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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Wissahickon (I)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal

Unadilla Class Screw Gunboat:

Built in 1861 at Philadelphia by John Lynn

Launch, date unknown

Delivered to the Navy, 12 November 1861, at the Philadelphia Navy Yard

Commission USS Wissahickon, 25 November 1861, LT. A. N. Smith in command

During the Civil War USS Wissahickon was initially assigned to the West Gulf Blockading Squadron

Participated in the action passing Forts Jackson and St. Philip at New Orleans, 24 April 1862

Took part in the attack on the Confederate works at Grand Gulf, MS., 9 June 1862

Joined in the dash by the Southern batteries at Vicksburg, MS., 28 June 1862

Joined the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, 8 October 1862

Participated in the attack on Fort McAllister, 27 January 1863

Helped to destroy blockade runner Rattlesnake, 27 January 1863

Destroyed the steamer Georaiana off Charleston, S.C. 19 March 1863

Participated in the attack on Fort Wagner in July 1863

Took part in the bombardment of Fort Sumter in September 1863

Routine blockade duty occupied most of her time in 1864

Participated in an expedition up the Broad River in Georgia in support of Sherman's advancing army in November 1864

Participated in operations against Savannah, GA. during December 1864 and January 1865

Decommissioned, 1 July 1865, at New York Navy Yard

Sold at auction, 25 October 1865

Redocumented SS Adele, 20 January 1866 and entered commercial service

Final Disposition, fate unknown.

Specifications:
Displacement 507 t.
Length 158' 8"
Beam 28'
Depth of Hold 12'
Draft 10' 6"
Speed 9 kts
Complement 114 officers and enlisted
Armament

one 11" Dahlgren smoothbore

one 20-pdr Parrott rifle

two 24-pdr howitzers

Propulsion

rigged as a two masted schooner

two 200 imp 30" stroke horizontal back-acting engines

single screw

Size	Image Description
75k	*"View of Ship Island, Louisiana. -- By our Special Artist on Board the 'Sagamore"* Line engraving, published in "Harper's Weekly", 1862, depicting several U.S. Navy ships anchored off the Federal base at Ship Island in early 1862. Ships are (from left to right) USS Winona, USS New London, USS Niagara, USS Sagamore, USS Wissahickon, and USS Massachusetts. Other features identified, in the center and right background, are Fort Massachusetts on Ship Island, the 9th Connecticut and 22nd Massachusetts Regiments and a military camp. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59009	US Naval History and Heritage Command
170k	Line engraving published in "The Soldier in Our Civil War", Volume II, page 41, showing *Rattlesnake* (ex-CSS Nashville) burning after being shelled by the monitor USS Montauk commanded by CAPT. John L. Worden, USN, in the Ogeechee River, Georgia, 28 February 1863. Fort McAllister is in the right-center background, and the U.S. Navy gunboats USS Wissahickon, USS Seneca and USS Dawn are providing supporting fire in the left distance. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59286	US Naval History and Heritage Command
75k	"Bombardment of Fort McAllister, Georgia, 3 March 1863" Line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", January-June 1863, page 196, depicting the bombardment of Fort McAllister by the U.S. Navy monitors USS Passaic, USS Patapsco and USS Nahant. The engraving is based on a sketch by "an eye-witness" on board USS Montauk, which is in the right center foreground. In the left foreground, firing on the fort, are the mortar schooners USS C.P. Williams, USS Norfolk Packet and USS Para. Among other U.S. Navy ships involved were gunboats USS Wissahickon, USS Seneca and USS Dawn and tug USS Dandelion. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59288	US Naval History and Heritage Command
103k	"The Line Of Battle, Ogeechee River" The second battle of Ogeechee River., 13 December 1864. A sketch from "Harpers Weekly" showing: USS C.P. Williams USS Dawn *Daffodil* USS Wissahickon USS Seneca **USS Montauk* on the river.***	Tommy Trampp
273k	USS Wissachickon crewmembers by the ship's Dahlgren XI-inch pivot gun and foremast, during the Civil War. From Francis Trevelyan Miller's "The Photographic History of the Civil War" Volume 6, page 43. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo #'s NH 42265 and NH 42267	Robert Hurst
132k	Acting Ensign Walter Coffin Odiorne enlisted in the Navy at the age of eighteen. His first assignment was to the Gunboat USS Cambridge. He served aboard *Cambridge* until captured in November 1862. Four weeks later he was exchanged for Confederates prisoners. He took a leave of absence until spring of 1863 when he was assigned to USS Wissahickon, another gunboat. He remained in *Wissahickon* until May of 1864, when he was transferred to the mortar schooner *T.A. Ward. Odiorne ended the war in Charleston, and stayed in the navy as an Acting Ensign until March 16th, 1866. Information and image courtesy of the Friends of Gettysburg Foundation*	Bill Gonyo

USS Wissahickon (I)
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)

Commanding Officers
01	LT. Smith, Albert N.	25 November 1861 - 6 May 1862
02	CDR. De Camp, John	6 May 1862 - 18 September 1862
03	LT. Casey, Silas (XO) Temporary	18 September 1862 - 24 October 1862
04	LCDR. Davis, John Lee	24 October 1862 - 15 October 1863
05	LCDR. West, William C.	15 October 1863 - 10 December 1863
06	LCDR. Bacon, George (Temporary)	10 December 1863 - 23 January 1864
07	LCDR. Gamble, William M.	23 January 1864 - 26 April 1864
08	LCDR. Crossman, Alexander F.	26 April 1864 - 25 July 1864
09	LT. Mahan, Alfred Thayer	25 July 1864 - 3 December 1864
10	LCDR. Johnson, Andrew W.	3 December 1864 - 22 June 1865


Courtesy Bill Gonyo

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Last Updated 27 October 2017