155 Years Ago, December 26, 1861: Action At Savannah

DECEMBER 26TH, 1861:  Confederate fleet, including the CSS Savannah, Commodore Tattnall, Resolute, Sampson, Ida and Barton, attacked Union blockading ships at the mouth of the Savannah River.  Before returning to his anchorage under the guns of Fort Pulaski, Tattnall forced the blockaders to move seaward temporarily.

**  USS Rhode Island, Lt. Trenchard, captured Confederate schooner Venus southeast of Sabine Pass, off the Louisiana coast.

--Old B-Runner

Some More on Civil War Receiving Ships-- Part 1

From "The Day the Johnboat Went Up to the Mountains: Stories From my Twenty Years in South Carolina Maritime Archaeology" by Carl Naylor.

Civil War Receiving Ships

Receiving ships functioned as barracks for transient sailors, as "boot camps" for training new sailors and headquarters for other functions.  Invariably older vessels, no longer useful as warships and no longer seaworthy became receiving ships.

The next stop generally for these ships was scrapping.

Confederate receiving Ships:

CSS United States at Norfolk

CSS Arctic at Wilmington

CSS Indian Chief at Charleston

CSS  Sampson at Savannah

CSS Dalman at Mobile

CSS St. Philip at New Orleans

--Old B-R'er

CSS Macon and CSS Sampson Ordered to Give Up Ammunition at Augusta, Georgia

FEBRUARY 3RD, 1865:  Flag Officer William W. Hunter reported to the Confederate Navy department that he was ordering the CSS Macon and CSS Sampson to turn over their ammunition to the Confederate Army at Augusta.  The shallow upper Savannah River mad eit impossible made it impossible to use the vessels effectively in the defense of the city against the threatened attack by General Sherman's army which was working its way northward from Savannah.

Sherman had spent January in Savannah preparing for his march to North Carolina and insuring that he would have the necessary support from the sea coast.  After preparatory combined operations, in which Rear Admiral Dahlgren lost the USS Dai Ching to gunfire and subjected other gunboats to the threat of the ever-present torpedoes in shallow river and coastal waters, Sherman crossed the Savannah River at Savannah and on February 1, continued his march.

When Savannah had fallen, Hunter had brought the Macon and Sampson upriver with difficulty, determined to fight them as long as possible.  Now, however, he had run out of navigable water.

--Old B-R'er

Confederate Gunboats On the Move on the Savannah River

DECEMBER 10-12TH, 1864:  The CSS Macon, CSS Sampson and CSS Resolute, under Flag Officer Hunter took Union shore batteries under fire at Tweedside on the Savannah River.  Hunter attempted to run his gunboats downriver to join in the defense of Savannah, but was unable to pass the strong Federal batteries.

The Resolute was disable din this exchange of of fire December 12th, and was abandoned and captured.  Recognizing that he could not get his remaining two vessels to Savannah, and having to destroy the railroad bridge over the Savannah River that he had been defending, Hunter took advantage of the unusually high water to move upstream to Augusta.

Also this date: The USS O.H. Lee captured the British schooner Sort off Anclote Keys, Florida, with cargo of cotton.

--Old B-R'er