USS General Pillow

Last updated
History
Naval ensign of the Confederate States of America (1863-1865).svgFlag of the United States (1865-1867).svgUnited States
Commissioned23 August 1862
DecommissionedJuly 1865
Captured9 June 1862
FateSold, 26 November 1865
General characteristics
Displacement38 tons
Length81 ft 5 in (24.82 m)
Beam17 ft 1 in (5.21 m)
Draft3 ft 8 in (1.12 m)
Propulsion
  • steam engine
  • side-wheel propelled
Armamenttwo 12-pounder howitzers

USS General Pillow was a gunboat captured by the Union Navy during the American Civil War and placed into service with the Union Navy. She served the Union cause from 1862 until the end of war in 1865. It was named for General Gideon Pillow.

Service history

General Pillow (Gunboat No. 20) was originally Confederate steamer B. M. Moore and served the South as a gunboat until she was captured on the Hatchee River, Tennessee, by USS Pittsburgh 9 June 1862. She was transferred to the Union Navy by the War Department; and after outfitting and repairs at Cairo, Illinois., General Pillow departed Cairo 23 August for duty with the Mississippi Squadron, Lt. LeRoy Fitch in command. General Pillow became part of the light draft squadron on the Tennessee River and the Cumberland River, and for the next several months convoyed troop transports and fought guerrillas on the riverbanks. February 1863 saw her again at Cairo guarding mortar ships and ammunition barges, in addition to making occasional visits to Mound City, Illinois, and the mouth of the Tennessee River. She continued this duty until July 1865 when she was turned over to the Commandant of the Naval Station, Mound City, for disposal. General Pillow was sold at Mound City 26 November 1865 to Wetzel and Hallerburg.

Related Research Articles

USS <i>Tyler</i> Gunboat of the United States Navy

USS Tyler was originally a merchant ship named A. O. Tyler, a commercial side-wheel steamboat with twin stacks and covered paddles positioned aft. Constructed in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1857, it was acquired by the United States Navy, 5 June 1861 for service in the American Civil War and converted into the gunboat USS Tyler on 5 June 1861. She was commissioned in September 1861. She was protected with thick wooden bulwarks.

USS <i>Carondelet</i> Gunboat of the United States Navy

USS Carondelet (1861) was a City-class ironclad gunboat constructed for the War Department by James B. Eads during the American Civil War. It was named for the town where it was built, Carondelet, Missouri.

USS <i>Cairo</i> American Civil War ironclad warship

USS Cairo is one of the first American ironclad warships built at the beginning of the U.S. Civil War.

<i>Laurent Millaudon</i> (1856)

Laurent Millaudon was a wooden side-wheel river steamboat launched at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1856 operating in the New Orleans, Louisiana, area, and captained by W. S. Whann. At the beginning of the American Civil War she was taken into service by the Confederate Navy as CSS General Sterling Price. On 6 June 1862, she was sunk at the Battle of Memphis. She was raised and repaired by the Union army, and on 16 June 1862 was moved into Union service as USS General Price and served until the end of the war.

USS <i>Monarch</i> (1862)

USS Monarch was a United States Army sidewheel ram that saw service in the American Civil War as part of the United States Ram Fleet and the Mississippi Marine Brigade. She operated on the Mississippi River and Yazoo River during 1862 and 1863.

USS <i>General Bragg</i> Gunboat of the United States Navy

USS General Bragg was a heavy (1,043-ton) steamer captured by Union Navy forces during the American Civil War. She was outfitted as a U.S. Navy gunboat and was assigned to enforce the Union blockade of the waterways of the Confederate States of America.

USS <i>Lioness</i> (1857)

Built in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, in 1857, the steam ship Lioness was purchased by the War Department and converted to a ram ship for Colonel Charles Ellet, Jr.'s United States Ram Fleet. Commissioned in 1862, Lieutenant Warren D. Crandall in command, she joined the Union Mississippi River Squadron on the western rivers.

USS Curlew was a Union Navy stern-wheel steamer that saw service during the American Civil War. Built in 1862 in Pennsylvania as a civilian vessel, she was purchased by the Union Navy on December 17, 1862. Converted into a tinclad gunboat, she saw service from 1863 to 1865, often serving on the Mississippi River, the Ohio River, and the Tennessee River. In May 1863, she was involved in a minor action against Confederate forces on the Mississippi River off of the shore of Arkansas. July saw Curlew take part in an expedition up the Red River of the South, the Tensas River, the Black River, and the Ouachita River that captured two steamers and destroyed two more and a sawmill. On May 24, 1864, she dueled with Pratt's Texas Battery while on the Mississippi River, and on November 4 of that same year, was near the action of the Battle of Johnsonville but was unable to join the fighting. Decommissioned on June 5, 1865, she was sold in mid-August and her further career is unknown.

USS <i>General Lyon</i> (1860) Cargo ship of the United States Navy

USS General Lyon, originally the De Soto, was recaptured from the Confederate States of America and renamed USS De Soto, and then USS General Lyon, after Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon.

USS <i>Little Rebel</i> (1859) Gunboat of the United States Navy

Little Rebel was a cotton-clad ram that had been converted from a Mississippi River steamer to serve as the flagship of the Confederate River Defense Fleet in the American Civil War. Sent from New Orleans to defend against the Federal descent of the Mississippi, she was among the force that engaged vessels of the Union Army's Western Gunboat Flotilla at the Battle of Plum Point Bend on May 10, 1862. On June 6, she again was involved in an action with the Federal gunboats, this time at the Battle of Memphis. In the battle, a shot from a Federal gun pierced her boiler, disabling her, and she was then pushed aground by the Federal ram USS Monarch and captured.

USS <i>Cricket</i> Gunboat of the United States Navy

USS Cricket was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.

USS Springfield was a steamship purchased by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat assigned to patrol Confederate waterways.

USS <i>St. Clair</i> Civil War era gunboat

USS St. Clair was a steamer purchased by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.

USS Hastings was a steamer purchased by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat assigned to patrol Confederate waterways.

USS Juliet was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.

USS Kenwood was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.

The first USS Silver Cloud was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.

USS <i>New Era</i> Gunboat of the United States Navy

USS New Era was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways. New Era was also a name initially carried by a timbercladUSS Essex.

USS Hyacinth was a steamer acquired by the Union during the American Civil War. She was placed into service as a tugboat, a dispatch boat, as well as a gunboat, by the Union Army and by the Union Navy.

USS <i>Sumter</i> (1862) 525-ton sidewheel paddle streamer

USS Sumter was a 525-ton sidewheel paddle steamer captured by the Union Navy during the Union blockade of the American Civil War.

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships .The entry can be found here.