The Naval Forces At the Battle of Tuliffiny

In my other Civil War blog, Saw the Elephant, I am writing about the Battle of Tuliffiny in South Carolina in December 1864.  It was a part of Sherman's March to the Sea.  Of interest, it featured the cadets of Charleston's Citadel playing a big role in the battle.

From the Civil War Times 1864-12-6 Tuliffiny.

This was a Union amphibious assault of the Navy, Marines and Army.

Navy ships involved in it from the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron under Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren:

USS St. Louis  (the only ship of this name in the Civil War I could find was an ironclad on the Mississippi River)
USS Pawnee
USS Canandaigua

USS Flag
USS New Hampshire
USS Sonoma

USS Mingoe
USS Pontiac
USS Saratoga

USS James Adger
USS Cimarron
USS Donegal

Not all of these ships were at the actual battle.  This appears to be a list of ships of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron based at Hilton Head, S.C..

Commander George H. Preble commanded the Naval Support Brigade ashore.

--Old B-Runner

Expedition Up the Waccamaw River, S.C.-- Part 1

MARCH 27TH, 1865:  Captain Stellwagen, the senior naval officer at Georgetown, South Carolina, reported to Rear Admiral Dahlgren "the return of another expedition of four days' duration up the Waccamaw River some 50 miles to Conwayboro."

Detailing the nature of the ceaseless naval expeditions in coastal and inland waters that facilitated the land campaign, Stellwagen continued:  "Having heard the threats of a visit in force had been made by the guerrillas against the plantations and settlements, in view of which great alarm was felt on the whole route by blacks and whites, I dispatched the Mingoe, having in tow some ten armed boats, to proceed as high as Buck's Mills, and leaving it discretionary with Lieutenant-Commanders G.U. Morris and William H. Dana to proceed the remaining distance by boats or land.

"The arrival of the steam launch and two large row launches from the Santee [River] enabled me to follow with them, and the steam tug Catalpa determined to ascend as far as the water would permit."

--Old B-Runner

Action at Georgetown, S.C.

FEBRUARY 23-25TH, 1865:  Rear Admiral Dahlgren dispatched a squadron from Charleston, commanded by Captain Henry S. Stellwagen in the USS Pawnee, to capture and occupy Georgetown, South Carolina, in order to establish a line of communications with General Sherman's army advancing from Columbia, South Carolina. to Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Fort White, guarding the entrance to Winyah Bay leading to Georgetown, was evacuated upon the approach of the naval squadron and was occupied by a detachment of Marines on the 23rd.

The following day Stellwagen sent Ensign Allen K. Noyes with the USS Catalpa and Mingoe up the PeeDee River to accept the surrender of the evacuated city of Georgetown.  Noyes led a small party ashore and received the surrender from civilian authorities while a group of his seamen climbed to the city hall dome and ran up the Stars and Stripes.

This action was presently challenged by a group of Confederate horsemen..  More sailors were landed.  A skirmish ensued in which the bluejackets drove off the mounted guerrillas.  Subsequently, the city was garrisoned by five companies of Marines who were in turn relieved by the soldiers on March 1.

--Old B-R'er

150 Years Ago: Action on the James River and Capture of Blockade-Runners

OCTOBER 22ND, 1864:  Union shore batteries on the north bank of the James River at Signal Hill opened fire suddenly on the ships of the Confederate James River Squadron, anchored in the river at that point.  Wooden gunboat CSS Drewry sustained moderate damage, and after engaging the batteries for about an hour, the Southern vessels retired under the guns of Fort Darling on Chaffin's Bluff.

British blockade-runner steamer Flora, after being chased by the USS Wamsutta, Geranium and Mingoe off Charleston, S.C., was run aground and destroyed the next day by fire from the monitors and the batteries on Morris Island.

The USS Eolus capture Confederate blockade running steamer Hope near Wilmington with a cargo of machinery.

--Old B-Runner