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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Quaker City (I)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal
Sidewheel Gunboat:
  • Built in 1854 at Philadelphia as the wooden sidewheel steamer Quaker City
  • Chartered by the Navy, 25 April 1861, for 30 days from Hargous & Co.
  • Rechartered, 25 May 1861, for 3 months
  • Purchased by the Navy, 12 August 1861
  • Commissioned, USS Quaker City, 14 December 1861, CDR. James M. Frailey in command
  • Throughout the Civil War USS Quaker City was one of the most effective Union Navy ships in denying the Confederacy freedom of the seas capturing over a dozen blockade runners between 1862 and 1865
  • Prior to commissioning SS Quaker City was assigned as a unit of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron stationed at the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay where she was extremely effective in capturing Confederate blockade runners
  • Released from the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron in December 1861 USS Quaker City continued to be effective in capturing blockade runners throughout the war
  • USS Quaker City also participated in the attack on Ft. Fisher, N.C., 24 December 1864
  • Decommissioned, 18 May 1865, at Philadelphia Navy Yard
  • Sold at auction, 20 June 1865
  • Re-documented, 11 August 1865, SS Quaker City entered American commercial service
  • Sold in 1869, renamed SS Columbia
  • Acquired by the Haitian Navy in 1869, renamed Mont Organisé
  • Sold in February 1871, renamed République
  • Final Disposition, lost at sea off Bermuda in February 1871
    Specifications:
    Displacement 1,600 t.
    Length 244' 8"
    Beam 36'
    Depth 29' 9 ½"
    Draft 13' 8"
    Speed 13 kts
    Complement 163
    Armament
    one 20-pdr Parrott rifle
    eight 32-pdrs
    Propulsion steam and sail
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Quaker City 67k Watercolor by Erik Heyl, 1948 of the steamer SS Quaker City painted for use in his book "Early American Steamers", Volume I.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 63859, courtesy of Erik Heyl.    		 Bill Gonyo
    Alabama 186k "Merchant Steamers Converted into Gun-boats."
    Engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", July-December 1861 volume. Depicts thirteen merchant steamships acquired by the U.S. Navy between April and August 1861 and subsequently converted into warships, plus the steamer Nashville (far left), which became a Confederate cruiser. US Navy ships as identified below the image bottom, are (from left to right:
    USS Alabama,
    USS Quaker City,
    USS Santiago de Cuba, (listed as "St. Jago de Cuba")
    USS Mount Vernon,
    USS Massachusetts,
    USS South Carolina,
    USS Florida,
    USS De Soto,
    USS Augusta,
    USS James Adger,
    USS Monticello,
    USS Bienville and
    USS R.R. Cuyler.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59366.    		 Robert Hurst
    Quaker City 140k Line engraving published in "The Soldier in Our Civil War", Volume 1, page 111, depicting USS Quaker City firing on a Confederate battery in Lynnhaven Bay, near Cape Henry, VA., probably in mid-1862.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 58782    		 US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Quaker City 67k Wash drawing by Clary Ray, circa 1900 of USS Quaker City.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 58740    		 Bill Gonyo
    Quaker City 66k SS Quaker City (in the middle distance) at Naples, Italy, in 1867.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 93837 courtesy of the Steamship Historical Society of America. Collection of A.B. Deitsch.    		 US Naval History and Heritage Command
    USS Quaker City
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Commanding Officers
    01Act. Master Mather, Samuel W. 25 April 1861 - June 1861
    02CDR. Carr, Overton25 June 1861 - 3 December 1861
    03CDR. Frailey, James Madison14 December 1861 - 7 August 1864
    04LT. Casey, Silas (temporary)7 August 1864 - 9 September 1864
    05CDR. Frailey, James Madison 15 September 1864 - 30 November 1864
    06CDR. Spicer, William F. 5 December 1864 - 13 May 1865
    Courtesy Bill Gonyo
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 7 January 2017