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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Pittsburgh (I)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal
Cairo Class Centerwheel casemate Iron-clad River Gunboat :
  • Built in 1861, for the War Department as the centerwheel ironclad gunboat Pittsburgh at St. Louis, MO., by James B. Eads
  • Launched, date unknown
  • Commissioned, USS Pittsburgh, 25 January 1862, LT. Egbert Thompson in command
  • 1 October 1862 custody transferred to the US Navy
  • During the Civil War USS Pittsburgh participated in the following actions:
    14 February 1862 capture of Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River
    3 to 7 April the capture of Island No. 10 and New Madrid, MO.
    April, May and June 1862, Plum Point Bend, Fort Pillow and the Battle of Memphis
    March 1863 the Steele's Bayou Expedition
    16 April passing of the Vicksburg batteries
    29 April attack on the batteries at Grand Gulf
    March to May 1864 the Red River expedition
  • Decommissioned at Mound City, date unknown
  • Sold at public auction at Mound City, 29 November 1865
  • Final Disposition, Used as a wharfboat and was abandoned on the rock bar above Smithland, KY, in June 1870
    Specifications:
    Displacement 512 t.
    Length 175'
    Beam 51' 6"
    Draft 6'
    Speed 9 mph
    Complement 200
    Armament
    six 42-pdrs
    three 8" smoothbore
    four 42-pdrs rifles
    one 12-pdr howitzer
    Propulsion
    two Thomas Merrett, Cincinnati, O. horizontal non-condensing steam engines
    five 36 inches x 24 feet diameter boilers
    twin propellers
    44
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    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Carondelet 104k "United States Mississippi Gun-boats being built at Carondelet, near St. Louis, Missouri".
    Line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", 5 October 1861. It depicts, rather inaccurately, the construction of four of the "City" class ironclads by James Eads, including Carondelet, Louisville, Pittsburgh and Saint Louis.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59001    		 Robert Hurst
    Carondelet 89k "City" Class armored gunboats under construction by James Eads, at St. Louis, Missouri, prior to October 1861. This view shows four ships being built in pairs, at two levels on the shore, with casemate side timbers largely installed. Vertical timbers extending above the slanting casemate sides are framing for the ships' paddle-wheel boxes. The four ships of this class built at St. Louis were Carondelet, Louisville, Pittsburgh and Saint Louis. Note building and flagpole in the right background, timber stockpile in the foreground, and twin rudder posts at the ships' sterns with the paddle raceway between them.
    U.S. National Archives. Photo #: 165-C-703    		 Robert Hurst
    Carondelet 111k "City" Class armored gunboats under construction by James Eads, at St. Louis, Missouri, prior to October 1861. This view looks along the main deck on one gunboat, with its boilers in the foreground and casemate timbers at the sides. Another vessel is beyond, with some spar deck beams atop the casemate side timbers and upright framing in place for her wheel box. The four ships of this class built at St. Louis were Carondelet, Louisville, Pittsburgh and Saint Louis. Note flagpole in the left background.
    U.S. National Archives. Photo #: 165-C-702    		 Robert Hurst
    Louisville 166k Wood-cut engraving "WAR IN THE WEST--THE NEW GUNBOAT FLOTILLA, COMMODORE FOOTE BUILT AT CARONDELET MISSOURI, FOR THE DESCENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI", published in "Frank Leslie's Illustrated" December 1861, Left to Right;
    USS Louisville
    USS Carondelet
    Transport, name unknown
    USS Pittsburgh
    Transport, name unknown
    USS St. Louis    		 Tommy Trampp
    Benton 80k "Commodore Foote's Gun-boat Flotilla on the Mississippi". Line engraving after a sketch by Alexander Simplot, published in Harper's Weekly, 1862. Ships are identified below the image as (from left to right):
    USS Mound City,
    USS Essex,
    USS Cairo,
    USS Saint Louis,
    USS Louisville,
    USS Benton,
    USS Pittsburgh and
    USS Lexington.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command. Photo #: NH 59002
    		Robert Hurst
    Pittsburgh 97k USS Pittsburgh on one of the Western Rivers during the Civil War. Note a second "City"class gunboat is at right.
    US Navy photo # NH 45557 from the collections of the US Naval History and Heritage Command.     		Aryeh Wetherhorn
    Pittsburgh 442k Lithograph of USS Pittsburgh from "The Illustrated London News", 19 July 1862. Tommy Trampp
    Tyler 77k "The Gun-boat Attack on the Water Batteries at Fort Donelson". Line engraving, based on a sketch by Alexander Simplot, published in "Harper's Weekly", 1862, depicting the bombardment of Fort Donelson, Tennessee, by Federal warships, 14 February 1862. Many of the ships were damaged in this action. As identified on the engraving, they are (from left to right):
    "Timberclads"
    USS Tyler and
    USS Conestoga;
    "Ironclads"
    USS Carondelet,
    USS Pittsburgh,
    USS Louisville and
    USS Saint Louis.
