RoadTrippin' With the Montgomery-- Part 8: The First USS Montgomery in the American Revolution

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

Cruising With the USS Montgomery-- Part 7: LCSs and DDs Look Quite a Bit Like ....

Before I go any further, I happened to notice something while looking at side views of the USS Montgomery and other LCS ships as well as new destroyers.

These ships seem to incorporate parts of two Civil War ships.

Take a look online and make your guess.

Answer below.

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The superstructure of the ships reminds me of Confederate ironclads.  Take a look at the CSS Virginia, Tennessee or Albemarle.

And, every one of them has a gun mounted in a turret in the bow area, which would be the USS Monitor.

A Little Taste of the Civil War in Today's Navy.  --Old B-Runner

Cruising with USS Montgomery-- Part 6: There Were Six Ships in U.S. Navy By That Name

As I said in the last post, whenever I'm doing a story about a ship, I like to see of there have been other ships by that name.

Wikipedia is an excellent quick source of information, because by the  ship's name, they have a spot for "Other ships with the same name."  Click on it and a list will come up.

Even though I had never heard of a ship on the U.S. Navy by the name of Montgomery, I found that the new USS Montgomery (LCS-9) is actually the sixth ship to bear that name.  Those names stretch back to the American Revolution and cover much of the country's history.

And there was one from the Civil War, which is why I was making the presentation in a series of Civil War talks.

And, as part of the RoadTrip experience, I will take a look at each of the USS Mongomerys.  I will look at the ship's history, and I am also very interested in for whom or what the ship was named.

--Old B-Runner

Cruising With the USS Montgomery-- Part 5: About the USS Montgomery (LCS-8)

The page in the PVA calendar had some information about the ship, which looks part aircraft carrier aftward.

It is named after the city of Montgomery, Alabama (I always like to find out how U.S. Navy ship's got their name), and was commissioned  10 September 2016.  It is 418 feet long with a 104 foot beam.  Its crew has 40 core members and up to 35 mission crew.

It has one  57 mm gun and a missile launcher and can carry several helicopters.

It was built in Mobile, Alabama.

Another thing I do in RoadTripping Through History is find out if there were any other ships by that name in the Navy.

--Old B-Runner

Cruising With the USS Montgomery-- Part 4: Here We Go (What Is an LCS?)

When you go RoadTrippin' Through History, you start with one thing and then how many other things you can attach to it.  What can you find out?  

So, we're going to take a trip through history and it starts with a current U.S. warship, the USS Montgomery (LCS-8).  I came across a picture of this ship and information on the December 2021 Paralyzed Veterans of America calendar.  I'd never heard of it, nor had I ever heard of any ship in the U.S. Navy by that name.

The first thing I had to do was find out what LCS stood for.  I am aware of many Navy designations for ships.  For example, (DD) means destroyer, (BB) means battleship, (CV) means aircraft carrier and (SS) means submarine.  But what does LCS stand for?

It stands for Littoral Combat Ship.  Next step was to find out what littoral meant.  That was not a word in my general vocabulary.  Looking it up I found that littoral meant something to do with coastal or shallow waters.  The combat ship was easy.  So, this is a ship meant for operating up close to the enemy in shallow coastal waters.

--Old B-Runner

Cruising With the USS Montgomery-- Part 3: The Lincoln Highway and National Road

Beside Route 66, Illinois is fortunate to have two other major old roads going through it.

One is the first paved transcontinental highway across the United States, the Lincoln Highway.  It ran from New York City to San Francisco.

And, a part of it went down DeKalb, Illinois' Main Street, called, get this, Lincoln Highway.  My wife and I often did something called the Lincoln Crawl back when we were students at Northern Illinois University.  That is where you went to as many bars along the road as you could.  NIU is located along this great road, but we sure didn't know the history of this road as students.

Plus, Illinois also has the western extremity of the old National Road.   This was the first major improved road built in the country by the federal government.  It was built between 1811 and 1837 heading westward out of Cumberland, Maryland, and eventually to Vandalia, then capital of Illinois.  This road was a major path for Americans moving into the Old Northwest Territory (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin).

I have driven long segments of both these roads as well as all of Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles.

