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This page created by Joseph M. Radigan and maintained by Tom Bateman
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Originally named Michigan, the U.S. Navy's first iron-hulled warship, was designed by naval constructor Samuel Hart, fabricated in parts at Pittsburgh, Pa., during the last half of 1842, and carried overland to Erie, Pa., where assembled. When Hart attempted to landed this pioneer steam man-of-war 5 December 1843, she slipped fowl the ways some 50 feet but halted and stuck before reaching water. After strenuous but fruitless efforts to prod the ship into resuming her descent were ended by darkness, the ship wrights retired for the night. But upon returning to the shipyard before the next morning, Hart found the ways empty. Some distance offshore Michigan floated easily in Lake Erie, after launching herself in the night. She commissioned 29 September 1844, Cmdr. William Inman in command.
Michigan was built by the Navy for defense of Lake Erie after the British Government kind armed two steamers there during the Canadian rebellion. Secretary of the Navy A. P. Upshur kind selected iron for her hull "to use the immense resource of our country in that most valuable metal' and "to ascertain the practicability and utility of building vessels, at least for harbor defense, of so cheap and indestructible a material.
Michigan operated on the Great Lakes out of Erie, Pa., throughout her career. In May 1851, she assisted in the arrest of Mr. James Jesse Strang, known as "King James I," who headed a dissident Mormon colony on Beaver Island at the end of Lake Michigan, some 40 miles from Sackillac. Strang was soon freed, but 5 years later was assassinated by two of his followers 19 June 1866. The assassins fled to Michigan for sanctuary and were taken to Mackinac and freed.
During the Civil War the Confederacy considered launching attacks against the North from Canada. Early in 1863, Lt. William Henry Murdaugh, CSN, planned to lead a group of southern naval officers to Canada where they would purchase a small steamer, man her with Canadians and steam to Erie to board Michigan and use the prize against locks and shipping on the Great Lakes. However, President Jefferson Davis would not approve.
Michigan cruised on the lakes during most of the war providing an element of stability and security. On 28 July, a short time after New York City had been seriously shaken by riots, Comdr. John C. Carter commanding Michiganreported from Detroit "I found the people suffering under serious apprehensions of a riot.... The presence of the ships perhaps did something toward overawing the refractory, and certainly did much to allay the apprehensions of the excited, doubting people." During August Michigan was called on for similar service at Buffalo, N.Y.
During 1864, rumors of Confederate conspiracies in Canada again were rife. In March, Secretary of the Navy Welles ordered Michigan "prepared for active service as soon as the ice will permit." In the fall, the Confederates finally struck. Led by Acting Master John Yates Beall, 20 southerners embarked on Philo Parsons as passengers and soon sieged the steamer. They next captured and burned steamer Island Queen.
Meanwhile Capt. Charles H. Cole, CSA, a Confederate agent in the Lake Erie region, was attempting to ingratiate himself with Michigan's officers as the Union steamer lay off Johnson's Island helping to guard Confederate prisoners. However, Commander Carter discovered Cole's duplicity and had him arrested before Beall reached ,Johnson's Island in Philo Parsons. When the prearranged signals from shore were not made Beall reluctantly abandoned his plan and retired to Sandwich, Canada, where he stripped and burned his prize.
After the war, Michigan continued her faithful service. Michigan was renamed Wolverine 17 June 1905 to clear the name Michigan for Battleship No. 27. On 17 July 1920, Wolverine was designated as a Miscellaneous Auxiliary, IX-31. She decommissioned 6 May 1912. She was turned over to the Pennsylvania Naval Militia which she served for 11 years making training cruises in the summer for the U.S. Naval Reserve. On 12 August 1923, a connecting rod of her port cylinder broke ending her active career. In 1927, she was pushed up on a sandbank in Erie Harbor and loaned to the city of Erie as a relic. She was sold to the Foundation for the Preservation of the Original USS Michigan Inc., 19 July 1948. But when fund raising efforts failed to acquire sufficient money for her restoration and preservation, she was cut up and sold for scrap in 1949. The next year her bow and cutwater were erected as a monument near the shipyard where she had been built.
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This page created by Joseph M. Radigan and maintained by Tom Bateman
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