CSS Jamestown
{{Short description|Steamboat}}
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{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=Image:CSSJamestown.jpg |Ship caption=CSS Jamestown moving in to capture merchant schooners in Hampton Roads, April 11, 1862. (Line engraving originally published in Harper's Weekly in 1862.) }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=Confederate States |Ship flag= {{shipboxflag|Confederate States of America|naval}} |Ship name=Jamestown |Ship namesake=Jamestown, Virginia |Ship owner= |Ship operator= |Ship registry= |Ship route= |Ship ordered= |Ship awarded= |Ship builder= |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number= |Ship way number= |Ship laid down= |Ship launched=1853 |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned=July 1861 |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned=May 15, 1862 |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship identification= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship honors= |Ship captured= |Ship fate=Sunk to obstruct James River |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class= |Ship type= |Ship tonnage= |Ship displacement=1300 tons |Ship tons burthen= |Ship length={{convert|250|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{convert|34|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship height= |Ship draught= |Ship draft={{convert|17|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship depth= |Ship hold depth= |Ship decks= |Ship deck clearance= |Ship ramps= |Ship ice class= |Ship power= |Ship propulsion=Steam engine |Ship sail plan= |Ship speed= |Ship range= |Ship endurance= |Ship test depth= |Ship boats= |Ship capacity= |Ship troops= |Ship complement= |Ship crew= |Ship time to activate= |Ship sensors= |Ship EW= |Ship armament=2 guns |Ship armour= |Ship armor= |Ship aircraft= |Ship aircraft facilities= |Ship notes= }} |
CSS Jamestown, originally a side-wheel, passenger steamer, was built at New York City in 1853, and seized at Richmond, Virginia in 1861 for the Virginia Navy during the early days of the American Civil War. She was commissioned by the Confederate States Navy (CSN) the following July (after the Virginia Navy was transferred to the CSN),[http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=lva/vi00884.xml;query=; Historical Information] Library of Virginia. Retrieved 27 December 2016 and renamed CSS Thomas Jefferson but was generally referred to as Jamestown, after Jamestown, Virginia.
Brigantine-rigged Jamestown was designed and constructed by the well-known shipbuilder William H. Webb for the New York and Old Dominion Line as a sister to Yorktown, which became CSS Patrick Henry.
Career
With Lt. Joseph Nicholson Barney, CSN, in command, she was actively employed until the end of her career in May 1862. Her service was highlighted by the Battle of Hampton Roads on March 8–9 1862, during which she assisted CSS Virginia in attacking USS Congress and USS Cumberland and stood by during the battle between USS Monitor and Virginia. The Confederate Congress tendered special thanks to the officers and crew of Jamestown for their "gallant conduct and bearing" in combat.Heidler, 2004 p.1250
Some 4 weeks later, on April 11, 1862, Jamestown, Virginia and five other Confederate ships sailed from Norfolk, Virginia, into Hampton Roads in full view of the Union squadron there. When it became clear that the Federal ships were not going to attack, Jamestown, covered by Virginia and the others, moved in, captured three merchant ships, and helped by CSS Raleigh, towed them to Norfolk. The merchant ships were the brigs Marcus of Stockton, NJ and Sabout of Providence, RI and the schooner Catherine T. Dix of Accomac County, VA. Their flags were hoisted "Union-side down" to taunt the Federals into fighting. Later that month Jamestown was despatched from Norfolk to cooperate with Major General John B. Magruder, CSA, in the James River, and early in May she was used to transport army sick and wounded to Richmond, Virginia.
Image:WreckofCSSJamestown.jpg. (Photograph by Mathew Brady)]]
On the night of May 5, Jamestown and Patrick Henry proceeded to Norfolk and returned the following night with CSS Richmond, CSS Hampton and ordnance store boats, passing the Federal battery at Newport News, Virginia unobserved on both occasions. A second attempt to return to Norfolk met with failure.
On May 8, Jamestown was ordered to notify Stephen Mallory, Secretary of the Confederate States Navy, of the continuing engagement of two Federal gunboats and ironclad USS Galena with the Confederate batteries at Day's Point. Unable to carry out her assignment, Jamestown retired up the James River as far as Drewry's Bluff, where on May 15, 1862, she was sunk to obstruct the channel.
Commanders
The commanders of the CSS Jamestown were:Coski, 1996
- Lt. Joseph Nicholson Barney (1861–1862)
- Lt. George W. Harrison (May 1862, temporarily)
See also
{{Portal|American Civil War}}
Bibliography
- {{DANFS}}
- {{cite book |last=Coski |first=John M. |ref=Coski |title=Capital Navy: The Men, Ships and Operations of the James River Squadron|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i2gfAQAAMAAJ|year=1996 |publisher=Savas Woodbury Publishers, Campbell, CA |pages=344 |isbn=9781882810031}}
- {{cite book |last=Heidler |first=David Stephen |title=Encyclopedia of the War of 1812|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_c09EJgek50C|ref=Heidler |publisher=Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Md., 2004 |year=2004 |pages=636|isbn=1-59114-362-4}}
References
{{CSN Steamers}}
{{Battle of Hampton Roads|state=autocollapse}}{{List of Ships Built by William H. Webb}}{{1862 shipwrecks}}
{{coord missing|Virginia}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jamestown}}
Category:Ships of the Confederate States Navy
Category:Virginia in the American Civil War
Category:Shipwrecks of the James River
Category:Shipwrecks of the American Civil War