History | |
---|---|
United States | |
Laid down | Date unknown |
Launched | 1862 |
Acquired | 1 April 1863 |
Commissioned | 4 May 1863 |
Decommissioned | 13 July 1865 |
Stricken | 1865 (est.) |
Fate | sold, 17 August 1865 |
General characteristics | |
Displacement | 236 tons |
Length | 155 ft 1 in (47.27 m) |
Beam | 32 ft 2 in (9.80 m) |
Draft | 6 ft (1.8 m) |
Depth of hold | 5 ft 2 in (1.57 m) |
Propulsion |
|
Speed | 7 mph (upstream) |
Complement | not known |
Armament | six 24-pounder Dahlgren howitzers |
Armour | tinclad |
The first USS Silver Cloud 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.
Silver Cloud -- a wooden-hulled stern wheel steamer built in 1862 at Brownsville, Pennsylvania, was taken over by the Navy on 1 April 1863 at Cairo, Illinois; commissioned there on 4 May 1863; and was formally purchased by the Navy on 19 May 1863.
The gunboat (Tinclad No. 28), commanded by Acting Master Augustus F. Thompson, joined the Mississippi Squadron after it had succeeded in opening the Mississippi River and its tributaries to navigation by Union ships—naval, military, and merchant. However, since the South was not yet beaten, it was still necessary for the ships to patrol the rivers to protect Union shipping from attacks by guerrilla bands.
Early in May 1863, her first assignment took her up the Tennessee River as far as Eastport, Mississippi, to destroy every boat found along the way which might be used by the Confederates to cross the river. She and her consorts USS Champion, USS Queen City, USS Covington, and USS Argosy also carried Army troops to Linden, Tennessee, for a surprise raid at dawn on the 13th. The operation was completely successful and resulted in the capture of five officers, 40 men, 50 horses, as well as their arms, supplies, and equipment.
Such operations became almost routine for Silver Cloud during the almost two remaining years of the Civil War.
Highlights of her service included another expedition up the Tennessee in July and an engagement with some 200 Confederate soldiers whom she drove away from Osceola, Arkansas. In mid-January 1864, she carried Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman from Memphis, Tennessee, to Vicksburg, Mississippi. On 14 April, she assisted USS New Era and Platte Valley in driving Confederate cavalry and infantry from Fort Pillow, Tennessee, which Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest had captured two days before. Late in May, she assisted USS Osage, after that river monitor had run aground at Helena Bar, Arkansas.
After the Confederacy collapsed, Silver Cloud operated briefly on the rivers helping to return conditions to normal.
She was decommissioned at Mound City, Illinois, on 13 July 1865 and was sold at public auction there on 17 August 1865 to J. H. Sterritt. The ship was converted from a stern to a side wheeler and redocumented on 7 October 1865. She was snagged and lost on 27 February 1866 in Buffalo Bayou, Texas.
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 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.
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USS Red Rover (1859) was a 650-ton Confederate States of America steamer that the United States Navy captured. After refitting the vessel, the Union used it as a hospital ship during the American Civil War.
USS Curlew (1862) was a Union Navy steamship purchased during the second year of the American Civil War.
USS Rattler (1862) was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
USS Cricket (1862) was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
USS Silver Lake (1862) was a steamer purchased by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
USS Springfield (1862) 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 Brilliant (1862) 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.
The USS Fawn was a steamer purchased by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a patrol and escort vessel, operating in Confederate waterways.
USS Key West (1862) was a steamer acquired 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, only to be sunk, along with Elfin and Tawah by Confederate shore batteries.
USS Exchange (1862) was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
USS Alfred Robb (1860) was a stern wheel steamer captured by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
USS Alonzo Child (1857) was a side-wheel steamer seized by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a barracks ship in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.
USS New National (1862) was a large side wheel steamer seized by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a troop ship and receiving ship in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.
USS Argosy (1863) was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a supply ship and gunboat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.
USS New Era (1862) 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 Huntress (1862) was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was placed into service as a gunboat assigned to support the Union Navy during the naval blockade of ports and rivers of the Confederate States of America.
USS Rodolph (1863) was a steamer commissioned by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships .The entry can be found here.