The USS Lexington-- Part 1: Timberclad Bought By U.S. Navy

From Wikipedia.

In the last post, I mentioned this ship being one of the two who helped turn Shiloh into a Union victory.

The USS Lexington was a Timberclad ship.  (Instead of iron, they were clad in thick wood.)  It was built as a sidewheel ship in 1861 in Pittsburgh, Pa., and purchased  by the U.S. Navy and converted into a gunboat at Cincinnati under the direction of Commander John Rodgers.

It joined the Western Flotilla at Cairo, Illinois, 12 August 1861.

It was 177 feet long and had a 34-foot beam and was armed with four 8-inch Dahlgren smoothbores and two 32-pdr. guns.

--Old B-Runner