Please report any broken links or trouble you might come across to the Webmaster. Please take a moment to let us know so that we can correct any problems and make your visit as enjoyable and as informative as possible.

NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

CSS Lady Davis

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal
Screw Tug:
  • Built in 1858 as the iron steam tug James Gray, at Philadelphia
  • Purchased in March 1861 by Governor Pickens of South Carolina
  • Armed and placed in command LT. W. G. Dozier, South Carolina Navy, with orders to thwart reinforcement of Fort Sumter by Union troops.
  • Purchased by the Confederacy, 7 May 1861
  • commissioned CSS Lady Davis, LT. T. P. Pelot CSN in command
  • During the Civil War CSS Lady Davis
    Captured the full-rigged 980 ton ship A. B. Thompson, 19 May 1861
    Participated in the battle of Port Royal, S.C., 7 November 1861
  • After her engines were transferred to CSS Palmetto State late in 1862, she continued her successful career as a privately owned blockade runner
  • Captured by Federal forces during the occupation of Charleston in 1865
  • Turned over to the Light House Board by ADM. J. A. Dahlgren, minus her machinery, whose disposition is not recorded.
  • Final Disposition, fate unknown
    Specifications:
    Displacement 250 t.
    Length unknown
    Beam unknown
    Depth of Hold unknown
    Draft unknown
    Speed unknown
    Complement unknown
    Armament
    one 24-pdr
    one 12-pdr rifle
    Propulsion steam
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Lady Davis 79k Illustration of CSS Lady Davis on the James River. From the "The Photographic History of The Civil War in Ten Volumes: Volume Six, The Navies". The Review of Reviews Co., New York. 1911. p. 87 Bill Gonyo
    Issac Smith 78k "Army & Navy Reconnaissance. Tuesday Morning Nov. 5" 1861 Line engraving published in "The Soldier in Our Civil War", Volume I, page 189, depicting Federal ships investigating Port Royal Sound, South Carolina, prior to their successful attack on Confederate fortifications there. Ships and other items identified across the bottom of the print include (from left to right):
    USS Mercury, with Generals Sherman and Stevens & staff on board;
    USS Penguin, with Hilton Head Battery beyond;
    USS Pawnee; Broad River (in distance);
    CSS Huntress (distance);
    USS Seneca; Steamer Screamer (distance);
    USS Ottawa with Capt. Rogers & General Wright on board;
    Steamer Everglades (distance, beyond Ottawa;
    USS Pembina;
    CSS Lady Davis (distance); Beaufort River (distance); Bay Point Battery (distance); USS Curlew; (probably misidentified as no record exists that USS Curlew served with South Atlantic Blockading Squadron) Confederate camp (distance);
    USS Isaac Smith.
    US Navy photo # NH 59319    		 Tommy Trampp
    CSS Lady Davis
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Back To The Navsource Photo Archives Main Page Back To The Old Navy" Steam and Sail Index
    Comments, Suggestions, E-mail Webmaster.
    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History
    Last Updated 20 June 2014