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USS Unadilla (I)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal
Unadilla Class Screw Gunboat:
  • Laid down in the late spring 1861, by John Englis and the Novelty Iron Works, New York City, N.Y.
  • Launched, 17 August 1861
  • Commissioned USS Unadilla, 30 September 1861, at the New York Navy Yard, LT. Napoleon Collins in command
  • USS Unadilla joined the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron;
    Participated in the capture of Forts Walker and Beauregard in Port Royal Sound, S.C., 7 November 1861
    Assigned to blockade duty off Charleston, S. C., 28 April 1862
    Captured English schooner Mary Teresa, 10 May 1862, attempting to run into Charleston
    Participated in repulsing Confederate attack on Port Royal, S.C. 4 to 12 July 1862
    Captured British blockade runner steamer Londona in Ossabow Sound, S.C., 4 August 1862
    Joined the blockading forces off Charleston, S.C., 20 December 1862
    Capture screw steamer Princess Royal, 29 January 1863
    Assisted in beating back attempt to break the blockade by Confederates rams CSS Chicora and CSS Palmetto State, 31 January 1863
    Engaged a Confederate floating battery at Stono Inlet, 25 May 1863
  • Assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, 22 October 1864;
    Participated in the first unsuccessful amphibious assault on Fort Fisher, 13 to 15 January 1865, on the Cape Fear River, N.C.
    Assisted in the attack and capture of Fort Anderson, 18 February 1865
    Reassigned to the James River Squadron, 23 February 1865 to do reconnaissance work until the end of the war
  • Decommissioned, 4 May 1865, at the New York Navy Yard
  • Recommissioned, 20 December 1866, for duty with the Asiatic Squadron in 1867
  • Condemned in the summer of 1868 as being too unseaworthy to return the United States
  • Decommissioned and sold on station, 9 November 1869
    Specifications:
    Displacement 507 t.
    Length 158'
    Beam 28'
    Depth 12'
    Draft 9' 6"
    Speed 8 kts
    Complement unknown
    Armament
    one 20-pdr Parrott rifle
    one 11" Dahlgren smoothbore
    two 24-pdr howitzers
    Propulsion steam
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Unadilla 139k Engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", July-December 1861 volume. It depicts "90-Day" Gunboats USS Unadilla on the stocks at the John Englis shipyard (top left), USS Winona at the C. & R. Poillon shipyard (top right), and USS Ottawa at the Jacob A. Westervelt shipyard (bottom). These ships were launched (respectively) on 17 August, 14 September and 22 August 1861.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 59368    		 Robert Hurst
    Unadilla
    NH 59369    		 131k Engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", July-December 1861 volume. It depicts Unadilla under construction at the John Englis shipyard, New York, shortly before her launching on 17 August 1861.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo #'s NH 59369 and NH 59370    		 US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Unadilla
    NH 59370    		 96k
    Unadilla 82k Line engraving published in Harper's Weekly, July-December 1861 volume. depicting the ten "90-Day Gunboats" constructed for the U.S. Navy in 1861-62. Ships, as identified in the image are from left to right;
    USS Chippewa
    USS Sciota
    USS Itasca
    USS Winona
    USS Huron
    USS Ottawa
    USS Pembina
    USS Seneca
    USS Unadilla and
    USS Sagamore. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Photo #: NH 59367    		 Robert Hurst
    Unadilla 78k Lithograph by Shearman & Hart, 1861 of USS Unadilla.
    Courtesy of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, April 1936.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 42352    		 Tommy Trampp
    Wabash 100k "The Great Naval Expedition" to capture Port Royal, South Carolina, November 1861. Engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", July-December 1861 volume, pages 696-697, depicts Federal warships and transports, under Flag Officer Samuel F. DuPont, USN, departing Hampton Roads, Virginia, en route to Port Royal. Ships, as identified below the image bottom, are (from left): (illegible),
    Oriental,
    Baltic,
    USS O.M. Pettit,
    USS Gem of the Sea,
    Great Republic,
    USS Wabash (DuPont's flagship),
    USS Seneca,
    USS Pembina,
    USS Connecticut,
    USS Mercury,
    USS Unadilla,
    USS Augusta,
    USS Alabama and (illegible).
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo #: NH 59315    		 Robert Hurst
    Issac Smith 75k "Bombardment and Capture of Port Royal, South Carolina, 7 November 1861" Engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", July-December 1861 volume, pages 760-761. It depicts Federal warships, under Flag Officer Samuel F. DuPont, USN, bombarding Fort Beauregard (at right) and Fort Walker (at left). The Confederate squadron commanded by Commodore Josiah Tattnall is in the left center distance. Subjects identified below the image bottom are (from left): tug Mercury,
    Fort Walker,
    USS Wabash (DuPont's flagship),
    steamer Screamer (?),
    USS Susquehanna,
    CSS Huntsville, Commo. Tattnall, (probably misidentified as no record exists that CSS Huntsville served in the defenses of Port Royal, S.C.
    USS Bienville,
    USS Pembina,
    USS Seneca,
    USS Ottawa,
    USS Unadilla,
    USS Pawnee,
    USS Mohican,
    USS Isaac Smith,
    USS Curlew; (probably misidentified as no record exists that USS Curlew served with South Atlantic Blockading Squadron),
    USS Vandalia,
    USS Penguin,
    USS Pocahontas,
    USS Seminole,
    Fort Beauregard,
    USS R.B. Forbes
    and "Rebel Camp".
    US Navy photo # NH 59256    		 US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Unadilla 116k Engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", January-June 1862 volume, page 132. It depicts USS Pembina (left center) and USS Unadilla (right) engaging Confederate gunboats under Commodore Josiah Tattnall while entering the Savannah River, GA., to cut off Fort Pulaski, 22 February 1862.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59284    		 US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Unadilla 120k USS Unadilla crew members pose by the ship's Dahlgren XI-inch pivot gun, during the Civil War. Copied from Francis Trevelyan Miller's "The Photographic History of the Civil War" Volume 6, page 271.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 42266    		 US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Unadilla 268k USS Unadilla foreground and with another Unadilla-class gunboat, location unknown, Robert Hurst
    Unadilla
    098632509    		 245k Rear Admiral Robert H. Wyman, USN. Commander of USS Unadilla at the capture of Port Royal. Midshipman March 11, 1837. Passed midshipman, June 29 1843. Acting Master, June 13, 1848. Lieutenant July 16, 1850. Commander, July 16, 1862. Captain, July 25 1866. Commodore, July 19, 1872, Rear Admiral, April 26, 1878.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 119609    		 Robert Hurst
    USS Unadilla (I)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
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    Last Updated 20 August 2021