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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Tyler

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal

Side-wheel Gunboat:

Built in 1857 as the side-wheel steam A. O. Tyler, at Cincinnati, OH.

Acquired by the War Department, 5 June 1861; converted to a river gunboat, and renamed USS Tyler

During the Civil War USS Tyler participated in the following actions/engagements:

June 1861 to June 1864 Western Flotilla / Mississippi Squadron

Attack on Confederate batteries at Hickman and Columbus, KY.

Capture of Forts Henry and Donelson, February 1862

Raid on Florence AL. in February

Support of Union Forces at Pittsburgh Landing, TN. in April 1862

Siege of Vicksburg June 1862

Yazoo River Expeditions December 1862 and January 1863

Fall of Haine's Bluff, May 1863

Invasion of Arkansas, on White River

Decommissioned, at Mound City, ILL., 24 June 1864

Sold, 17 August 1865, to David White, of St. Louis, MO.

Final Disposition, fate unknown

Specifications:
Displacement 575 t.
Length 180'
Beam 45' 4"
Draft 6'
Depth 7' 8½ "
Speed 8 kts
Complement unknown

Armament

one 32-pdr

six 9" guns

Propulsion steam

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Contributed By
	62k	Print of the Civil War gunboat USS Tyler. From "Ships of the Civil War 1861-1865: An Illustrated Guide to the Fighting Vessels of the Union and the Confederacy", September 19, 2013	Tommy Trampp
	150k	"Gun-Boats Fitting Out at Cincinnati, Ohio, for Government Service on the Mississippi." Line engraving published in Harper's Weekly, 1861. This example has been hand-tinted in water colors. The scene represents the conversion of the first "timber-clad" gunboats for the Western Gunboat Flotilla, in mid-1861. These ships were USS Conestoga, USS Lexington and USS Tyler, two of which are depicted here. US Navy History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59003-KN (Color). Courtesy of the U.S. Navy Art Collection, Washington, DC.	Robert Hurst
	108k	Line engraving published in "Frank Leslie's Illustrated ...", 1861, depicting the "timber-clad" gunboats USS Tyler, USS Lexington and USS Conestoga. US Navy History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59004.	Robert Hurst
	172k	"The retreat -- the Tyler shelling the Rebel troops+. Line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", 1861, depicting USS Tyler in action during the Battle of Belmont, Missouri, 7 November 1861. She is followed by several transport steamers. US Navy History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59014.	Robert Hurst
098608609	308k	USS Lexington (leads) and USS Tyler on the Tennessee River in the evening of the first day of the Battle of Shiloh, 6 April 1862. "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, p. 622 being for the most part contributions by Union and Confederate officers, based upon “the Century War Series", volume 1. By Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel.	Robert Hurst
	130k	USS Tyler and USS Lexington fighting the Columbus batteries during the Battle of Belmont, From a drawing by Rear-Admiral Walke. Image from p.383 from the book "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, being for the most part contributions by Union and Confederate officers", based upon the "Century War Series", volume 1, 1 January 1877, by Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel. Image courtesy of the British Library from its digital collections.	Robert Hurst
	102k	"Union gunboats USS Tyler and USS Lexington, at the Battle of Belmont, Missouri, 7 November 1861". Engraving published in Rear Admiral Henry Walke's "Naval Scenes and Reminiscences of the Civil War in the United States" ... (1877), depicting the first attack by the gunboats USS Tyler and USS Lexington. US Navy History and Heritage Command photo # NH 1007.	Robert Hurst
	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 Pittsburg, USS Louisville and USS Saint Louis. US Navy History and Heritage Command photo # NH 58898.	Robert Hurst
	203k	"Pittsburg Landing. From a photograph taken a few days after the battle". Engraving after an artwork by J.O. Davidson, published in "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War", Volume I, page 489. It shows six transports at Pittsburg Landing shortly after the Battle of Shiloh, in April 1862. The original caption reads: "Of the six transports, the one farthest up stream, on the right, is the *Tycoon, which was dispatched by the Cincinnati Branch of the Sanitary Commission with stores for the wounded. The next steamer is Tigress, which was General Grant's headquarters boat during the Shiloh campaign. On the opposite side of the river is seen the gun-boat USS Tyler. US Navy History and Heritage Command photo # NH 68448*.	Robert Hurst
	76k	Painting by Tom Freeman of CSS Arkansas shaves the line between USS Carondelet and USS Tyler as she exits the Yazoo River, 15 July 1862. Photo courtesy Foro Militar General.	Tommy Trampp
	68k	Wash drawing by F. Muller, circa 1900, depicting USS Tyler anchored off shore, with two mortar rafts tied up to the river bank, in the Mississippi River area during the Civil War. Courtesy of the U.S. Navy Art Collection, Washington, D.C. US Navy History and Heritage Command photo # NH 55826.	Aryeh Wetherhorn
	83k	USS Tyler anchored on one of the Western Rivers, circa 1862-65. A small cutter is in the foreground and a "City" class ironclad is in the right distance. Identification of this ship as *Tyler* is probable, based on photographs of all three "timber-clad" gunboats. Photo from the collection of CDR. George M. Bache, USN. US Navy photo # NH 95020 from the collections of the US Navy History and Heritage Command	Aryeh Wetherhorn
	88k	USS Tyler tied up by a river bank in the Mississippi River area, during the Civil War, with her crew's laundry hung up to dry. US Navy photo # NH 49975 from the collections of the US Navy History and Heritage Command	Aryeh Wetherhorn
	86k	USS Tyler tied up for repairs in the Mississippi River area, during the Civil War. The planking has been removed from the side of her port paddle box US Navy photo # NH 49976 from the collections of the US Navy History and Heritage Command	Aryeh Wetherhorn