the shipwrecked privateersmen an ovation as heroes with a celebration lasting for days; on returning to Charleston, two weeks later, Captain Coxetter was honored with heavy gold watch and fob by hero-worshippers. Crowed Charleston Mercury, 26 August 1861, "The name of the privateer JEFFERSON DAVIS has become a word of terror to the Yankees. The number of her prizes and the amount of merchandise which she captured have no parallel since the days of the SAUCY JACK," a Charlestonian privateer schooner in the War of 1812. Coxetter attempted to organize a new privateering expedition without success, but putting to sea in steamer HERALD he only added steadily to his fame by blockade running the remainder of the war. JEFF THOMPSON, see GENERAL M. JEFF THOMPSON JENNY LIND Str JENNY LIND, a steamer operated by the Union army, was used in lightering stores in the Rappahannock River area in April 1862. In February 1863 reference is made to a steamer of this name being used as a troop transport at New Orleans. The steamer was captured by the Confederates at the Passes in the Mississippi in June 1863. Sch The Confederate schooner, JENNY LIND is listed among five captured by USS LOCKWOOD, Acting Volunteer Lt. G. W. Graves commanding, on 16 June 1864 at Mount Pleasant, Hyde County, N.C. She was sent in as a prize to New Berne, N.C. Page 540 JEWESS, see WILLIAM G. HEWES JOHN B. WHITE Tug JOHN B. WHITE, a Confederate steam tug, surrendered to Union army forces near Hampton Roads, Va.. on 8 May 1862, and was used thereafter by the War Department in the Virginia area. JOHN F. CARR Str JOHN F. CARR, also referred to as J. F. CARR, or CARR, served the Confederates as a transport and cotton-clad gunboat off the coast of Texas. She was part of the Texas Marine Department [See Annex III]. JOHN ROACH JOHN ROACH was one of several ships reported to have been sunk by the Confederates late in 1862 to obstruct the James River near Drewry's Bluff. JOHN SIMONDS Str: t. 1,024 JOHN SIMONDS, built in 1852 at Freedom, Pa., was used as a Confederate army support ship in the Mississippi River. She was sunk following the battle at Island No. 10 in September 1862. JOHN WALSH SwStr: t. 809; l. 275'; b. 38'; dph. 8' JOHN WALSH was built at Cincinnati, Ohio in 1858. She served the Confederates as a transport in the Mississippi River area, and was part of the force under Comdr. Isaac N. Brown, CSN, commanding the Confederate vessels in the Yazoo River. In July 1863, JOHN WALSH was burned to the water's edge by Commander Brown, and sunk in the Yazoo River, 15 miles below Greenwood, Miss., to block the channel and delay the advance of Union forces under Gen. W. T. Sherman, USA, towards Vicksburg, Miss., and to escape the hands of the Union naval force under Acting Rear Adm. D. D. Porter, USN. JOSEPH E. COFFEE, see WINSLOW JOSEPH LANDIS, see LANDIS JOSIAH A. BELL SwStr: t. 412; dr. 4' 6"; cpl. 35; a. 1 to 2 guns JOSIAH A. BELL, also known as J. A. BELL, was built in Jeffersonville, Ind., in 1853 and cottonclad at Sabine Pass the summer of 1862 for service with the Texas Marine Department [See Annex III]. On 20 January 1863, acting as flagship for the Second Squadron, she steamed under command of Capt. C. Fowler and in company with UNCLE BEN to engage the blockading sloop-of-war MORNING LIGHT and armored schooner FAIRY, formerly VELOCITY. A lively 2-hour fight ensued in which army sharpshooters on board JOSIAH A. BELL repeatedly swept the decks of USS MORNING LIGHT and soon caused her to strike her colors, while UNCLE BEN effected the schooner's unconditional surrender. JOSIAH A. BELL remained a worry and threat to the blockading vessels off Sabine Pass. At the end of the war she was operating in Sabine Lake. JULIA A. HODGES Sch: t. 8 JULIA A. HODGES, a small fast vessel, was used by the Confederacy as a dispatch mail, and flag-of-truce ship along the Texas coast. On 6 April 1864 she was captured by the Union gunboat ESTRELLA near Indianola, Tex. JULIUS Str JULIUS was reported by the Richmond Dispatch on 12 February 1862, to have been a Confederate boat burned at Florence, Ala., on 7 February 1862, to escape capture by Federal gunboats. JUNALUSKA ScTug: t. 79; a. 2 guns CSS JUNALUSKA, also known as YOUNALASKA, was built at Philadelphia, Pa., in 1860, purchased at Norfolk, Va., in 1861 and assigned to duty in the coastal waters of Virginia and North Carolina. She assisted CSS CURLEW and CSS RALEIGH in capturing the United States tug FANNY in Loggerhead Inlet, N.C., on 1 October 1861. She continued to operate along the coast of North Carolina until August 1862, when she was dismantled and sold. JUNIUS BEEBE, see GENERAL SUMTER JUNO Str: dr. 4'; cpl. c. 50; a. 1 how. JUNO, a fast, iron-framed paddle-wheeler, operated as a mail steamer between London and Glasgow, sailed as a British blockade runner but was purchased by Confederate agents, probably in May 1863. Successfully evading blockaders, she ran into Charleston where she served as a dispatch, picket, and flag-of-truce boat. In July 1863 she was outfitted with a spar torpedo to permit attacks against Union monitors then threatening the defense works on Morris Island, Charleston Harbor. In August 1863 she rammed and sank a launch from USS WABASH, taking its crew captive. JUNO returned to running the blockade in the fall of 1863, reportedly suffering capture by USS CONNECTICUT on 22 September off Wilmington, N.C.