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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Osage (I)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal
Neosho Class River Monitor:
  • Laid down, date unknown, by James B. Eads at Union Iron Works, Carondelet, MO.
  • Launched 13 January 1863
  • Commissioned USS Osage, 10 July 1863, at Cario, IL., Acting Vol. LT. Joseph P. Couthany in command
  • During the Civil War USS Osage performed the following service
    Red River patrol
    Expedition up the Black and Washita Rivers, 29 February to 5 March 1864
    Expedition up the Red River to Alexandria, La., 12 March to 22 May 1864
    Capture of Fort De Russy, La. 14 March 1864
    West Gulf Blockading Squadron from 1 February 1865
    Participated in the attack on Spanish Fort, Mobile, AL., 28 March 1865
  • Sunk by a torpedo in the Blakeley Rive River, AL., 29 March 1865
  • Decommissioned, date unknown
  • Her hulk was raised and sold at auction at New Orleans 22 November 1867
    Specifications:
    Displacement 523 t.
    Length 180'
    Beam 45'
    Depth 9'
    Draft 4' 6"
    Speed 7.5 kts
    Complement 100
    Armament
    two 11" Dahlgren smoothbores
    Propulsion steam
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Osage 111k USS Osage on the Red River, LA., circa March-May 1864. Note that guns in turret bear dead ahead, and there are false gun ports painted on the turret side.
    US Navy photo # NH 49997 from the collections of the US Naval History and Heritage Command    		 Aryeh Wetherhorn
    Neosho 217k "Red River Expedition, March-May 1864" Watercolor by James Alden, depicting the monitors USS Neosho and USS Osage running through a break in the Red River dam to pass safely over the rapids, 9 May 1864. This passage took advantage of an accidental break in the dam, which was being built by Army engineers to raise the river level enough to permit passage of all the vessels trapped above. Four gunboats passed through at this time: USS Lexington (which went first), USS Neosho (second), USS Fort Hindman and USS Osage.
    US Navy History and Heritage Command photo # 91999-A-KN (Color) from the collection of CDR. George M. Bache, USN.    		 Robert Hurst
    osage 94k USS Osage on the Western Rivers during 1863-65.
    US Navy photo # NH 60295 from the collections of the US Naval History and Heritage Command    		 Aryeh Wetherhorn
    Osage 84k Sepia wash drawing by F. Muller, circa 1900 of USS Osage. Courtesy of the US Navy Art Collection, Washington, D.C.
    US Navy photo # NH 55832    		 US Navy History and Heritage Command
    Osage 148k "The Siege of Mobile--Wreck of the 'Osage' and the Monitor 'Milwaukee." Line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", 29 April 1865, depicting USS Osage striking a mine and sinking near Spanish Fort on 29 March 1865. The wreck of USS Milwaukee, which had been sunk by a mine on the previous day, is in the center middle distance. The twin-turret monitors at right are two of the following: USS Winnebago, USS Chickasaw and USS Kickapoo. Ships in the right distance are "Double-Ender" and "Tinclad" gunboats also engaged in attacking the Confederate-held Spanish Fort.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59155    		 US Navy History and Heritage Command
    USS Osage (I)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
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    Last Updated 10 February 2017