- USS Alexandria (1862)
USS "Alexandria" (1862) was a screw steamer captured by the
Union Navy during theAmerican Civil War . She was used by the Union Navy as a dispatch boat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.Steamer captured and by Union Navy forces
"St. Mary" -- a small, wooden-hulled, side-wheel steamer built at
Plaquemine, Pennsylvania -- was presented to the Confederate government upon completion early in1862 . Protected by bales of cotton, the vessel operated on the Yazoo andTallahatchie River s for the remainder of that year and into the summer of1863 . On13 July , a Union joint Army-Navy expedition of fourwarships and 5,000 troops captured "St. Mary" atYazoo City, Mississippi .Steamer placed into Union Navy service
Although apparently never condemned by a
prize court because she was appraised at less than $8,000, "St. Mary" was taken into the Union Navy. On18 September 1863 , Rear AdmiralDavid Dixon Porter wrote to theSecretary of the Navy ,Gideon Welles , requesting permission to retain the prize for naval service and asking that the ship be renamed "Yazoo". However, this suggestion was never approved.Service with the Mississippi squadron
Although surviving records are not conclusive, it seems that after the prize had been repaired, Admiral Porter may have used the steamer in the autumn as a non-commissioned dispatch boat. However, the side-wheeler was placed in commission as "Alexandria" at
Cairo, Illinois , on12 December 1863 , Acting Master D. P. Rosenmiller, Jr., in command.She served in the 1st District of the
Mississippi Squadron and operated betweenDonaldsonville, Louisiana , andCairo, Illinois .Post-war decommissioning, sale, and subsequent career
After the collapse of the Confederacy, the ship was decommissioned at
Cairo, Illinois , on7 August 1865 and sold at auction atMound City, Illinois , on17 August 1865 to W. Markham ofBaton Rouge, Louisiana . Documented as "Alexandria" on4 October 1865 , the ship served on theMississippi River and her tributaries until lost sometime in1867 . No documents containing specific information on her destruction seem to have survived.References
*DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/a6/alexandria-i.htm
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