USS Augusta Dinsmore
History | |
---|---|
United States | |
Laid down | date unknown |
Launched | 1863 |
Acquired | 17 July 1963 |
Commissioned | circa 21 July 1863 |
Decommissioned | 28 August 1865 |
Stricken | 1865 (est.) |
Fate | Sold, 5 September 1865 |
General characteristics | |
Displacement | 834 tons |
Length | 169 ft (52 m) |
Beam | 32 ft 6 in (9.91 m) |
Draught |
|
Propulsion |
|
Speed | 11 knots |
Complement | 70 |
Armament | two 12-pounder rifles |
USS Augusta Dinsmore was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat in support of the Union naval blockade of Confederate waterways. Because of her relatively large size, she was also sometimes used as a cargo ship.
Service history
By February 1863, Augusta Dinsmore—a screw steamer completed in 1863 at
Sometime in the late spring or early summer, she was chartered by the Navy for the use of that squadron and departed
The transaction transferring title to the ship from William B. Dinsmore to the United States Government was completed on 17 July; and, four days later, Dahlgren detached Acting Master William Hamilton from the monitor USS Patapsco so that he might assume command of Augusta Dinsmore. Although the steamer's commissioned service dates from Hamilton's taking command, she had already served as Dahlgren's flagship during most of the time since she had brought him from New York City; and, but for a few brief interruptions when he temporarily embarked in other warships, she continued to carry out this duty through the remainder of July and most of August.
While his flag flew above Augusta Dinsmore, the admiral directed the naval aspects of joint Army-Navy operations against the defensive works which protected Charleston, South Carolina's harbor, particularly against Fort Wagner. These attacks finally forced the Confederate garrison to evacuate the fort secretly on the night of 6 September. While this unrelenting Union pressure was approaching its victorious climax, the iron-hulled, side-wheel steamer USS Philadelphia had arrived off Morris Island late in August and relieved Augusta Dinsmore as flagship, freeing her for other duty.
Dahlgren had only recently learned that the screw gunboat USS Madgie in Saint Catherine Sound—just south of Savannah, Georgia—was low on coal and in need of repairs. As a result, he sent Augusta Dinsmore to that station to take Madgie's place on guard there, and she blockaded those waters until 5 October when she was relieved by the side-wheeler USS Mahaska. Before sailing north at mid-month, Augusta Dinsmore embarked 149 men whose enlistments had expired. She stopped en route at Newport News, Virginia, for brief repairs and then continued on to New York City.
After the completion of her repairs there, Augusta Dinsmore was reassigned to the
On occasion, chance encounters with
In the spring of 1864, Hamilton became ill and, sometime in June, Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Miner B. Crowell relieved him in command of Augusta Dinsmore. About daybreak on 11 September, as the steamer was proceeding generally southwest along the gulf coast from Galveston, Texas, she ". . . fell in with a schooner, with sails lowered down, drifting." Since the vessel—the British schooner John—was carrying 81 bales of cotton, Crowell "...seized her as a prize and sent her to New Orleans for adjudication..." On 28 October 1864, Augusta Dinsmore was making another supply run when she found herself in position to help Union screw gunboats USS Sciota and USS Chocura to capture another British schooner, Cora Smyser, which was attempting to slip into San Luis Pass, Texas, with an assorted cargo. Augusta Dinsmore continued to carry supplies to blockaders along the Texas coast through the end of the Civil War.
Following the Confederate collapse, she departed
References
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.