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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

CSS Pee Dee

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal
Schooner-rigged Screw Sloop:
  • A wooden gunboat laid down in late 1862 at Mars Bluff Navy Yard near Marion Courthouse, S.C., on the Great Pee Dee River
  • Believed to have been completed and battle ready in January 1865 with LT. Oscar F. Johnston, CSN, in command
  • 28 February 1865 CSS Pee Dee got under way for her one and only combat voyage. She steamed 56 miles up river to Cheraw, South Carolina to cover the flank during the withdrawal of Lt. General Hardee's army
  • Final Disposition, probably destroyed, 18 March 1865 by Confederates nears the Mars Bluff Navy Yard, 110 miles above Georgetown, S.C. upon the evacuation of Charleston
    Specifications:
    Displacement unknown
    Length 150'
    Beam 25'
    Draft 7½'
    Depth of Hold unknown
    Speed 9 kts
    Complement 90
    Armament
    one 7" Brooke rifle
    one 6.4" Brooke rifle
    one 9" Dahlgren smoothbore
    Propulsion steam and sail
    two steam engines, twin propellers
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Pee Dee 608k "Guns of the Pee Dee - The Cannon Recovery" by Ted L. Gragg
    Flat River Rock Publishing Division, MBISR Inc., Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (ISBN 978-0-9794572-4-1)

    "This book recounts the historical and archaeological efforts to discover and recover three cannons wrapped up in the shroud of history and in the murky and meandering waters of the Great Pee Dee River near Florence, South Carolina. Jettisoned in th river by the crew of the Confederate gunboat Pee Dee in the waning days of the Civil War, these naval weapons inspired a lengthy, difficult, surprising, yet ultimately successful search for the three cannons. And, along the way the searchers explored the Mars Bluff Naval Yard, remains of the gunboat and more importantly forged together individuals and organizations founded on a mutual interest in uncovering and learning about the past naval activities at the forgotten an out-of-the-way theater during the Civil War."
    James D. Spirek, State Underwater Archaeologist, Maritime Research Division, and Dr. Jonathan M. Leader, State Archaeologist, Office of the State Archaeologist, South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology College of Arts an Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia     		Ted L. Gragg
    Pee Dee 194k CSS Pee Dee under way on the Pee Dee River, South Carolina, circa 1862-1865. Bing Images
    Pee Dee 364k CSS Pee Dee under way on the Pee Dee River, South Carolina, circa 1862-1865. Tommy Trampp
    Pee Dee 129k Recovery of the CSS Pee Dee armament from the Great Pee Dee River, 29 September 2015. Tommy Trampp
    CSS Pee Dee
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Update on Mars Bluff Navy Yard/CSS Pee Dee Cannons Investigations
    Recovery of the CSS Pee Dee armament from the Great Pee Dee River
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 18 January 2019