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USS Shokokon
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons
Civil War Campaign Medal
Ferryboat:
Built in 1862 as wooden-hulled double-ender sidewheel steamer ferryboat Clifton at Greenpoint, N.Y.
Purchased by RADM. H. Paulding for the Navy at New York City, 3 April 1863, from George Law, for $100,000
Fitted out for naval service at New York by J. Simonson for $35,000
Delivered, 6 May 1863, to New York Navy Yard
Commissioned USS Shokokon at the New York Navy Yard, 18 May 1863, Acting Volunteer LT. Samuel Huse in command
USS Shokokon was assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and arrived at Newport News, VA., 24 May 1863
Shokokon was first stationed in the outer blockade off New Inlet, N.C.
She was recalled to Hampton Roads in late in June and ordered up the York to the Pamunkey River to threaten Richmond in the hope of diverting Southern reinforcements, munitions, and supplies
from General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia which was endangering Washington
On 4 July, she ascended the Pamunkey from White House, VA., and destroyed an unidentified schooner which had run aground some five miles upstream
A week later, Shokokon was switched to the James River where, on the 14th she joined seven other Union ships in capturing Confederate stronghold, Fort Powhatan
On 10 August, after repairs at Norfolk Navy Yard, Shokokon returned to blockade duty off Wilmington and was stationed off Smith's Island
On the 18th, she assisted USS Niphon in destroying steamer, Hebe, which Niphon had chased aground while that blockade runner
was attempting to slip through the Union cordon with drugs and provisions badly needed by the South
Four days later, two boats from Shokokon destroyed schooner, Alexander Cooper, in New Topsail Inlet, N.C., and demolished extensive salt works in the vicinity
Late in August 1863, the ship was damaged in a hurricane and sent north for repairs which lasted through the end of the year
She returned to Newport News, 16 January 1864, and for the remainder of the war, was active in supporting Union ground forces in the rivers of Virginia and North Carolina
On 9 March, she joined USS Morse and USS William G. Putnam in escorting an Army expedition up the York and Mattaponi Rivers;
covering the debarkation of troops at Sheppard's Landing; and returned to Yorktown three days later
On 5 May, Shokokon was one of the warships which swept the river to clear away Confederate torpedoes and then supported the crossing of the landings at Bermuda Hundred and
City Point which established a Union bridgehead on the southern shore of the James
During the ensuing months, she continued to shuttle between the York and James rivers to assist ground operations in General Grant's ever tightening stranglehold on Richmond
In the autumn, Shokokon returned to North Carolina waters and spent the remainder of the war supporting Army efforts in that theatre
Decommissioned at New York Navy Yard, 4 May 1865
Sold at public auction at New York City, 25 October 1865, for $29,000
Redocumented as Lone Star, 15 December 1865. She served for more than two decades
Final Disposition, abandoned in 1886
Specifications:
Displacement 709 t.
Length 181'
Beam 32'
Depth of Hold 13'
Draft 8'6"
Speed 10kts
Complement 112
Armament
24 May 1863 - two 30-pdr pivot rifles, four 24-pdrs broadside
31 March 1864 - two 30-pdr Parrott rifles, three 24-pdrs
29 March 1865 - two IX-inch broadside, two 30-pdr Parrott rifles, four 24-pdrs
Propulsion
one beam steam engine; cylinder diameter 43', stroke 10'
one boiler
two sidewheels
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Shokokon
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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Last Updated 5 August 2022