 U.S.S. Lenapee | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Launched | 28 May 1863 |
| Commissioned | 30 December 1864 |
| Decommissioned | 17 October 1867 |
| Fate | sold, 26 August 1868 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Sassacus-class gunboat |
| Displacement | 974 tons |
| Length | 205 ft (62 m) |
| Beam | 35 ft (11 m) |
| Draft | 7 ft 11 in (2.41 m) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Complement | 147 |
| Armament |
|
USS Lenapee was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Navy as a tugboat.
Lenapee, a wooden double-ended sidewheel gunboat, was launched 28 May 1863 by Edward Lupton, Brooklyn, New York; and commissioned 30 December 1864, Lt. Comdr. Samuel Magaw in command. Lenapee joined the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron at Beaufort, North Carolina, 23 January 1865 and was ordered to Cape Fear River for final operations against Wilmington, North Carolina. In the weeks that followed she did reconnaissance and patrol work while Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter and Major General Terry marshaled their forces for an attack on Fort Anderson.
On 7 February, as Brigadier General John M. Schofield advanced from Smithville with 8,000 men, Porter attacked Fort Anderson by water. Lenapee, USS Montauk, USS Pawtuxet, USS Unadilla, and USS Pequot shelled the defensive works. The next day the Union ships moved in closer and kept up a heavy fire until the dogged Confederate defenders were at last forced to evacuate the fort under cover of darkness. After Wilmington had fallen 22 February, Lenapee was one of three ships ordered to remain in the Cape Fear River to defend the town and to help clear the navigable waters around Wilmington of obstructions. There she served until after the end of the Civil War, retained at Wilmington through 1866 as protection against civil riots. Lenapee decommissioned 17 October 1867 and was sold at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to E. Stannard 26 August 1868.
The Second Battle of Fort Fisher was a successful assault by the Union Army, Navy and Marine Corps against Fort Fisher, south of Wilmington, North Carolina, near the end of the American Civil War in January 1865. Sometimes referred to as the "Gibraltar of the South" and the last major coastal stronghold of the Confederacy, Fort Fisher had tremendous strategic value during the war, providing a port for blockade runners supplying the Army of Northern Virginia.
USS Advance, the second United States Navy ship to be so named, was later known as USS Frolic, and was originally the blockade runner Advance captured by the Union Navy during the latter part of the American Civil War. She was purchased by the Union Navy and outfitted as a gunboat and assigned to the blockade of the waterways of the Confederate States of America. She also served as dispatch ship and supply vessel when military action eventually slowed.
The first USS Colorado, a 3,400-long-ton (3,500 t), three-masted steam screw frigate, was launched on 19 June 1856, by the Norfolk Navy Yard. Named after the Colorado River, she was sponsored by Ms. N. S. Dornin, and commissioned on 13 March 1858, with Captain W. H. Gardner, in command. She was the fifth of the "Franklin-class" frigates, which were all named after US rivers, except for Franklin.
The first USSSassacus, a wooden, double-ended, side-wheel steamer, was launched on 23 December 1862 by the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, sponsored by Miss Wilhelmina G. Lambert. Sassacus was commissioned at the Boston Navy Yard on 5 October 1863, Lieutenant Commander Francis A. Roe in command.
CSS Robert E. Lee was a fast paddle-steamer, originally built as a Glasgow-Belfast packet boat named Giraffe, which was bought as a blockade runner for the Confederate States during the American Civil War, then subsequently served in the United States Navy as USS Fort Donelson and in the Chilean Navy as Concepción.
USS Vicksburg was a wooden steamship built in 1863 at Mystic, Connecticut; purchased by the United States Navy at New York City on 20 October 1863; converted into a gunboat; and commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 2 December, Lieutenant Commander L. Braine in command. Vicksburg was named in honor of the great victory that General Ulysses S. Grant had recently won at Vicksburg, Mississippi.
