UNCLE BEN

Gbt:
t. 155;
a. 1 gun

CSS UNCLE BEN was a Lake Erie tug which was chartered by the United 
States Government in April 1861 to accompany an expedition for the 
reinforcement of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. She sailed from New 
York on 7 April but violent storms forced her to put in to Wilmington, 
N.C., where she was seized by the citizens and converted to a gunboat 
mounting one gun. When North Carolina seceded, UNCLE BEN was turned over 
to the Confederacy and operated around Wilmington. In late summer of 
1862, her engine was transferred to the ironclad NORTH CAROLINA and her 
hull sold.

Under her new owners she was fitted out as a privateer schooner, renamed 
RETRIBUTION, and later ETTA.

Str:
dr. 3';
a. 3 12-pdr.

UNCLE BEN, a cotton-clad steamer, operated with the Texas Marine gunboat 
fleet in and about Sabine City. [See Annex III]. On 20 January 1863 
UNCLE BEN came down Sabine Pass in company with JOSIAH A. BELL and stood 
out to engage the Union blockaders MORNING LIGHT and FAIRY, formerly 
VELOCITY. In the heated battle which witnessed the capture of both 
blockaders, UNCLE BEN concentrated her fire on FAIRY and received her 
unconditional surrender.

The cotton-clad was used to remove obstructions from the Sabine River in 
June 1863. On 8 September, following another successful encounter with 
Federal blockaders off Sabine Pass, she went down to receive the 
surrender of USS SACHEM and brought her into port.

Page 578

In October of that year UNCLE BEN transported men and provisions in 
coastal waters.

UNION, see TEXAS (corvette)

UNITED STATES

Fr.:
t. 1,576;
l. 175' 10";
b. 44' 8";
dph. 21' 2";
a. 44 guns

UNITED STATES was built at Philadelphia, Pa., under Act of Congress 
dated 27 March 1794. She was launched 10 May 1798 and commissioned 11 
July 1798, one of the first 3 ships built for the U.S. Navy. The other 
two are still in existence: CONSTELLATION in Baltimore, CONSTITUTION in 
Boston.

At the beginning of the Civil War she lay in ordinary at Gosport Navy 
Yard. The Union, thinking it unnecessary to destroy a decayed relic, let 
her fall into Confederate hands when Norfolk surrendered. She was used 
as a receiving ship, Lt. V. R. Morgan, CSN, in command, and was 
oftentimes called CONFEDERATE STATES.

In April 1862 the Confederates sank her in the Elizabeth River, N.C., to 
obstruct approaching Union vessels. Later she was raised and broken up 
by the Navy.