USS Marblehead-- Part 3: Action in the Stono River and Bombardment of Charleston Defenses

The Marblehead survived its battle with the horse cavalry artillery and was then transferred to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron.  Primarily she patrolled the coast looking for blockade runners, but in early February 1863, she reconnoitered the Wilmington River  with the monitor USS Passaic trying to locate the ironclad CSS Atlanta (ex-blockade-runner Fingal).

Later in the month, on the 23rd, she took possession of  the prize Glide and her cargo of cotton which had been captured by  the Coast Guard schooners Caswell and Arago at the entrance to Tybee Creek in Georgia.  The Glide had been in route to Nassau.

During her coastal patrols, the Marblehead on occasion engaged in operations on the Stono River, South Carolina,  in support of Union forces on James Island by Charleston.  On 16 July 1863, during an assault by Confederate forces on that position, she came under fire by Confederate artillery at Grimball's Landing.

Forced further downriver, she still provided fire support and prevented Confederate reinforcements from reaching  the main body of their attack force.

Afterwards, the Marblehead joined with the rest of the Union fleet outside of Charleston Harbor in bombarding the forts there before  heading north for repairs.

--Old B-Runner

The Interesting Career of the CSS/USS Atlanta

I was writing about this ship last month.

It started its career as a blockade runner named the Fingal and made one run through the blockade at Savannah, Georgia, in November 1861.  It then found that it couldn't run out of the port.

At that time, it was converted into an ironclad and named the CSS Atlanta, mounting four cannons, a torpedo spar and a ram.  The new ironclad had just one battle with Union ships which turned out badly and the ship's capture.

It was then taken into the Union Navy and served the rest of the war in that capacity.

After the war, it was sold to Haiti, but lost at sea on her way there.  Imagine a former Confederate ironclad fighting for a black nation.

So, it was a blockade runner, Confederate ironclad, Union ironclad and Haitian warship.

Like I Said, An Interesting Story.  --Old B-R'er

USS Atlanta-- Part 1: The CSS Atlanta Surrenders to Union Navy

In yesterday's post, I wrote about the former CSS Atlanta (and before that the blockade  runner Fingal) which had been captured by the monitors Weehawken and Nahant 17 June 1863.

From Wikipedia.

SERVICE IN THE U.S. NAVY

The  CSS Atlanta ran aground during the battle and was being hammered by the two monitors and forced to surrender.  It was easily freed by the Union ships and sailed to Port Royal under her own power.    She was not  heavily damaged and repaired and bought by the Union Navy.

Prize money of $350,000 was shared by the crews of the Weehawken, Nahant and gunboat Cimarron who were the only ships within signalling distance.

The ship retained her name and was commissioned as a U.S. warship on 2 February 1864.  Her former armament of four Brooke rifled cannons was removed and replaced with a pair of 8-inch 150-pdrs.  Parrott rifles in the bow and stern and two 6.4-inch 100-pdrs. Parrotts amidships.

All four of the Confederate Brooke Rifles are still on display at Willard Park at the Washington Navy Yard.

--Old B-Runner

Erroneous Report of Capture of Blockade-Runner Fingal

November 21, 1861, Daily Dispatch.

"Intelligence of the capture of a large British steamer, laden with arms and munitions of war and supposed to be the Fingal, from Greenock, Scotland, by a U.S. frigate, which took her prize to Key West, reaches us from Holmes's Hole yesterday, where the brig Manzoni has just arrived from Cardenas."

Actually, the Fingal had just made a successful run into Savannah on November 12th.

--Old B-Runner

155 Years Ago, November 12, 1861: The Fingal Runs the Blockade

NOVEMBER 12TH, 1861:  The Fingal (later CSS Atlanta), purchased in England, entered Savannah laden with military supplies -- the first ship to run the blockade solely on Confederate government account.

**  The USS  W.G. Anderson, Acting Lt. William C. Rogers, captured the Confederate privateer Beauregard near Abaco.

--Old B-R'er