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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Issac Smith

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal
Awards, Personnel Awards

Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Medal of Honor (Richard Stout, Landsman, USN, 30 January 1863) - Purple Hearts (Eight men were dead and 17 were wounded at Stono River)
Screw Steamer:
  • Built in 1851 as the steamer, Issac P. Smith, at Nyack, N. J.
  • Purchased by the Union Navy at New York from E. J. Hamilton 9 September 1861
  • Commissioned USS Issac Smith, in October 1861, location unknown
  • Assigned to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, 16 October 1861, joining Flag Officer S. F. Du Pont's assault against Port Royal, S.C.
  • Participated in a reconnaissance in force, 4 and 5 November 1861, engaging and repelling three attacking Confederate steamers and silenced batteries at Hilton Head and Bay Point, S.C.
  • Two days later Issac Smith towed USS Vandalia into action during the landings at Port Royal
  • Participated in operations against the coast of South Carolina until 21 January 1862 and was part of the force assigned to the diversionary attack at Savannah, GA.
  • Issac Smith was active during the latter half of March and all of April in the vicinity of St. Augustine, FL.
  • Participated in the tightening of the blockade at Jacksonville, FL, from May to August 1862
  • Ordered to the Stono River where she served until 30 January 1863. That day she was caught in a cross fire from masked shore batteries. Disabled by accurate fire and with her deck covered with wounded men, her captain surrendered the ship rather than risk their lives. Eight men were dead and 17 were wounded
  • Isaac Smith served the Confederate Navy in Charleston waters under the name Stono
  • Wrecked on the breakwater near Fort Moultrie, S.C., while attempting to run the blockade with a load of cotton 5 June 1863
  • Final Disposition, burned by the Confederates at the evacuation of Charleston in 1865
    Specifications:
    Displacement 453 t.
    Length 171' 6"
    Beam 31' 4"
    Depth of Hold 9'
    Draft unknown
    Speed unknown
    Complement 56
    Armament
    one 30-pdr Parrott Rifle
    eight 8" Dahlgren smoothbores
    Propulsion steam
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Arkansas 78k "Army & Navy Reconnoissance. Tuesday Morning Nov. 5" 1861 Line engraving published in "The Soldier in Our Civil War", Volume I, page 189, depicting Federal ships investigating Port Royal Sound, South Carolina, prior to their successful attack on Confederate fortifications there. Ships and other items identified across the bottom of the print include (from left to right):
    USS Mercury, with Generals Sherman and Stevens & staff on board;
    USS Penguin, with Hilton Head Battery beyond;
    USS Pawnee; Broad River (in distance);
    CSS Huntress (distance);
    USS Seneca; Steamer Screamer (distance);
    USS Ottawa with Capt. Rogers & General Wright on board;
    Steamer Everglades (distance, beyond Ottawa;
    USS Pembina;
    CSS Lady Davis (distance); Beaufort River (distance); Bay Point Battery (distance); USS Curlew; (probably misidentified as no record exists that USS Curlew served with South Atlantic Blockading Suardron) Confederate camp (distance); USS Isaac Smith.
    US Navy photo # NH 59319>/i>    		 Tommy Trampp
    Arkansas 75k "Bombardment and Capture of Port Royal, South Carolina, 7 November 1861" Engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", July-December 1861 volume, pages 760-761. It depicts Federal warships, under Flag Officer Samuel F. DuPont, USN, bombarding Fort Beauregard (at right) and Fort Walker (at left). The Confederate squadron commanded by Commodore Josiah Tattnall is in the left center distance. Subjects identified below the image bottom are (from left): tug Mercury, Fort Walker, USS Wabash (DuPont's flagship), Screamer (?), USS Susquehanna, CSS Huntsville, Commo. Tattnall, USS Bienville, USS Pembina, USS Seneca, USS Ottawa, USS Unadilla, USS Pawnee, USS Mohican, USS Isaac Smith, USS Curlew; (probably misidentified as no record exists that USS Curlew served with South Atlantic Blockading Suardron), USS Vandalia, USS Penguin, USS Pocahontas, USS Seminole, Fort Beauregard, USS R.B. Forbes and "Rebel Camp".
    US Navy photo # NH 59256>/i>    		 US Naval History and Heriage Command
    Arkansas 81k Richard Stout, former Landsman, USN Halftone image published in "Deeds of Valor", Volume II, page 43, by the Perrien-Keydel Company, Detroit, 1907. Landsman Stout was awarded the Medal of Honor for his brave actions on board USS Isaac Smith when she was captured by Confederate forces in the Stono River, South Carolina, on 30 January 1863.
    US Navy photo # NH 79915>/i>    		 US Naval History and Heriage Command
    USS Issac Smith
    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 20 June 2014