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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Lexington (III)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal
Side-wheel Gunboat:
  • Built in 1860 at Belle Vernon, PA. for commercial service
  • Purchased by the War Department in 1861
  • Converted to a gunboat at Cincinnati, under the direction of CDR. John Rodgers.
  • During the Civil War USS Lexington participated in the following actions and operations on the Mississippi and Western Rivers:
    Joined the Western Flotilla, at Cairo, IL., 12 August 1861
    Engaged Confederate gunboats and shore batteries between 22 August and 6 September 1861
    Battle of Belmont, 7 October
    Attack on Fort Henry, 6 February 1862
    Battle of Shiloh at Pittsburg Landing, TN.
    Capture of St. Charles, AR., June 1862
  • Transferred to Navy control, 1 October 1862
    Participated in the joint expedition up the Yazoo to attack Vicksburg from the rear in December 1862
    Assault of Fort Hindman on the White River in January 1863
    Support for the final operations against Vicksburg at Milliken's Bend in June and July
    Red River campaign in February 1864
  • Decommissioned, 2 July 1865, at Mound City, IL.
  • Sold, 17 August 1865 to Thomas Scott and Woodburn
  • Final Disposition, fate unknown
    Specifications:
    Displacement 448 t.
    Length 177' 7"
    Beam 36' 10"
    Draft unknown
    Depth unknown
    Speed 7 kts.
    Complement unknown
    Armament
    four 9" guns
    four 8" Dahlgren smoothbores
    two 32-pdrs
    Propulsion steam
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Conestoga 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
    Conestoga 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
    Conestoga 126k "The 'Conestoga' and 'Lexington,' United States Gun-Boats on the Mississippi."
    Line engraving, after a sketch by Alexander Simplot, published in "Harper's Weekly", 1861. It depicts USS Conestoga on the right, with USS Lexington at left.
    US Navy History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59589.    		 Robert Hurst
    Lexington 130k USS Lexington and USS Tyler 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
    Lexington 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 Lexington and USS Tyler.
    US Navy History and Heritage Command photo # NH 1007.     		Robert Hurst
    Lexington 96k "Fort Holt, Kentucky, Opposite Cairo."
    Line engraving, after a sketch by Alexander Simplot, published in Harper's Weekly, circa January 1862. It depicts Fort Holt in the foreground. Background features identified on the print include (from left): USS Lexington, Bird's Point, Mississippi River, Fort Cairo, Cairo (Illinois), and the Ohio River.
    US Navy History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59000.    		 Robert Hurst
    Lexington
    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
    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
    Mount City 122k "Battle at St. Charles, White River, Arkansas--Explosion of the USS Mound City".
    Line engraving after a sketch by Alexander Simplot, published in Harper's Weekly, 1862. This action between Federal gunboats and Confederate shore batteries took place on 17 June 1862. USS Mound City was disabled by a shot that penetrated her steam drum, causing heavy casualties among her crew. Other U.S. ships present were the ironclad USS Saint Louis (seen in the right foreground) and "timberclads" USS Lexington and USS Conestoga. The gunboat in left center is also a "timberclads".
    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photo #NH 59057.    		 Robert Hurst
    Lexington 69k Sepia wash drawing by F. Muller, circa 1900 of USS Lexington. Courtesy of the US Navy Art Collection, Washington, D.C.
    US Navy History and Heritage Command photo # NH 55833.    		 Aryeh Wetherhorn
    Lexington 76k USS Lexington on the Western Rivers during the Civil War.US Navy History and Heritage Command photo # NH 55322. Aryeh Wetherhorn
    Lexington 171k USS Lexington as part of the Mississippi River Fleet, circa 1861 to 1865, location unknown.
    Library of Congress, Photo No. LC-B816-3122    		 Mike Green
    General Bragg 75k USS Lexington in the left background of this photo of USS General Sterling Price off Baton Rouge, LA., 18 January 1864. The original print is mounted on a Carte de Visite.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 53870.    		 Aryeh Wetherhorn
    Lexington 330k USS Lexington passes over the falls of the Red River, 9 May 1864. From a wartime sketch. Image from p.382 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 4, 1 January 1877, by Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel.
    Image courtesy of the British Library from its digital collections.    		 Robert Hurst
    USS Lexington (III)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Commanding Officers
    01CDR. Stembel, Roger N.12 August 1861 - February 1862
    02LCDR. Shirk, James W.February 1862 - 2 June 1863
    03Act. Vol. LT. (Temp) Dunn, Martin2 June 1863 - 12 July 1863
    04LT. Bache, George M.12 July 1863 - 7 November 1864
    05Act. Vol. LT. Flye, William7 November 1864 - 2 July 1865
    Courtesy Gill Gonyo
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    Last Updated 22 October 2021