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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS James Adger

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal

Sidewheel Steamer:

Built in 1852 by William H. Webb in New York City

Launched, date unknown

Purchased by the US Navy from Spofford, Tileston & Co., 20 July 1861

Commissioned, 20 September 1861, as USS James Adger, at New York Navy Yard, CDR. John B. Marchand in command

USS James Adger departed New York 16 October 1861 in pursuit of CSS Nashville, a Confederate cruiser reported to have escaped from Charleston with the South's ministers to England and France, James M. Mason and John Slidell

James Adger arrived at Queenstown, Ireland in October, and cruised in quest of Nashville during November

She returned to Hampton Roads, VA., 2 December 1861, where she was ordered to Port Royal for duty in the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron

James Adger was assigned to assume command of the blockade at Georgetown, S.C., seeing there from 24 December 1861 to 7 March 1862

Reassigned in March to command of the blockage at Charleston

On 18 March 1862 she joined four other Union ships in capturing Emily St. Pierre attempting to slip into Charleston

Helped USS Keystone State, 29 May 1862, in capturing Elizabeth, a 250-ton steamer trying to enter Charleston with a cargo of munitions

Assisted Keystone State and USS Flag in driving off and pursuing her old adversary Nashville, now a blockade runner named Thomas L. Wragg trying to slip into Charleston

James Adger sailed for Baltimore, 19 September 1862, for repairs and departed for the South 31 December touching at Hampton Roads 2 January 1863 to take monitor USS Montauk in tow

22 January 1863 James Adger stood out of Port Royal, with Montauk in tow and steamed to Ossabaw Sound in search of Nashville, now a privateer renamed Rattlesnake on the Ogeechee River

Returning to Port Royal James Adger was assigned blockade duty off Charleston

She was recalled to Port Royal to embark prisoners captured with CSS Atlanta for passage to Fort Monroe and refitting at Philadelphia

The steamer sailed from Philadelphia before repairs were completed, 25 June in pursuit of Confederate commerce raider Tacony, then operating against Union merchantmen on the East Coast

7 July James Adger, not yet repaired, received orders to Wilmington for duty with the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, arriving at Wilmington 27 July

Off New Inlet, 1 August 1863 she assisted USS Iroquois and USS Mount Vernon in taking Confederate steamer Kate

On 8 November with the assistance of USS Niphon she captured CS Cornubia, an iron side wheeler bringing in a valuable cargo of arms, ammunition, and chemicals

Moreover, a package of documents thrown overboard before the capture, when plucked out of the sea, divulged information so important to the South that Cornubia's captain lamented, "though the Cornubia is a small vessel the Confederate Government could better have afforded to lose almost any other..."

The next morning James Adger took Confederate steamer Robert E. Lee coming into Wilmington from Bermuda with a cargo of arms and Army clothing

26 November, 1863, schooner Ella, approaching Wilmington with a cargo of salt and yard goods from Nassau, was James Adger's next victim

When the ship's long postponed repairs could be delayed no longer, James Adger sailed north and decommissioned at Philadelphia 28 December, 1863

Recommissioned, 17 June 1864, USS James Adger served in the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron until the end of the war

On 21 April 1865, Secretary Welles ordered her to Mariguana Passage (now Mayaguana Passage) in the Bahamas to escort a convoy of California-bound ships

Following a visit to New York, she cruised in the Caribbean off Panama and Colombia from August 1865 to February 1866

Back in New York, she assisted British steamer European after she exploded in New York Harbor 3 April 1866

James Adger decommissioned at New York Navy Yard, 2 May 1866 and was sold at New York to James B. Campbell 9 October 1866

Final Disposition, fate unknown

Specifications:
Displacement 1,152 t.
Length 215'
Beam 33'6"
Depth of Hold 21'3"
Draft unknown
Speed 11 kts
Complement 120

Armament

one 20-pdr Parrott rifle

eight 32-pdrs

Propulsion steam

two sidewheels

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Source
	21k	*Namesake* .James Adger Merchant Ship name retained. James Adger was a wealthy and influential merchants of antebellum Charleston, S.C. who used his position to good effect in the affairs of the city.	Tommy Trampp
	154k	Watercolor by Erik Heyl, 1948 of the steamship *James Adger, painted for use in his book "Early American Steamers", Volume I. Built at New York City in 1852, this steamer was commercially employed as SS James Adger* in 1851-1861 and in 1866-1878. Between 1861 and 1866, she served as USS James Adger . US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 63851. Courtesy of Erik Heyl.	US Naval History and Heritage Command
	303k	60th (Irish Brigade) Regiment embarking in SS James Adger at New York City for the war, 23 April 1861. Harper's Weekly, Vol. V. No. 228 New York Saturday, May 11, 1861.	Tommy Trampp
	186k	"Merchant Steamers Converted into Gun-boats." Engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", July-December 1861 volume. Depicts thirteen merchant steamships acquired by the U.S. Navy between April and August 1861 and subsequently converted into warships, plus the steamer *Nashville* (far left), which became a Confederate cruiser. US Navy ships as identified below the image bottom, are (from left to right: USS Alabama, USS Quaker City, USS Santiago de Cuba, (listed as "St. Jago de Cuba") USS Mount Vernon, USS Massachusetts, USS South Carolina, USS Florida, USS De Soto, USS Augusta, USS James Adger, USS Monticello, USS Bienville and USS R.R. Cuyler. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59366.	Robert Hurst
	139k	Preparing Merchant Vessels for the Blockade", Harper's Weekly, September 7, 1861. Merchant steamers Augusta, *James Adger, Florida* and *Valley City* being fitted out for naval service at New York Navy Yard.	Tommy Trampp
098668304	77k	USS James Adger participating with four other Union ships in the capture *Emily St. Pierre* off Charleston, 18 March 1862, by William Gay Yorke. William Gay Yorke, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons	John Spivey

USS James Adger
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)

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Last Updated 18 November 2022