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USS Springfield (I)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal
Sternwheel Gunboat (Tinclad No.22)
  • Built in 1862 at Cincinnati, OH.
  • Purchased by the Navy at Cincinnati 20 November 1862
  • Commissioned USS Springfield at Cairo, IL., 12 January 1863, LT. Henry A. Glassford in command
  • Springfield operated on the Ohio, Tennessee, and Cumberland Rivers escorting transports and protecting Army lines of communication and supply, and engaging guerrilla forces on the river banks
  • On 3 April 1863, Springfield accompanied gunboats Lexington, USS Brilliant, Robb, and USS Silver Lake on an expedition up the Tennessee to destroy Palmyra in retaliation for the attack by a Confederate battery which damaged Union gunboat USS St. Clair and Army transports Eclipse and Luminary.
  • In July Springfield participated with other gunboats and Union homeguard troops in chasing Confederate General John Hunt Morgan'a large force and preventing him from crossing the river and escaping to safety of the South
  • Finally, after a 10-day chase over some 500 miles, the pursuers caught up with the raiders and forced them to attempt to cross at Buffington Island where
  • Federal steamers USS Moose and USS Alleghany Belle repeatedly frustrated their effort to cross the river. Pressed from both directions, most of the raiders surrendered.
  • Springfield served on upper rivers through the end of the Civil War
  • Ordered to Mound City, 29 April 1865
  • Decommissioned at Mound City, 30 June 1865
  • Sold at public auction, 17 August 1865 to R. G. Jameson
  • Re-documented as Jennie D., 1 April 1866, the stern wheeler served on the Mississippi River system until 1875.
  • Final Disposition, fate unknown
    Specifications:
    Displacement 146 t.
    Length 134'9"
    Beam 26'11'
    Depth of Hull 4'4"
    Draft 4'
    Speed unknown
    Complement unknown
    Armament
    six 24-pdr howitzers
    Propulsion
    steam engine
    sternwheel

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    USS Springfield (I)
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    Last Updated 17 September 2021