    US Navy History and Heritage Command photo # NH 58898.    		 Robert Hurst
    St. Louis 114k "Bombardment and Capture of Island Number Ten on the Mississippi River, April 7, 1862."
    Colored lithograph published by Currier & Ives, New York, circa 1862. It depicts the bombardment of the Confederate fortifications on Island Number Ten by Federal gunboats and mortar boats. Ships seen include (from left to right):
    USS Mound City;
    USS Louisville;
    USS Pittsburgh;
    USS Carondelet;
    USS Benton;
    USS Cincinnati;
    USS Saint Louis;
    USS Conestoga.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # KN 9691    		 Robert Hurst
    Louisville 76k An 1883 print of the Civil War depicting Union gunboats USS Louisville, USS Carondelet, USS Pittsburgh and mortar boats in Deer Creek shelling a Confederate battery during the Battle of Steele Bayou, March 14 to 27 1863. Tommy Trampp
    Benton 358k "Admiral Porter's Fleet Running the Rebel Blockade of the Mississippi at Vicksburg, April 16th 1863." Text under the print's title reads: "At half past ten P.M. the boats left their moorings & steamed down the river, the Benton, Admiral Porter, taking the lead -- as they approached the point opposite the town, a terrible concentrated fire of the center, upper and lower batteries, both water and bluff, were directed upon the channel, which here ran within one hundred yards of the shore. At the same moment innumerable floats of turpentine and other combustible materials were set ablaze. In the face of all this fire, the boats made their way with but little loss except the transport Henry Clay which was set on fire & sunk."
    Ships depicted are (from the front to the rear:
    USS Benton (flagship);
    USS Lafayette with
    USS General Price alongside;
    USS Louisville;
    USS Mound City;
    USS Pittsburgh;
    USS Carondelet; transports
    SS Silver Wave;
    SS Forest Queen;
    SS Henry Clay; and
    SS Tuscumbia.
    Currier & Ives, New York. Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Academy Museum, Beverley R. Robinson Collection.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 76557-KN (Color)    		 Robert Hurst
    Choctaw 48k "Attack on Grand Gulf," 29 April 1863, from Harper's Weekly.
    The attack by USS Benton,
    USS Lafayette,
    USS Tuscumbia,
    USS Carondelet,
    USS Louisville,
    USS Mound City, and
    USS Pittsburgh.
    		 Tommy Trampp
    Benton 155k "Battle of Grand Gulf, First position, R. Ad. D.D. Porter Commanding". Engraving published in Rear Admiral Henry Walke's Naval Scenes and Reminiscences of the Civil War in the United States ... (1877), depicting U.S. Navy ironclads engaging Confederate batteries at Grand Gulf, Mississippi, 29 April 1863. US ships present, as identified on the print, are (from left-center to right):
    USS Benton,
    USS Tuscumbia,
    USS Pittsburgh,
    USS Lafayette,
    USS Louisville,
    USS Baron de Kalb, (Identified in the engraving as St. Louis) and
    USS Carondelet,.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 1852    		 Robert Hurst
    Battle of Grand Gulf
    098677402    		 192k Battle of Grand Gulf, Second Position. The Battle of Grand Gulf was fought on April 29, 1863, during the American Civil War. During Major General Ulysses S. Grant's Vicksburg campaign, Union Army forces had failed in attempts to bypass the strategic city of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Grant decided move his army south, cross the Mississippi River, and then advance on Vicksburg. Seven Union Navy ironclad warships commanded by Admiral David Dixon Porter bombarded Confederate fortifications at Grand Gulf, Mississippi, in preparation for a crossing of the river. Union fire was able to silence one of the two Confederate fortifications at Grand Gulf, but the position was still strong enough that Grant decided to cross the river elsewhere.
    USS Benton, mislabeled as Trenton
    USS Lafayette,
    USS Tuscumbia,
    USS Carondelet,
    USS Louisville,
    USS Mound City, and
    USS Pittsburgh.
    From p. 592 of the 1887 book 'Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, being for the most part contributions by Union and Confederate officers, based upon Òthe Century War Series"', volume 3. Uploaded by the British Library to Flickr    		 Tommy Trampp
    Pittsburgh 147k William Boggs enlisted in the U. S. Navy on February 8, 1864, as a carpenter, and was assigned to the USS Pittsburgh, a City Class ironclad gunboat. USS Pittsburgh was assigned to patrol duties along the Mississippi River until it was decommissioned in November 1865. Boggs was discharged from the Navy on February 13, 1865, and died on April 10, 1917. Image Courtesy Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield; WICR 32071-J Bill Gonyo
    USS Pittsburgh (I)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Commanding Officers
    01LT. Thompson, Egbert25 January 1862 - 1 October 1862
    02Acting Vol LT. Hoel, William R.1 October 1862 - 1 March 1865
    03Acting Master Morgan1 March 1865 - 29 November 1865
    Courtesy Bill Gonyo
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Pook's Turtles by Aryeh Wetherhorn
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    Last Updated 15 June 2023