CSS Stonewall Jackson
{{For|the ironclad warship|CSS Stonewall}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=CSS Stonewall Jackson La Navy River Defense Ram.jpg |Ship caption= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=Confederate States |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Confederate States of America|1861}} |Ship name=Stonewall Jackson |Ship namesake=Stonewall Jackson |Ship ordered= |Ship builder= |Ship laid down= |Ship launched= |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed= |Ship acquired=January 1862 |Ship commissioned= March 1862 |Ship decommissioned= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honors= |Ship fate=Driven ashore and burned, 24 April 1862 |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship type= Sidewheel ram |Ship tonnage= |Ship length= |Ship beam= |Ship draft= |Ship depth= |Ship hold depth= |Ship propulsion=Steam engine, side-wheels |Ship speed= |Ship complement=30 |Ship armament=1 × 32-pounder gun or 24-pounder smoothbore |Ship armor= |Ship notes= }} |
CSS Stonewall Jackson was a cottonclad sidewheel ram of the Confederate Navy during the American Civil War.
Stonewall Jackson was selected in January 1862, by Capt. James E. Montgomery to be part of his River Defense Fleet at New Orleans. On 25 January Montgomery began to convert her into a cottonclad ram by placing a {{convert|4|in|mm|adj=on}} oak sheath with {{convert|1|in|mm|adj=on}} iron covering on her bow, and by installing double pine bulkheads fitted with compressed cotton bales.
Service history
Stonewall Jackson{{'}}s conversion was completed on 16 March 1862. Under Capt. G. M. Phillips she was detached from Montgomery's main force and sent to Forts Jackson and St. Philip on the lower Mississippi to cooperate in the Confederate defense of New Orleans. There, with five other vessels of Montgomery's fleet, all under Capt. J. A. Stevenson, she joined the force under Capt. J. K. Mitchell, CSN, commanding Confederate naval forces in the lower Mississippi.
On 24 April 1862 a Union fleet under Flag Officer David Farragut, USN, ran past Forts Jackson and St. Philip on its way to capture New Orleans. In the engagement Stonewall Jackson rammed {{USS|Varuna|1861|6}}, which had already been struck by {{ship|CSS|Governor Moore}}. With Varuna{{'}}s shot glancing off her bow, Stonewall Jackson backed off for another blow and struck again in the same place, crushing Varuna{{'}}s side. The shock of the blow turned the Confederate vessel, and she received five 8-inch shells from Varuna, abaft her armor. Varuna ran aground in a sinking condition, and Stonewall Jackson, chased by {{USS|Oneida|1861|6}} coming to Varuna{{'}}s rescue, was driven ashore and burned.
See also
- Bibliography of early American naval history
- CSS Stonewall (which later became Japanese ironclad Kōtetsu)
References
- {{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/cfa9/stonewall_jackson.htm}}
External links
- [https://books.google.com/books?id=y0clAQAAMAAJ&q=thoughs+on+following+up+his+great+victory+to+the+end+ Battles and Leaders of the Civil War: Being for the Most Part ..., Volume 2 1887 .p.54 drawing of the "Stonewall Jackson"]
- [http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/OnlineLibrary/photos/sh-us-cs/csa-sh/csash-sz/stw-jksn.htm Naval Historical Center Online Library of Selected Images: CSS Stonewall Jackson]
{{1862 shipwrecks}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stonewall Jackson}}
Category:Cottonclad rams of the Confederate States Navy