C.P.Williams, Mortar Schooner

From Wikipedia.

In the last post, I mentioned the C.P. Williams intercepting some Confederate torpedoes on August 17th intended for the USS Pawnee.

The C.P. Williams was a 103 foot long mortar schooner manned by a crew of 35 and mounting one 13-inch mortar and two 32-pdrs. Acquired by the U.S. Navy in September 1861 and commissioned January 21, 1862, it was assigned to the Mississippi Mortar Flotilla and took part in the engagements at Forts Jackson and St. Philip below New Orleans and Vicksburg. It later blockaded Berwick Bay by the Atchafalaya River.

Then, it was transferred to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron and took part in the bomnardments of Fort McAllister in Georgia and was at the torpedo attack on the USS Pawnee in the Stono River, as reported in the last blog entry, in August 1863.

It spent the rest of its time patrolling rivers and sounds, covering landing parties and engaging detachments of Confederate cavalry.

It was decommissioned June 27, 1865, and sold August 10th.

--Old B-R'er