Old B-Runner

Cruisin' With the USS Montgomery-- Part 2: Getting Hooked on Old Roads

Often when I'm doing all these blogs, I go ahead from the story I'm on and find out, as Paul Harvey would call it, "The Rest of the Story."  I start digging a little deeper into it to see what I find.  It is kind of like looking for buried treasure.  Kind of like all the hype back when Geraldo Rivera went into Al Capone's vaults.  You never know if you'll find something or not.

I call this "RoadTrippin' Through History" as you don't even know if you'll stay, as in this case, with the Civil War.  You just keep following leads.  Sometimes you get nowhere, others, like this, you sure do go places.

This takes in another one of the things I'm nuts about, old roads and trips on them.  Today. most vacations are all about the destination, not what you can see and do on the way.  Now, I realize most people don't have a lot of time on vacations and I'm fortunate enough to be retired.

My late wife, Liz, and I got hooked on old roads in 2002.  And, that road was Route 66 which we took from Chicago to St. Louis over spring break.  We got hopelessly hooked.  

Plus, Illinois is fortunate to also have two of the other major old roads, the Lincoln Highway and the National Road.  

--Old B-Runner

Cruisin' With the USS Montgomery-- Part 1: Who Fought the Civil War?

From my presentation "RoadTrippin' Through History:  The Continuing Saga of the USS Montgomery" that I gave January 19, 2023.

Some of this is written in this blog and other parts are in my Cooter's History Thing and Tattooed on Your Soul: World War II blog.  I am putting it all together in this one now.

I am a history nut.  I love my history and have loved it since I was a young lad of seven in 2nd grade and my dad took me to a Civil War fort in North Carolina called  Fort Fisher.  We were living in North Carolina at the time (I lived there for most of my first ten years).  I did not know anything about the Civil War.

My dad explained to me that the war was fought between the North and the South.  I told him, "Then we were for the North."  He said we weren't.  But, how could that be?  I knew we lived in North Carolina and that South Carolina was right by us.  As such, the Civil War must have been between North and South  Carolina.

Dad said no.  Those weren't the two sides.

I had paid attention at school in geography class and knew there was a South America and we lived in North America.  As such, then we would still be for the North.

Dad said no.

Now, you had a confused young man.  When I got back to school, I checked out a kid's book "The Civil War" by Fletcher Pratt from the library and read and reread several times and started getting an idea about this war.

Well, as they say, the rest is history.  In the 2nd grade I knew I wanted to be a teacher so I could teach history.  And, I was for 33 years.   See what Dad and Fletcher Pratt started.

And Fort Fisher Is Still My Favorite Civil War Battle.  --Old B-Runner

Civil War Navy Books by William N. Still

From GoodReads site.

Iron Afloat:  The Story of  the Confederate Armorclads

Confederate Shipbuilding

The Confederate Navy:  The Ships, Men and Organization

Ironclad  Captains:  Commanding Officers of the USS Monitor

Raiders and Blockaders

Monitor Builders:  A Historical  Study of the Principal Firms and Individuals Involved inthe Construction of the USS Monitor.

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Books he coauthored:

Two Years on the Alabama

Admiral of the New Empire:    The Life and Career of George Dewey. (Dewey was a navalofficer during the war and at Fort Fisher.

Captain  James Carlin:  Anglo-American Blockade Runner

Quite a Lengthy List.  --Old B-Runner

Death of Noted Civil War Navy Author William Still-- Part 2

While at East Carolina University, he founded and served as  the Director of  the Maritime  History and Nautical Archaeology Program.  

He was also instrumental in numerous  underwater  archaeological projects such as  those on the USS Monitor, CSS Alabama and Confederate submarine Hunley.

"Doc,"  as he was often known to his graduate students, was a mentor, advisor and friend.

When he retired from East Carolina in 1994, he and his wife relocated to Hawaii.

He authored or co-wrote dozens of books and publications focused on naval history from the Civil War to World War II.

Up until two weeks before his death, he was  actively researching and writing the last installation of his series for the Secretary of the Navy that began with  "Crisis at Sea and Victory Without Peace," focused on U.S. naval forces withdrawal following World War I.

Mr. Still was the recipient of many honors in the book field

He and his wife returned to Greenville, N.C., in 2008, but continued spending winter months in Hawaii and summer in North Carolina.

--Old B-Runner

Death of Noted Civil War Navy Author William N. Still, Jr.-- Part 1

From the Daily Reflector mewspaper, Greenville, North Carolina.