CSS Chickamauga, originally the blockade runner Edith, was purchased by the Confederate States Navy at Wilmington, North Carolina in September 1864. In September, when she was nearly ready for sea, the Confederate Army sought unsuccessfully to retain her at that place for use as a troop and supply transport. On October 28, 1864, she put to sea under Lieutenant John Wilkinson (CSN) for a cruise north to the entrance of Long Island Sound, thence to St. George, Bermuda, for repairs and coal. She took several prizes before returning to Wilmington on November 19.
USS Tacony was a double-ended, side-wheel steamboat acquired by the Union Navy during the third year of the American Civil War. She was outfitted as a heavy gunboat with powerful guns and used in the Union blockade of the waterways of the Confederate States of America.
The Battle of Wilmington was fought February 11–22, 1865, during the American Civil War, mostly outside the city of Wilmington, North Carolina, between the opposing Union and Confederate Departments of North Carolina. The Union victory in January in the Second Battle of Fort Fisher meant that Wilmington, 30 miles upriver, could no longer be used by the Confederacy as a port. It fell to Union troops after they overcame Confederate defenses along the Cape Fear River south of the city. The Confederate General Braxton Bragg burned stores of tobacco and cotton, among other supplies and equipment, before leaving the city, to prevent the Union from seizing them.
The first USS Mohican was a steam sloop-of-war in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She was named for the Mohican tribe and was the first ship of her class.
Fort Fisher was a Confederate fort during the American Civil War. It protected the vital trading routes of the port at Wilmington, North Carolina, from 1861 until its capture by the Union in 1865. The fort was located on one of Cape Fear River's two outlets to the Atlantic Ocean on what was then known as Federal Point or Confederate Point and today is known as Pleasure Island. The strength of Fort Fisher led to its being called the Southern Gibraltar and the "Malakoff Tower of the South". The battle of Fort Fisher was the most decisive battle of the Civil War fought in North Carolina.
USS Kansas was a gunboat constructed for the Union Navy during the middle of the American Civil War. She was outfitted with heavy guns and assigned to the Union blockade of the waterways of the Confederate States of America. She was the first U.S. Navy ship to be named Kansas and was the first of a class of 836-ton screw steam gunboats. At war's end, she continued serving her country by performing survey work and defending American interests in Cuba until sold in 1883.
USS Wilderness was a wooden-hulled, side-wheel steamship in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. After the war, she served as a revenue cutter. In 1873, she was renamed John A. Dix for former Secretary of the Treasury John Adams Dix.
USS Pontoosuc was a Union Navy vessel in the American Civil War. A side wheel gunboat, Pontoosuc was built under contract with G. W. Lawrence and the Portland Company, Portland, Maine, and was named for Pontoosuc, Illinois, on the Mississippi River. She was commissioned at Portland on 10 May 1864 with Lieutenant Commander George A. Stevens in command.
USS Unadilla was a Unadilla-class gunboat built for service with the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She was the lead ship in her class.
USS Maratanza was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries.
USS Osceola was a wooden, sidewheel Sassacus-class gunboat which saw combat with the Union Navy in the American Civil War. She was designed with shallow draft and double-ends specifically to allow her to operate in the narrow rivers and inlets along the Confederate coast. She was well suited to this role and took part in major battles on the James and Cape Fear Rivers.
USS Britannia was a steamer captured by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat and patrol vessel in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.
The Wilmington campaigns were part of a Union effort to take Wilmington, North Carolina, from the Confederates. Wilmington was the last major port on the Atlantic seacoast available to the Confederacy. Fort Fisher guarded the Cape Fear River and in order to capture Wilmington, Fort Fisher had to fall.
CSS Arctic was a Confederate ironclad floating battery converted from USS Arctic at Wilmington, North Carolina in 1862. Confederate forces seized USS Arctic at the beginning of the war and converted into a receiving ship. Arctic was a 328-ton screw steamer built in Philadelphia in 1851 at the navy yard by Theodore Birely. The two-decked, three-masted steamer measured 121 feet (37 m) in length, 24 feet (7.3 m) in beam, 12 feet (3.7 m) in depth, and 125 tons.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships .The entry can be found here.