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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

CSS St. Philip

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal
Sidewheel Steamer:
  • Built in 1852 as the brigantine-rigged sidewheel steamer SS San Juan by Jeremiah Simonson, Greenpoint, N. Y. for $250,000
  • Renamed SS Star of the West, date unknown, operated passenger service between New York and California
  • Chartered by the Federal Government in January and April 1861 to carry reinforcements to Fort Sumter at Charleston, S.C. and to carry troops from Texas to New York
  • Captured by the Confederate Army steamer CSS General Rusk, 17 April 1861, off Indianola, TX.
  • Renamed CSS St. Philip employed by the Confederate Navy as a receiving ship at New Orleans
  • Sunk by Confederate forces to obstruct the channel of the Tallahatchie River, March 1863
    Specifications:
    Displacement 1,172 t.
    Length 228' 4"
    Beam 32' 8"
    Depth of Hold 24' 6"
    Draft unknown
    Speed 11.5 kts
    Complement unknown
    Armament
    two 68-pdrs
    four 32-pdrs
    Propulsion
    two vertical beam steam engines
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Merchant Service
    St. Philip 131k Engraving of SS Star of the West underway with Fort Sumter Charleston S. C. in the background, circa 1860. Tommy Trampp
    St. Philip 215k Confederate batteries on Morris Island, South Carolina fire upon SS Star of the West as she attempts to deliver reinforcements to Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, January 10, 1861.
    "Harper's Weekly" Vol. V No. 213, New York, Saturday January 26 1861    		 Tommy Trampp
    Star of the West
    098649604    		 73k A contemporaneous wood engraving of the steamer Star of the West (later CSS St. Philip). Image from Pictorial History of the Civil War in the United States of America, P.3. by Benson J. Lossing, Pub. by George W. Childs, Philadelphia. Robert Hurst
    Star of the West
    098649605    		 177k The Steamship Star of the West, with reinforcements for Major Anderson, approaching Fort Sumter (center right), under fire from batteries on Morris Island (far left) and Fort Moultrie (far right), 19 January 1861. Illus. in: Frank Leslie's illustrated newspaper, vol. 11, no. 269 (1861 Jan. 19), pp. 136-137. LC-USZ62-60976 (b&w film copy neg.) This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID cph.3b08667 Robert Hurst
    CSS St. Philip
    St. Philip 292k
    Fort St. Philip
    Fort St. Philip is a historic masonry fort located on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, about 40 miles upriver from its mouth opposite Fort Jackson on the west side of the river. It formerly served as military protection for New Orleans and of the lower Mississippi River.
    Photo Caption - The Opening of the lower Mississippi and the capture of New Orleans. Section of Fort St. Philip during the engagement. Artwork depicting battle in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, during the American Civil War.
    J.O. Davidson - Illus. in: "Battles and leaders of the Civil War", p. 96. New York : The Century Co., c1894    		 Tommy Trampp
    CSS St. Philip
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
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    Last Updated 26 August 2024