From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Confederate gunboat
CSS
McRae
was a
Confederate
gunboat
that saw service during the
American Civil War
. Displacing around 680 tons, she was armed with one 9-inch (229 mm) smoothbore and six 32-pounder (15 kg) smoothbore
cannon
.
[1]
: 230
Originally operating as a rebel ship under the
Mexican
flag with the name
Marques de la Havana
, the wooden
sloop
was captured as a
pirate
ship by the
United States Navy
sloop-of-war
USS
Saratoga
during the
Battle of Anton Lizardo
on 6 March 1860. A construction plan authorizing the building of ten fast gunboats was funded by the
Congress of the Confederate States
on 15 March 1861. Recognizing that no yard could turn out the vessels fast enough,
Confederate States Secretary of the Navy
Stephen R. Mallory
sent a commission to
New Orleans
,
Louisiana
, to convert existing steamers to commerce raiders. The
Confederate States Navy
purchased
Marques de la Havana
at New Orleans on 17 March 1861, and duly fitted her out as CSS
McRae
as part of this plan. Extensive engine repairs prevented
McRae
from going to sea before the arrival of the
Union blockading force
.
[2]
: 26
Placed under the command of
Lieutenant
Thomas B. Huger
,
McRae
served as part of
Flag Officer
George N. Hollins
' defense of the lower reaches of the
Mississippi River
, and provided cover for
blockade runners
. This led to
McRae
seeing combat with the
Union
blockading force on 12 October 1861.
McRae
took part in the
Battle of the Head of Passes
as part of Hollins′ "
mosquito fleet
," driving the Union blockading forces from the
Head of Passes
in the
Mississippi Delta
.
McRae
again saw action on 24 April 1862 as the Union fleet attempted to pass
Fort Jackson
and
Fort Saint Philip
and reach New Orleans. In the resulting
Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip
,
McRae
suffered little damage in the beginning due to her resemblance to the Union
Unadilla
-class gunboats
. The leading Union ships passed by her without firing. The sloop-of-war
USS
Iroquois
was an exception, and replied to
McRae
′s gunfire with an 11-inch (279-mm) shell that set fire to
McRae
'
s
sail
room and threatened her
magazines
.
[3]
The officers and crew fought hard in this latter engagement but suffered severe casualties (Huger being amongst those mortally wounded), and
McRae
herself was severely damaged. She was run against the shore to put out her fires, and remained there till dawn, after which she returned to the forts. Loaded with wounded from the forts,
McRae
was allowed to return to New Orleans on 27 April 1862 under a
flag of truce
. After landing the wounded at the city, her crew scuttled and abandoned her at
Algiers, Louisiana
(now a neighborhood of New Orleans), after cutting all her steam pipes.
[4]
James Morris Morgan, a Midshipmen on the
McRae
gave a personal account of the battle and the
McRae'
s end: "The
McRae
was in the thick of the fight. Her sides riddled. Heavy projectiles had knocked her guns off the carriages and rolled them along the deck crunching the dead and wounded. Her deck was a perfect shambles. When day broke the McRae was the only thing afloat with the Confederate flag flying." In the battle,
Captain Huger
had been mortally wounded and
LT. "Savez" Read
taken command. "Admiral Farragut, with his flagship the Hartford, was by this time at the Quarantine Station, about four miles above the forts. Read sent the only boat he had that would float over to the Hartford to tell
Admiral Farragut
the condition of his vessel and the difficulty he was having to keep her afloat--that he did not have a gun left on a carriage, and no one to care for his dying captain or the many other wounded. Farragut gave him permission to proceed to New Orleans, saying that he would tell him there what disposition he would make of the ship. When we arrived at New Orleans
McRae
was leaking like a sieve; the exhausted remnant of the crew refused to continue at the pumps, and as the last wounded men were taken out of the ship--down she went."
[5]
: 73
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Silverstone, Paul H. (1989).
Warships of the Civil War Navies
. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland.
ISBN
0-87021-783-6
.
- ^
Hearn, Chester G. (1995).
The Capture of New Orleans, 1862
. Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge and London.
ISBN
0-8071-1945-8
.
- ^
Hearn,
The Capture of New Orleans, 1862
pp. 232-3
- ^
Hearn,
The Capture of New Orleans, 1862
p. 246
- ^
Morgan, James M. (1917).
Recollections of a Rebel Reefer
. Moughton Mifflin.
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Shipwrecks
|
- 2 Jan:
Northern Light
- 4 Jan:
Santi-Pietri
- 9 Jan:
USS
Meteor
,
USS
Potomac
- 20 Jan:
USS
Margaret Scott
- 23 Jan:
Ocean Chief
- 24 Jan:
USS
Peri
- 25 Jan:
USS
New England
,
USS
Stephen Young
- 26 Jan:
USS
India
,
USS
Timor
- 7 Feb:
CSS
Curlew
- 8 Feb:
CSS
Sea Bird
- 10 Feb:
CSS
Appomattox
,
CSS
Black Warrior
,
CSS
Fanny
,
CSS
Forrest
- 20 Feb:
USS
Isaac N. Seymour
- 25 Feb:
USS
R. B. Forbes
- 8 Mar:
USS
Congress
,
USS
Cumberland
- 9 Mar:
CSS
George Page
- 10 Mar:
USS
Whitehall
- March (unknown date):
Camilla
(or
Memphis
)
- 4 Apr:
CSS
Red Rover
- 7 Apr:
CSS
Grampus
- 8 Apr:
CSS
New Orleans
- 14 Apr:
Erebus
- 19 Apr:
USS
Maria J. Carlton
- 24 Apr:
CSS
General Lovell
,
CSS
Governor Moore
,
CSS
Manassas
,
CSS
Stonewall Jackson
,
Sweepstakes
,
USS
Varuna
- 25 Apr:
CSS
Mississippi
,
CSRC
Pickens
,
Pioneer
,
Washington
,
CSS
Pamlico
- 28 Apr:
CSS
Louisiana
,
CSS
McRae
- April (unknown date):
CSS
Jackson
,
CSS
Oregon
,
CSS
Carondelet
- 10 May:
USS
Cincinnati
,
CSS
Germantown
,
USS
Mound City
,
CSS
Fulton
- 11 May:
CSS
Virginia
- 15 May:
CSS
Jamestown
- May (unknown date):
CSS
United States
- 6 Jun:
CSS
Colonel Lovell
,
CSS
General Beauregard
,
CSS
General Bragg
,
CSS
General M. Jeff Thompson
,
CSS
General Sterling Price
,
CSS
General Sumter
,
CSS
Little Rebel
- 16 Jun:
CSS
Maurepas
- 26 Jun:
CSS
General Earl Van Dorn
,
CSS
Livingston
,
CSS
General Polk
- 28 Jun:
USS
Island Belle
- 15 Jul:
Johanna Wagner
,
USS
Sidney C. Jones
- 21 Jul:
USS
Sallie Wood
- 24 Jul:
Lord of the Isles
- 6 Aug:
CSS
Arkansas
- 14-15 Aug:
USS
Sumter
- 23 Aug:
USS
Adirondack
- 24 Aug:
USS
Henry Andrew
,
USS
Isaac N. Seymour
- 10 Sep:
USS
Tigress
- 2 Oct:
Iona
- 15 Oct:
G. L. Brockenborough
- 25 Nov:
USS
Ellis
- November (unknown date):
USS
Mingo
- 12 Dec:
USS
Cairo
- 31 Dec:
USS
Monitor
- Unknown date:
USS
Noble
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Other incidents
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