Saturday, March 20, 2021

USS Nightingale-- Part 7: Service in the East Coast Blockading Squadron and Pensacola

The Nightingale was with the  USS Preble, USS Richmond, USS Vincennes and USS Water Witch in the Mississippi River near the Head of Passes when the Confederate ironclad ram CSS Manassas, accompanied by the Confederate steamers CSS Ivy and CSS James L. Day attacked on 12 October.

During the action, she was run aground, but the Southern ships did not press their advantage.  The Nightingale was refloated a few days later and sailed to New York with prisoners  o war and booty.

The Nightingale returned to the Gulf in the same year with a cargo of coal and supplies for the Union blockaders.

During most of 1862, she served the East Gulf Blockading Squadron, operating out of Key West. Early in 1863, she became an ordnance ship at Pensacola, Florida,  and continued this duty until returning to Boston, Massachusetts, on 9 June 1864

The Nightingale was decommissioned on 20 June 1864 at Boston Navy Yard and sold at public auction to D.E. Mayo on 11 February 1865.

Her Warship Days Were At An End.  --Old B-Runner


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