USS Sallie Wood

Last updated
History
Naval ensign of the Confederate States of America (1863-1865).svgFlag of the United States (1865-1867).svgUnited States
Launched1860
In service8 February 1862
Captured
FateSunk, 21 July 1862
General characteristics
Displacement256 tons
Propulsion

USS Sallie Wood was a 256-ton steamer captured by the Union Navy during the early years of the American Civil War.

Contents

She assigned by the Union Navy during the blockade of ports and waterways of the Confederate States of America to a number of duties: as a tugboat, a dispatch boat, a troopship, and as an ammunition ship, mostly on the Mississippi River and its tributaries.

Service history

Sallie Wood was a wooden steamer built in 1860 at Paducah, Kentucky. Early in the Civil War, she was acquired by the Confederate government and used as a troop transport on the Mississippi River and its tributaries.

After a Union naval force under Flag Officer Foote captured Fort Henry, Tennessee, on 6 February 1862, Lt. S. L. Phelps, in USS Conestoga, led gunboats, USS Tyler and USS Lexington, up the Tennessee River seeking Confederate shipping. On the 8th, they seized steamers, Sallie Wood and Muscle. The former was laden with iron intended for shipment to Richmond, Virginia. Moreover, the sweep of the Union gunboats had compelled retreating Confederate forces to burn three other Southern vessels lest they be captured.

In returning down stream, Muscle sprang a leak and sank; but Sallie Wood descended safely and was taken into the Western Flotilla for service as a transport, a tugboat, and an ammunition ship. While steaming along the navigable branches of the Mississippi River, Sallie Wood occasionally braved fire from masked riverside batteries. In July, as she ascended the Mississippi carrying sick soldiers, she was fired upon by Confederate cannon concealed ashore at Carolina Landing, at Princeton, and at other points above.

On the 21 July, attacks on the steamer were made from Argyle Landing and from Island No. 82. A shot during the latter ambush pierced her steam drum and left her dead in the water. Her pilot used the current to run her aground on the island, but the cannonade continued until all of the side wheeler's officers, crew, and passengers had been forced to leave the ship. The Confederates later removed whatever they could salvage and burned the steamer to her waterline.

See also

Related Research Articles

USS <i>Lexington</i> (1861) US Navy timberclad warship

The third USS Lexington was a timberclad gunboat in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.

USS <i>Queen of the West</i> (1854) Sidewheel steamer ram ship

The USS Queen of the West was a sidewheel steamer ram ship and the flagship of the United States Ram Fleet and the Mississippi Marine Brigade. It was built at Cincinnati, Ohio in 1854. It served as a commercial steamer until purchased by Colonel Charles Ellet Jr. in 1862 and converted for use as a ram ship. The ship operated in conjunction with the Mississippi River Squadron during the Union brown-water navy battle against the Confederate River Defense Fleet for control of the Mississippi River and its tributaries during the American Civil War.

The first USS Undine was a "tinclad" steamer in the United States Navy in 1864, during the American Civil War. She was captured on 30 October and put in service with the Confederates, but was not renamed before being burned, 5 days later, to prevent re-capture.

USS <i>Stars and Stripes</i> Gunboat of the United States Navy

USS Stars and Stripes was a 407-ton steamer acquired by the U.S. Navy and put to use by the Union during the American Civil 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 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>Calhoun</i> (1851) Gunboat of the United States Navy

USS Calhoun was a captured Confederate steamer and blockade runner acquired by the Union Navy from the prize court 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 <i>Eastport</i> (1862) Gunboat of the United States Navy

USS Eastport was a steamer captured by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a convoy and patrol vessel on Confederate waterways.

USS Tawah was a 108-ton steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.

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

USS <i>Kinsman</i> (1854) Gunboat of the United States Navy

USS Kinsman, sometimes called USS Colonel Kinsman, was a sidewheel steamer captured by the Union Army during the American Civil War. She was used by the Army and then by the Union Navy as a gunboat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways. On 23 February 1863, she hit a snag and sank.

USS Alfred Robb was a stern wheel steamer captured by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.

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

USS Avenger was a large steamer with powerful guns 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. Because of her large size, she was also used, at times, as a cargo ship.

USS Stockdale was a steamer commissioned by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.

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.

USS <i>Volunteer</i> (1863) Gunboat of the United States Navy

The first USS Volunteer was a 209-ton steamer captured by the Union Navy and put to use by the Union during the American Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Lucas Bend</span> 1862 battle of the American Civil War

The Battle of Lucas Bend took place on January 11, 1862 near Lucas Bend, four miles north of Columbus on Mississippi River in Kentucky as it lay at the time of the American Civil War. In the network of the Mississippi, Tennessee and Ohio rivers, the Union river gunboats under Flag Officer Andrew Hull Foote and General Ulysses S. Grant sought to infiltrate and attack the Confederate positions in Tennessee. On the day of the battle, the Union ironclads Essex and St Louis, transporting troops down the Mississippi in fog, engaged the Confederate cotton clad warships General Polk, Ivy and Jackson and the gun platform New Orleans at a curve known as Lucas Bend in Kentucky. The Essex, under Commander William D. Porter, and the St Louis forced the Confederate ships to fall back after an hour of skirmishing during which the Union commander was wounded. They retreated to the safety of a nearby Confederate battery at Columbus, where the Union vessels could not follow.

References

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