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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

CSS Raleigh

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal

Steamer:

A small, iron-hulled, propeller-driven towing steamer, built, date and location unknown

Launched, date unknown

Operated on the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal

Taken over by the State of North Carolina in May 1861

Transferred to the Confederate States the following July

Commissioned CSS Raleigh, date unknown, LT. J. W. Alexander, CSN in command

Raleigh served in coastal waters of North Carolina and Virginia and in the James River

She supported Forts Hatteras and Clark on 28-29 August 1861

Participated in the expedition, 1 October, to capture United States Army steamer Fanny

Accompanied CSS Sea Bird when she reconnoitered Pamlico Sound 20 January 1862

She was active in defense of Roanoke Island, N.C., against an amphibious assault, 7-8 February 1862 and at Elizabeth City, N.C., 2 days later

Raleigh escaped the North Carolina sounds through Dismal Swamp Canal to Norfolk, VA.

The steamer served, 8-9 March 1862, as tender to CSS Virginia during the historic battle of ironclads at Hampton Roads

With the Federal recapture of Norfolk Navy Yard in May 1862, Raleigh steamed up the James River but a shortage of crew rendered her unable to continue to fight

Renamed Roanoke near the end of the war

Final Disposition, destroyed by the Confederates,4 April 1865, upon the evacuation of Richmond

Specifications:
Displacement 65 t.
Length unknown
Beam unknown
Depth of Hold unknown
Draft unknown
Speed unknown
Complement unknown
Armament one to four guns
Propulsion steam

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description		Source
098606702	92k	Port side view of *Fanny* from "Harper's Weekly," 19 October 1861. From Harper's Weekly, Oct.19, 1861. Showing *Fanny* attacked by CSS Raleigh, CSS Curlew, and CSS Youngalasaka. It is not clear, however, if this was actually *Fanny*'s appearance, as other contemporary drawings (in Frederick Stansbury Haydon's "Military Ballooning During the Early Civil War," for example) show a similar, but definitely different, ship,		Fabio Pena and Tommy Trampp

CSS Raleigh
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)

Commanding Officers
01	LT. Alexander, Joseph W., CSN	1861 - 1862
02	LT. Clarke, Maxwell T., CSN	1863 - June 1864
03	LT. Benton, Mortimer Murray, CSN	1864
04	Master's Mate Albertson, A.E., CSN	31 July 1864 - ?
05	Acting Master Shippey, W. Frank, CSN	October 1864 - December 1864
06	LT. Pollock, William Wonder, CSN	January 1865 - end of war

* Coski (1996), John M. Capital Navy: The Men, Ships and Operations of the James River Squadron, Campbell, CA: Savas Woodbury Publishers. ISBN 1-882810-03-1


Courtesy Robert Hurst

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Last Updated 10 February 2023