USS Pontoosuc
{{short description|Gunboat of the United States Navy}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image= File:USS Pontoosuc lithograph.jpg |Ship caption= Lithograph published by Endicott & Co., New York, circa 1865. Collection of Commander Charles Moran, USNRF, 1935. }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United States |Ship flag=Image:US Naval Jack 36 stars.svg {{USN flag|1861}} |Ship name=USS Pontoosuc |Ship namesake= |Ship ordered= |Ship builder= |Ship laid down= 1863 |Ship launched= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned= 10 May 1864 |Ship decommissioned= 5 July 1865 |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship struck= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship homeport= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honors= |Ship fate=Sold, 3 October 1866 |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class={{sclass|Sassacus|gunboat}} |Ship tonnage= 974 |Ship length= {{convert|205|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship beam= {{convert|35|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship draft= {{convert|9|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship depth= |Ship hold depth={{convert|11|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship propulsion= Steam engine, side wheels |Ship speed= {{convert|11|kn|lk=in}} |Ship range= |Ship complement=100+ |Ship armament=*2 × 100-pounder Parrott rifles
|Ship armor={{convert|4|in|mm|abbr=on}} |Ship notes= }} |
USS Pontoosuc was a Union Navy vessel in the American Civil War. A side wheel gunboat, Pontoosuc was built under contract with G. W. Lawrence and the Portland Company, Portland, Maine, and was named for Pontoosuc, Illinois, on the Mississippi River. She was commissioned at Portland on 10 May 1864 with Lieutenant Commander George A. Stevens in command.
Service history
Ordered to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron on 9 June 1864, she soon returned north and on 12 August departed New York in pursuit of the Confederate raider {{ship|CSS|Tallahassee||6}}. Arriving at Halifax soon after 0600 on 20 August, she discovered her quarry had sailed. Underway immediately, Pontoosuc continued her search to the north among the fishing fleets in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Tallahassee, however, had turned south en route back to Wilmington, North Carolina.
Pontoosuc returned to New York on 30 August 1864 and took up escort duties. By mid-December, she had resumed blockade duties, off Wilmington. On 24 and 25 December she participated in the assault on Fort Fisher, returning to shell the Fort again in the successful mid-January 1865 attack. In February she moved up the Cape Fear River for operations against Fort Anderson. After the fall of Wilmington she resumed cruising off the coast. Seven of Pontoosuc's sailors received the Medal of Honor for their actions during this campaign: Cabin Boy John Anglin, Coxswain Asa Betham, Boatswain's Mate Robert M. Blair, Captain of the Forecastle John P. Erickson, Landsman George W. McWilliams, Chief Quartermaster James W. Verney, and Sailmaker's Mate Anthony Williams.
After the war, she returned to Boston where she was decommissioned 5 July 1865 and was sold 3 October 1866.
==References==
{{portal|American Civil War}}
:{{DANFS|https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/p/pontoosuc.html}}
{{reflist|refs=
|url = http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/civwaral.html
|title = Medal of Honor Recipients - Civil War (A–L)
|work = Medal of Honor Citations
|publisher = United States Army Center of Military History
|date = 26 June 2011
|access-date = 27 August 2012
|archive-date = 2 September 2012
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120902081051/http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/civwaral.html
|url-status = dead
}}
|url = http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/civwarmz.html
|title = Medal of Honor Recipients - Civil War (M–Z)
|work = Medal of Honor Citations
|publisher = United States Army Center of Military History
|date = 26 June 2011
|access-date = 27 August 2012
|archive-date = 7 July 2010
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100707090618/http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/civwarmz.html
|url-status = dead
}}
}}
External links
- [https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/NH-02000/NH-2014.html Photos of the NH 2014 USS Pontoosuc (1864-1866)]
{{Sassacus class gunboat}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pontoosuc}}
Category:Ships of the Union Navy
Category:Ships built in Portland, Maine
Category:Steamships of the United States Navy
Category:Sassacus-class gunboats
Category:American Civil War patrol vessels of the United States