Continuing with the Roadtrip Through History with the ships by the name of USS Montgomery.
Like I said earlier, whenever I come across a U.S. warship, I like to see if there were other ships by that name in the Navy. Always, my first stop is at Wikipedia which has a list of ships by that name. Makes it easier. There have been six ships by that name and one of them was in the Civil War which is why I am writing about it here.
The first ship by that name was a frigate ordered by the Continental Congress during the American Revolution and built on the Hudson River north of New York City. It was to have carried 24 guns, but it and another frigate, the USS Congress, were both destroyed by the Americans to prevent capture when the British took New York City.
It was one of 13 ships ordered by Congress and was launched in 1776 and burned in 1777. I did not know that the Americans had a program to build warships during the war.
I also like to find out where the name came from. My first thought was from the city of Montgomery, Alabama, but I doubt that there was any town there in 1776, maybe an Indian village.
It was named after Richard Montgomery. Then, he must have been a naval guy. Turns out he wasn't. He was an Army general who was killed during the American attack on Quebec. I didn't even know that we had attacked Canada during the American Revolution.
He was co-commander of the U.S. force with another man often considered the best American general during the war. And, it wasn't George Washington. It was a guy by the name of Benedict Arnold.
One other thing about Richard Montgomery was that he had been in the British Army before the war.
That Would be An Interesting Story in Itself. --Old B-Runner
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