| History | |
|---|---|
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} .svg.png.webp){kind=small} United States | |
| Acquired | 30 September 1862 |
| In service | circa 30 September 1862 |
| Out of service | 12 August 1865 |
| Fate | Sold, 17 August 1865 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement | 800 tons |
| Propulsion |
|
| Armament | two 12-pounder guns |
USS William H. Brown was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a dispatch and supply boat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.
Service history
On 30 September 1862, William H. Brown, a stern-wheel steamer of 200 tons built at Monongahela, PA, 1860,[1] was transferred to the Navy by the U.S. War Department; and she served as a transport and dispatch vessel for the Mississippi Squadron for the duration of the Civil War. The ship carried supplies and messages between the squadron's base at Cairo, Illinois, and its ships at various locations on the Mississippi River and its tributaries.
Her only recorded engagement came on 13 April 1864 during the Red River expedition when she fired on Confederate shore batteries while assisting the grounded gunboat Chillicothe. Confederate return fire hit her drum and disabled her so that she had to be towed back to Cairo for repairs. After hostilities ended, the ship was placed out of commission at Mound City, Illinois, on 12 August 1865. Five days later, she was sold at auction to Mr. R. R. Hudson.[2]
References
- ↑ Merchant Steam Vessels of the United States, 1790 - 1868, originally compiled by William M. Lytle and Forrest R. Holdcamper, revised and edited by C. Bradford Mitchell with Kenneth R. Hall, published by The Steamship Historical Society of America, Inc., staten Island, NY, 1975.
- ↑ "Official records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion". Washington, Govt. Print. Off. p. 241.
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.