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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Mahaska (I)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal
Octorara Class Sidewheel Gunboat:
  • A wooden, double-ender, sidewheel steamer of the third rate, built at the Navy Yard, Portsmouth, N.H., for $130,001.68
  • Launched 10 December 1861
  • Commissioned USS Mahaska, 5 May 1862, LT. N. H. Farquhar in command
  • During the Civil War USS Mahaska was assigned to patrol the rivers of the Chesapeake Bay
    Captured schooner General Taylor in Chesapeake Bay, 20 February 1863
  • Reassigned to the blockade off Charleston, S.C. later in 1863
    Participated in the attacks on the forts and batteries of the harbor in August 1863
    Participated in the joint expedition against Jacksonville, FL., 5 February to 4 April 1864
    Following overhaul USS Mahaska returned to blockade duty off the coast of Florida in January 1865
    Captured schooner Delia, near Bayport, 17 February, 1865
  • Decommissioned at New Orleans, 12 September 1868
  • Sold, 20 November 1868, to John Dole of Boston
  • Final Disposition, fate unknown
    Specifications:
    Displacement 1,070 t.
    Length 228' 2"
    Beam 33' 10"
    Draft 10' 4"
    Speed 9 kts
    Complement unknown
    Armament
    one 100-pdr Parrott rifle
    one 9" gun
    four 24-pdr guns
    Propulsion steam
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Mahaska 176k
    Namesake
    Mahaska was born into the Iowa tribe. He became chief at an early age after killing several enemy Sioux to avenge his father’s death by them.
    Later Mahaska killed a French trader in an argument; he was arrested and imprisoned in St. Louis, Missouri. After he escaped, he led a raid against the Osage.
    Afterward, he decided that his father’s death was finally avenged. Mahaska lay down his arms and adopted the lifestyle of the European-American settlers, building a log home and farming. He refused to let his braves avenge the death of an Iowa chief named Crane at the hands of Omaha Indians in 1833. When several Iowa killed six Omaha warriors, Mahaska assisted in their arrest.
    The next year one of the Iowa escaped from Fort Leavenworth and killed Mahaska by shooting him in the back as he sat by his campfire. He was buried along the Nodaway River in Edna Township, Cass County, Iowa. Mahaska became a symbol to settlers of the virtues of his native lifestyle, and of the possibility of peace between natives and settlers.     		Tommy Trampp
    Mahaska 209k The Crew of the USS Mahaska, CAPT. Foxhall A. Parker, destroying the Water Battery, Built by the Rebels, at West Point, York River, 1 November 1862.
    Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper- 1862.    		 Tommy Trampp
    Mahaska 81k "Rendezvous of Our Fleet in James River, off City Point, -- Drawn on the Spot, May 29, 1862" A line engraving, published in "Harper's Weekly", Volume of January-June 1862, page 390. depicting the U.S. Navy ships (listed as shown, from left to right) USS Maratanza (I), USS Wachusett (I), USS Aroostook (I), USS Monitor, USS Mahaska and USS Galena (I) operating on the James River in support of General McClellan's army.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59206    		 NHHC
    Mahaska 104k "The Gun-boats 'Galena' and 'Mahaska' shelling the Rebels at Harrison's Landing, July 1, 1862" A line engraving, based on a sketch "by an officer of the Navy", published in "Harper's Weekly", Volume 6, July-December 1862, page 470. USS Galena is at left and USS Mahaska is at right.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59198    		 Robert Hurst
    Mahaska 406k "The United States Infantry burning the House of the Rebel Ruffin under the Guns of the United States Gunboat 'Mahaska'" A line engraving, based on a sketch "by an officer of the 'Mahaska'", published in "Harper's Weekly", Volume 6, July-December 1862, page 540. USS Mahaska is in the left foreground. Edmund Ruffin of Virginia, a leading figure of the secession movement, was credited with firing the first shot of the bombardment of Fort Sumter, the opening gun of the Civil War.
    US Library of Congress photo.    		 Bill Gonyo
    USS Mahaska (I)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
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    Last Updated 22 July 2016