One of the best Civil War Navy authors died January 8, 2023.  I have his "Iron Afloat" book and enjoyed reading it.  Plus, he taught at East Carolina University, a school near and dear to me as both my parents graduated from there and have a scholarship.  Also, two of my cousins are ECU graduates.

DR. WILLIAM NORWOOD "BILL" STILL JR.

(1932-2023)

Passed away peacefully  surrounded by family on January 8.

He was born in Jackson, Mississippi, and got his bachelors degree from Mississippi College and doctorate from the University of Alabama.  He spent two years in the U.S. Navy aboard the aircraft carrier USS Lake Champlain.

He began his teaching career at the Mississippi State College for Women and moved to Greenville, North Carolina,  in 1968 to be a history professor at East Carolina College (now University).

--Old B-Runner

USS Passaic-- Part 8: Spanish-American War and 'Fightingest Ship' Name

The Passaic then spent  1893-1896 at Boston on loan to the Massachusetts Naval Militia.  The next two years were spent with the Georgia Naval Militia at Brunswick, Georgia.

Recalled for action during the Spanish-American War in 1898, she cruised southward  from May 6 to September 11.  At that time she was finally decommissioned at  the Pensacola Navy Base.

On October 10, 1899, the old warrior was sold to Frank Samuels of Philadephia who broke her up for scrap.

Writing in his journal on June 3, 1865, Admiral Dahlgren said of the Passaic, "a steady worker for two-and-one-half years, and the first monitor in commission after the Monitor.'

In a letter written to the Army and Navy Journal of April 24, 1864,  Commander Simpson said, "The Passaic was the worst hit of all the monitors."

Yes, the Passaic earned the  title of "The Fightingest Ship in Mr. Lincoln's Navy" and deserves to be remembered with pride by all who live in the river valley (Passaic, New Jersey) from which she received her name.

--Old B-Runner

USS Passaic-- Part 7: Raising the Flag Over Sumter and Postwar Service

Following extensive repairs, she was sent to Wassau Sound under the command of Lt. Commander  Fillebrown and served on the blockade for the rest of the war.

The Passaic received a great honor on April 14, 1865, when she was ordered to Charleston to take part in the ceremony of raising the U.S. flag over Fort Sumter, exactly four years to the day after Anderson had surrendered the fort.

On June 18, 1865, the Passaic was decommissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.

It was laid up  at League Island Navy Yard in Philadelphia until 1875, when she returned to duty as part of the North Atlantic Squadron, serving as a receiving ship at the Washington Navy Yard  

She cruised with the fleet from September 1, 1882, until the November 18th when she was assigned duty with the Naval Academy at Annapolis, remaining there for the next ten years.

--Old B-Runner

USS Passaic-- Part 6: A Busy Ship in 1863

In a report to Admiral Dahlgren, who had replaced Du Pont,  Commander Simpson related that the Passaic went into action eleven times between  July 29 and September 8th.  During that time,  she fire two hundred and twenty-six shells against the enemy and took in return one hundred and thirty-five hits from Confederate guns.

Typical of her work was the September 8th engagement.  During the attack on Sullivan's Island, she was ordered to go well in front of the rest of the fleet to engage Battery Bee at close range.

The Confederates concentrated all their guns on the Passaic and she was hit fifty-one times.  She managed to fire off  forty-nine of her own shells.

Her last action in 1863, took place on November 16th, when Admiral Dahlgren used her as his flagship during an attack on Fort Moultrie.  In this engagement, the USS Lehigh ran aground and was rescued by the Passaic while both vessels were under heavy fire.

--Old B-Runner

158th Anniversary of the Fall of Fort Fisher This Weekend-- Part 2

At 11 am and 2 pm, Curator of History Ray Flowers will present "The Sword of Fort Fisher" in the visitor center audtorium.  This is about Major Reilly's sword, the one used to surrender the fort.  Seating will be limited.

Due to the construction of the new visitor center, parking will be limited to the Battle Acre and  the temporary parking lot located immediately south of the museum.  Signs will assist motoerists.

ADA/handicapped parking is limited to two spaces north of the museum.

Located at 1610 Fort Fisher Boulevard, Kure Beach, N.C., Fort Fisher is a part of the Division of State Historic Sites in the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

--Old B-Runner