CSS Muscogee

Muscogee was originally built as a sister ship to the casemate ironclad paddle steamer CSS Missouri, to a rough design by the Chief Naval Constructor, John L. Porter, as a sternwheel-powered ironclad. She proved to be too heavy to be launched on January 1, 1864, and had to be reconstructed and lengthened to a modified CSS Albemarle-class design, based on Porter's advice during his visit to the ironclad on January 23.Bisbee, pp. 162, 176; Holcombe, p. 213{{cite web |title=Save the Fantail |url=https://www.portcolumbus.org/article |publisher=National Civil War Naval Museum |access-date=21 August 2020}}

As part of the reconstruction, the ironclad was lengthened to {{convert|223|ft|6|in|m|1}} overall after a new fantail was built on the stern. She had a beam of {{convert|59|ft|m|0}} and a draft of {{convert|8|ft|m|1}}.Silverstone, p. 153 The removal of her sternwheel allowed her casemate to be shortened by {{convert|54|ft|m|1}}, which saved a considerable amount of weight. The ironclad had a gross register tonnage of 1,250 tons.

As originally designed, Muscogee was propelled by a sternwheel that was partially enclosed by a recess at the aft end of the casemate; the upper portion of the paddle wheel protruded above the casemate and would have been exposed to enemy fire. The sternwheel was probably powered by a pair of inclined two-cylinder direct-acting steam engines taken from the steamboat Time using steam provided by four return-flue boilers to the engines. As part of her reconstruction, Time{{'}}s engines were replaced by a pair of single-cylinder, horizontal direct-acting steam engines from the adjacent Columbus Naval Iron Works, each of which drove a single {{convert|7|ft|6|in|m|1|adj=on}} propeller; the original boilers appear to have been retained.Bisbee, pp. 13–14, 18, 176

Muscogee{{'}}s casemate was built with ten gun ports, two each at the bow and stern and three on the broadside. The ship was armed with four {{convert|7|in|adj=on|0}} and two {{convert|6.4|in|adj=on|0}} Brooke rifles. The fore and aft cannons were on pivot gun mounts. The 7-inch guns weighed about {{convert|15300|lb|kg}} and fired {{convert|110|lb|adj=on}} shells. The equivalent statistics for the 6.4-inch gun were {{convert|10700|lb|kg}} with {{convert|95|lb|adj=on}} shells.Silverstone, p. xx The casemate was protected by {{convert|4|in|mm|0}} of wrought-iron armor, and the armor plates on the deck and sides of the fantail were {{convert|2|in|mm}} thick.

File:NH 45769 CSS Muscogee.jpg

File:21-18-103-propeller.jpg]]

Muscogee was laid down during 1862 at the Columbus Naval Yard at Columbus, Georgia, on the banks of the Chattahoochee River. The first attempt to launch her failed on January 1, 1864, despite the high water on the river and the assistance of the steamboat Mariana. Porter came down afterwards to examine the ironclad and recommended that she be rebuilt with screw propulsion rather than the sternwheel. She was finally launched on December 22, having been renamed Jackson at some point during the year. A shortage of iron plate greatly hindered the ironclad's completion.Canney, p. 68

On April 17, 1865, after the Union's Wilson's Raiders captured the city during the Battle of Columbus, Georgia, Jackson was set ablaze by Union troops while still fitting out and had her moorings cut. The ship drifted downriver some {{convert|30|mi}} and ran aground on a sandbar. She was not thought to be worth salvaging because of the fire damage, but the Army Corps of Engineers dredged around her wreck in 1910 and salvaged her machinery.Bisbee, p. 177 A Union cavalry officer's report of the ironclad's condition at the time of her capture said that she had four cannon aboard and had a solid oak ram {{convert|15|ft|m|1}} deep. The only detail about her armor that he recorded was that it curved over the edge of the deck and extended below the waterline.Canney, p. 69

CSS Jackson{{'}}s remains were raised in two pieces; the {{convert|106|ft|m|1|adj=on}} stern section in 1962 and the {{convert|74|ft|m|1|adj=on}} bow section the following year. They were then placed on exhibit at the National Civil War Naval Museum in Columbus.{{cite web |last1=Vance |first1=Elizabeth |last2=Voreis |first2=Sarah |title=Civil War Naval Museum |url=http://www.chattahoocheeheritage.org/2013/04/civl-war-naval-museum/ |website=Chattahoochee Heritage Project |publisher=Auburn University School of Communication |access-date=21 August 2020 |date=16 April 2013}} A thick metal white frame outline, indicating the various dimensions of Jackson{{'}}s original fore and aft deck arrangements and armored casemate, is now erected directly above the hull's wooden remains to simulate for visitors the ironclad's original size and shapes.{{cite web |title=CSS Jackson |url=https://www.portcolumbus.org/exhibits-events?lightbox=dataItem-isj1xzso |publisher=National Civil War Naval Museum |access-date=21 August 2020}} The ship's fantail, which was stored outside in a pole barn, was partially destroyed in a fire on 1 June 2020.

The ironclad was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 13, 1970.{{Cite web |title=C.S.S. Muscogee and Chattahoochee (gunboats) |url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/70000212 |work=National Register of Historic Places |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=August 26, 2020}}

{{Portal|American Civil War}}

• Bibliography of American Civil War naval history

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |last1=Bisbee |first1=Saxon T. |title=Engines of Rebellion: Confederate Ironclads and Steam Engineering in the American Civil War |publisher=University of Alabama Press |location=Tuscaloosa, Alabama |isbn=978-0-81731-986-1|date=2018}}
• {{cite book|last1=Canney|first1=Donald L.|title=The Confederate Steam Navy 1861–1865 |date=2015 |publisher=Schiffer Publishing |location=Atglen, Pennsylvania |isbn=978-0-7643-4824-2}}
• {{cite journal|last1=Holcombe |first1=Robert|year=1988|title=Question 17/86|journal=Warship International|volume=XXV|issue=2|pages=213–214|issn=0043-0374}}
• {{cite book|last=Silverstone |first=Paul H.|title=Civil War Navies 1855–1883 |publisher= Routledge|location=New York|year=2006|series=The U.S. Navy Warship Series|isbn=0-415-97870-X}}
• {{cite book|last=Silverstone|first=Paul H.|title=Directory of the World's Capital Ships |year=1984 |publisher=Hippocrene Books|location=New York|isbn=0-88254-979-0}}

• {{cite book|last=Still|first=William N. Jr. |title=Iron Afloat: The Story of the Confederate Armorclads|isbn=0-87249-454-3|orig-year=1971|year=1985|publisher=University of South Carolina Press|location=Columbia, South Carolina}}

{{CSN ironclads}}

{{1865 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muscogee}}

Category:Ironclad warships of the Confederate States Navy

Category:Georgia (U.S. state) in the American Civil War

Category:Shipwrecks on the National Register of Historic Places in Georgia (U.S. state)

Category:Ships built in Georgia (U.S. state)

Category:1864 ships

Category:Maritime incidents in April 1865

Category:Scuttled vessels

Category:Shipwrecks in rivers

Category:Shipwrecks of the American Civil War

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Muscogee County, Georgia