USS Keystone State (1853)

USS "Keystone State" was a wooden sidewheel steamer that served in the United States Navy during the U.S. Civil War.

"Keystone State" was built at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1853 by J. W. Lynn. She was chartered by the Navy on April 19, 1861 from the Ocean Steam Navigation Co. at Philadelphia, and purchased June 10, 1861. She commissioned at Philadelphia Navy Yard on July 19, 1861, Commander G. H. Scott in command.

Chartered to search for Confederate raider CSS "Sumter", she shared in the capture of "Hiawatha" at Hampton Roads on May 20, 1861. When her charter expired on May 23, she returned to Philadelphia, where she was purchased, fitted out, and commissioned. She left the Delaware Capes on July 21 and cruised in the West Indies seeking Confederate blockade runners in Caribbean ports. On the high seas she captured "Saloon" on October 10 and towed her to Philadelphia via Key West, Florida.

At Philadelphia, Commander William Edgar Leroy took command of the ship on November 12. The sidewheeler stood down the Delaware River and out to sea December 8, visited Bermuda, and arrived Hampton Roads the day after Christmas. She got underway on January 9, 1862 and joined the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron at Charleston, South Carolina on January 13, 1862.

Ordered to the Florida coast, she engaged Confederate batteries at Amelia Island on January 18 and captured schooner "Mars" on February 5.

"Keystone State" arrived at Port Royal, South Carolina for replacement on March 18, and got underway again on March 29. She chased a blockade runner and fired at another on April 3, but both escaped. On April 10 she chased schooner "Liverpool" of Nassau ashore where she was burned to the water's edge. Schooner "Dixie" fell prey to the vigilant blockader on April 15, steamer "Elizabeth" then struck her colors May 29, and schooner "Cora" surrendered 2 days later. "Keystone State" took blockade runner "Sarah" off Charleston on June 20 and pursued an unidentified steamer all day and night of June 24 before giving up the chase. She took schooner "Fanny" attempting to slip into Charleston with a cargo of salt on August 22.

However, this was dangerous work, and "Keystone State" well earned her long list of prizes. On the last day of January 1863 she discovered a ship off Charleston, stood fast, and fired at her. The ship responded in kind, from time to time hitting the blockader. At 6:00 AM a shot ripped into Keystone State's steam drum, scalding 1 officer and 19 men to death and wounding another score. Later that morning, USS "Memphis" towed "Keystone State" to Port Royal for repairs. Ready for action again, she got underway on George Washington's Birthday for blockading station off St. Simons Sound, Georgia, where she served until departing for Philadelphia on June 2 for repairs at the Navy Yard, where she decommissioned on June 10.

"Keystone State" recommissioned October 3, Commander Edward Donaldson in command, and stood out from Delaware Capes on October 27. Three days later she joined the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron at Wilmington, North Carolina. While cruising off Wilmington, the veteran side wheeler captured steamers "Margaret" and "Jessie" on November 5. On May 29, 1864 she picked up 235 bales of cotton which had been thrown overboard by a chase; and the next day she captured steamer "Caledonia". She took steamer "Suez" off Beaufort, North Carolina on June 5 and steamer "Rouen" at sea July 2. On July 26 she chased a steamer which escaped after throwing her cargo of cotton overboard. "Keystone State" then picked up over 60 bales. On a similar occasion on August 8 she salvaged 225 bales. On August 24 she chased and captured steamer "Lilian" and, with USS "Gettysburg", picked up 58 bales. On September 5 with USS "Quaker City" she chased and fired at steamer "Elsie". A shell exploded in the blockade runner's forward hold, starting a fire which "Keystone State" extinguished. "Keystone State" then escorted her prize to Beaufort, North Carolina.

During the fall of 1864, the sidewheeler continued blockade duty off the North Carolina coast; and, as winter set in, she prepared to attack Fort Fisher, which protected the important Confederate port of Wilmington. Shortly after dawn on Christmas Eve, "Keystone State", steaming with the reserve squadron of the fleet in line of battle, got under way toward Fort Fisher. Her guns, firing over and between the ships in the first echelon, supported troops as they landed and fought to take the fort. However, late in the afternoon, the U.S. Army commander, General Benjamin F. Butler, decided that the Confederate works could not be taken and ordered his troops to reembark. "Keystone State" withdrew to Beaufort.

Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter, the U.S. Navy commander, was not to be thwarted. He renewed the attack on Fort Fisher on January 13, 1865 with a force of 59 warships. He sent some 2,000 sailors and marines ashore to aid the 8,000 Army troops led by Major General Alfred H. Terry. After 3 days of bitter fighting, the bravely defended Confederate fortress fell, closing the South's last supply line with Europe. "Keystone State" reached the scene before dawn on January 16 and received the wounded.

After the capture of Wilmington, the sidewheeler continued to operate along the Carolina coast supporting clean-up operations which snuffed out Southern resistance. She got underway March 13 towing monitor USS "Montauk" to Hampton Roads, and arrived at Baltimore, Maryland on March 20. "Keystone State" decommissioned March 25 and was sold at auction at Washington, D.C. on September 15 to M. O. Roberts. She was redocumented as SS "San Francisco" December 22, 1865, and operated in merchant service until 1879.

References

*DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/k3/keystone_state.htm