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

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

Division, Washington, D.C.



JACOB BELL



SwStr:

t. 229;

l. 141' 3";

b. 21';

dph. 8' 1";

cpl. 49 ;

a. 1 8-inch D. sb.; 1 32-pdr.



JACOB BELL, a sidewheel steamer built at New York City in 1842, was 

purchased at New York from O. T. Glover and F. R. Anthony 22 August 

1861; and commissioned the same day, Lt. Edward P. McCrea in command.



JACOB BELL immediately sailed for the Potomac, where the following day 

she joined steamer ICE BOAT in shelling a Confederate battery at the 

mouth of Potomac Creek. She remained in the Potomac enforcing the 

blockade of the Virginia coast, reconnoitering along the shore of the 

Potomac and in its tributaries for Confederate fortifications and 

shelling any batteries found.



In April 1862 JACOB BELL accompanied five other Union ships to the 

Rappahannock River to gather information for major General George B. 

McClellan, who was then launching his Peninsular Campaign and pondering 

over potential advantages of a second beachhead. The Union ships 

ascended the Rappahannock to Tappahannock (Urbana), Va., 50 miles by 

land from Richmond.



JACOB BELL became even more closely involved in the affairs of General 

McClellan's Army of the Potomac when she was transferred to the North 

Atlantic Blockading Squadron for duty on the James River. She arrived 

Hampton Roads 28 May and the following day proceeded with MAHASKA to 

Fort Powhatan. A party which went ashore 30 May found no evidence that 

the forts had been occupied. The next day AROOSTOOK joined the two ships 

in ascending the James to a point 3 miles below Drewry's Bluff, finding 

no obstructions or batteries on the passage but suffering some annoyance 

from riflemen on the left bank. The three ships promptly returned to 

their anchorage off Turkey Island.



A message from General McClellan, who was then fighting the Battle of 

Seven Pines, arrived a few minutes past midnight 2 June, requesting 

support from the Navy. JACOB BELL, accompanied by five other ships stood 

up stream at dawn but was prevented from reaching Richmond by carefully-

prepared obstructions at Drewry's Bluff. Nevertheless, the Navy wisely 

remained in the upper James, where its support a month later saved the 

Army of the Potomac from destruction at the end of Lee's masterful Seven 

Days Campaign.



Meanwhile, JACOB BELL labored tirelessly in support of the Union cause, 

engaging batteries and pickets ashore reconnoitering tributaries in 

hostile territory, and maintaining communications along the river. She 

continued this valuable service until transferred back to the Potomac 

Flotilla, departing Fort Monroe for Washington 2 September.



For the remainder of the war, JACOB BELL was primarily concerned with 

the defense of Washington-alternately serving in the Potomac and the 

Rappahannock according to the ebb and flow of the titanic struggle 

between General Lee and the Army of the Potomac. All the while, her 

duties as a blockader were discharged with skill and devotion. She 

captured C. F. WARD, a metal lifeboat with a contraband cargo 1 October 

and destroyed two schooners 4 November while on a reconnaissance mission 

up Nomini Creek, Va. On 23 August 1863, she caught schooner GOLDEN LEAF 

trying to slip into Rosier's Creek, Va., with a cargo of sugar. Two more 

ships were taken in 1864.



In between pries, blockade duty was varied by shelling batteries along 

the shore and landing boat parties to destroy Confederate property. 

Always busy until the South's defeat, JACOB BELL decommissioned at 

Washington Navy Yard 13 May 1865, and was lost at sea 6 November while 

being towed by BANSHEE toward New York.