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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive
USS Cowslip
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons
Civil War Medal
Sidewheel Gunboat:
Built in 1863 as the sidewheel steamer Meteor at Newburgh, N.Y.
Launched, date unknown
Purchased for the Navy, 21 December 1863 from J. Howe & C.W. Copeland for $48,000
Fitted out at the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Commissioned USS Cowslip, at New York Navy Yard, 27 January 1864, Acting Ensign R. Canfield in command
USS Cowslip departed New York, 2 February 1864, for her assignment in the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, she arrived at New Orleans, LA., 26 February
Cowslip's chores were numerous, she carried officers and men and delivered mail, stores, guns, and ammunition for her squadron and provisions for refugees,
She was used as a tow and convoy steamer, performed rescue and salvage work, and served as a picket and patrol vessel
Her actions against the Confederates included the capture of a sailboat with five men on board off Pascagoula, MS., 15 April 1864; the sloop Last Push, 29 May; and
a raid up Biloxi Bay, MS., in which she captured five sloops and a small steamer, and destroyed six large boats, three flat boats, and four salt works
During July and August 1864 she operated off Mobile, AL., participating in the preparations for the Battle of Mobile Bay on 5 August and in Admiral David G. Farragut's action on
that day which culminated in victory for the Union Navy
Cowslip was also active in rescue work. She saved the entire crew of the tug USS Narcissus, 8 December 1864, after their ship had been blown up by a torpedo
[mine] off Mobile the day before., and salvaged Narcissus' guns and ammunition. Cowslip also rescued six wounded survivors from USS Sciota, torpedoed on 14 April 1865, and rendered efficient and valuable assistance by towing three
ships out of the danger zone when Marshall's Warehouse in Mobile, AL., was wrecked by an explosion on 25 May 1865
Her service completed Cowslip was decommissioned at Pensacola, FL.
Sold 28 August 1866 at Pensacola, FL.
Final Disposition, fate unknown
Specifications:
Displacement 220 t.
Length 123'
Beam 24'
Depth of Hold 8'
Draft 7'
Speed unknown
Complement 36
Armament
one 20-pdr Parrott rifle
two 24-pdr smoothbores
Propulsion
one rocking beam steam engine, cylinder diameter 34", stroke 8'
one boiler
two sidewheels
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Cowslip
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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Last Updated 10 June 2022