USS ''Calhoun'' was a captured Confederate steamer and

blockade runner A blockade runner is a merchant vessel used for evading a naval blockade of a port or strait. It is usually light and fast, using stealth and speed rather than confronting the blockaders in order to break the blockade. Blockade runners usual ...

acquired by the

Union Navy The Union Navy was the United States Navy (USN) during the American Civil War, when it fought the Confederate States Navy (CSN). The term is sometimes used carelessly to include vessels of war used on the rivers of the interior while they were und ...

from the

prize court A prize court is a court (or even a single individual, such as an ambassador or consul) authorized to consider whether prizes have been lawfully captured, typically whether a ship has been lawfully captured or seized in time of war or under the te ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...

. ''Calhoun'' was put into service as a

gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-ste ...

by the Union Navy to patrol navigable waterways of the

Confederacy Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between ...

to prevent the South from trading with other countries.

Service history

left , ''Calhoun'' in merchant service, 1850s ''Calhoun'' was built in New York in 1851. Her yard name was ''Cuba'', but this was changed to ''Calhoun'' before the vessel entered service. Prior to the Civil War, the steamer was employed in merchant service along the United States East Coast.

Confederate service

With the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, ''Calhoun'' was commissioned by the Confederate Government as a privateer on 15 May 1861; Capt. John Wilson and his 150 men. During the next five months, the vessel captured and sent in six prizes. She was then chartered by the

Confederate States Navy The Confederate States Navy (CSN) was the naval branch of the Confederate States Armed Forces, established by an act of the Confederate States Congress on February 21, 1861. It was responsible for Confederate naval operations during the American ...

and placed under the command of Lt. J. H. Carter, CSN. As CSS ''Calhoun'', she served as flagship for Commodore G. N. Hollins, CSN, during a successful engagement between his fleet and five Union ships at the Head of the Passes into the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it ...

, 12 October 1861. ''Calhoun'' was captured off South West Pass,

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a U.S. state, state in the Deep South and South Central United States, South Central regions of the United States. It is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 20th-smal ...

, on 23 January 1862 by the

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoo ...

''USS Samuel Rotan'', a

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to the

steam frigate Steam frigates (including screw frigates) and the smaller steam corvettes, steam sloops, steam gunboats and steam schooners, were steam-powered warships that were not meant to stand in the line of battle. There were some exceptions like for ex ...

Union Navy service

Commissioned as USS ''Calhoun'' for Federal service under

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

J. E. De-Haven, she joined the

West Gulf Blockading Squadron The Union blockade in the American Civil War was a naval strategy by the United States to prevent the Confederacy from trading. The blockade was proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln in April 1861, and required the monitoring of of Atlantic ...

on March 19, 1862. In her service on patrol off the Passes of the Mississippi River, ''Calhoun'' established herself as one of the most successful blockading ships, taking part in the capture of 13 ships before May 5, 1862, when she steamed up the

for duty in

Lake Pontchartrain Lake Pontchartrain ( ) is an estuary located in southeastern Louisiana in the United States. It covers an area of with an average depth of . Some shipping channels are kept deeper through dredging. It is roughly oval in shape, about from wes ...

. Here she continued to add to her score, chasing and capturing a steamer, a

, two

schooners A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoo ...

, and a

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular ...

. Later in the year, she sought out and captured another sloop in

Atchafalaya Bay The Atchafalaya Basin, or Atchafalaya Swamp (; Louisiana French: ''L'Atchafalaya'', ), is the largest wetland and swamp in the United States. Located in south central Louisiana, it is a combination of wetlands and river delta area where the At ...

. In early November, ''Calhoun'' stood up

Berwick Bay Berwick Bay is the section of the Lower Atchafalaya River in Louisiana from Morgan City north to Sixmile Lake. U.S. Route 90 crosses Berwick Bay connecting the town of Berwick on the west bank of the Atchafalaya to Morgan City on the east ban ...

and

Bayou Teche Bayou Teche ( Louisiana French: ''Bayou Têche'') is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 20, 2011 waterway of great cultural significance in south central Louisiana in ...

with two other steamers to engage Confederate shore batteries and the steamer CSS ''Cotton'', barricaded on the Teche. Remaining in the Berwick Bay area on patrol, ''Calhoun'' and her consorts climaxed their extremely successful operations on April 14, 1863 when they attacked the cotton-clad steamer CSS ''Queen of the West''. One shot at long range from ''Calhoun'' turned the Confederate ship into a torch, and a major threat to Union forces in the area was destroyed. ''Calhoun'' continued to add to her distinguished record with her participation in the attack on Fort Butte-a-la-Rose on April 20, and in August was ordered to base on Ship Island, Mississippi, from which she continued her active and aggressive bombardments of shore positions, and took four more prizes. In the furious assault on

Fort Powell A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''face ...

the last two weeks of February 1864, ''Calhoun'' flew the flag of Admiral David G. Farragut.

Later service

Turned over to the United States Marshal at

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...

. She served as the Army steamer ''General Sedgewick'' for the rest of the Civil War. Sold in 1865, she regained her old name and had a long subsequent career as the SS ''Calhoun''.

References

External links

Online Library of Selected Images:U.S. Navy ships-USS Calhoun (1862-1864).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calhoun Ships of the Union Navy Ships built in New York City Steamships of the United States Navy Gunboats of the United States Navy American Civil War patrol vessels of the United States 1851 ships Captured ships Blockade runners of the American Civil War