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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS T. A. Ward

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal
Schooner:
  • Built, date and location unknown
  • Launched, date unknown
  • Purchased by the Navy, 9 October 1861, at New York City
  • Commissioned, 17 January 1862, at the New York Navy Yard, LT. Walter W. Queen in command
  • Assigned to CDR. David Porter's Mortar Flotilla USS T. A. Ward sailed in January to Key West, FL
  • In March she proceeded to Ship Island, MS. the staging point for CDR. David Porters Mortar Flotilla
  • In mid-March, the schooner sailed to Pass a l'Outre where she was towed across the bar into the Mississippi on the 18th
  • On 15 April 1862, USS Harriet Lane towed T. A. Ward up the Mississippi to a position just out of range of the Southern guns in Fort St. Phillip and Fort Jackson
  • On 18 April, the schooner now camouflaged with bushes and tree branches was towed to within 4,000 yards of Fort Jackson
  • Almost immediately the battle commenced lasting for six days and nights until COMO. Farragut's fleet raced upstream past the Confederate strongholds to take New Orleans
  • On 6 May, T. A. Ward retired to Ship Island which the mortar flotilla used as a base for blockade operations
  • Early in June, T. A. Ward sailed with the flotilla back up the Mississippi to support Farragut in an attack on Vicksburg
  • On station below Vicksburg, 28 June 1862, T. A. Ward participated in the bombard the Confederate batteries allowing Farragut's ships to dash past the Southern guns
  • T. A. Ward was reassigned in late July to the James River in support of General George B. McClellan's Peninsula campaign
  • After undergoing repair the schooner was assigned to the Potomac Squadron protecting Union communications with Washington by water
  • On the night of 3 and 4 October 1862 near Blakistone Island, MD., she captured a large man-of-war boat
  • The next night, she took two more boats attempting to run the blockade from Breton and St. Clement's Bays
  • Mid-November 1862, the schooner captured sloop G. W. Green near St. Jerome's Creek, MD.
  • Reassigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron early in the summer of 1863, T. A. Ward took station in July off Wilmington, N.C.
  • Reassigned on 26 September 1863 to waters off Charleston, S.C., for duty with the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron
  • On 17 October 1863, at Murrell's Inlet, S.C., boat crews from the schooner destroyed Southern merchant schooner Rover
  • On 20 October a party from T. A. Ward went ashore to reconnoiter and obtain fresh water; but it was surprised by Confederate cavalry. Ten of the Union seamen were captured
  • On 12 April 1864, boats from T. A. Ward and USS South Carolina seized steamer Alliance
  • On 16 August, a boat expedition from USS Saratoga and T. A. Ward captured some 100 prisoners
  • By New Year's Day 1865, she was on blockade duty off Charleston and she served in nearby waters through the end of the Civil War
  • Decommissioned at Portsmouth, N.H., 22 July 1865, and was sold on 25 September 1865
  • Final Disposition, fate unknown
    Specifications:
    Displacement 284 t
    Length 114'6"
    Beam 28'2"
    Draft 10'6"
    Depth of Hold 9'2"
    Speed unknown
    Complement unknown
    Armament
    one 13" mortar
    two 32-pdrs
    Propulsion sail
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Westfield 103k "Commander Porter's Mortar Flotilla".
    Line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", 1862, depicting the mortar schooner flotilla commanded by David Dixon Porter during the April 1862 attack on the forts below New Orleans.
    Vessels shown are (from left to right):
    USS Westfield,
    USS Adolph Hugel,
    USS Para,
    USS William Bacon,
    USS Oliver H. Lee,
    USS C.P. Williams,
    USS Henry Janes,
    USS George Mangham,
    USS Racer,
    USS Horace Beals,
    USS Sarah Bruen,
    USS Samuel Rotan,
    USS John Griffith,
    USS Rachel Seaman,
    USS Maria J. Carlton,
    USS Sidney C. Jones,
    USS T.A. Ward,
    USS Sea Foam,
    USS Maria A. Wood,
    USS Octorara (Porter's flagship) and
    USS Matthew Vassar.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 59061    		 Robert Hurst
    USS T. A. Ward
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 12 May 2017