USS Commodore Perry

USS Commodore Perry, Pamunkey River, photographed by Timothy H. O'Sullivan
History
United States
Name	Commodore Perry
Namesake	Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry
Launched	1859 at Williamsburg, New York
Acquired	2 October 1861
Commissioned	October 1861
Decommissioned	26 June 1865
Fate	Sold, 12 July 1865
General characteristics
Type	Gunboat
Displacement	512 long tons (520 t)
Length	143 ft (44 m)
Beam	33 ft (10 m)
Draft	10 ft (3.0 m)
Propulsion	Steam engine side wheel-propelled
Speed	7 knots (13 km/h; 8.1 mph)
Complement	125
Armament	2 × 9 in (230 mm) guns 2 × 32-pounder smoothbore guns 1 × 12-pounder howitzer

USS Commodore Perry was a 512-long-ton (520-tonne)

. From 1863 until the end of the war, she was engaged in patrols, both inland and in Virginia coastal waters.

Commodore Perry was outfitted as a

.

Service history

Commodore Perry — an armed, side-wheel

to American commerce, and who had died the previous year, in 1858.

Civil War

Commodore Perry sailed from

On 9 July 1862, at 2 a. m., the U.S. gunboats Commodore Perry, Shawsheen and Ceres, left Plymouth, N.C., and steamed up the Roanoke River on an expedition to Hamilton, where a large force of Confederates was reported to be stationed. On the Perry, which was commanded by Navy Lieut. O. W. Flusser, were 20 men of Co. F, of the

, (Hawkins' Zouaves,) under Capt. W. W. Hammell. On the Shawsheen were 10 men of the same company under Sergeant David J. (better known as Jack) Green, and ten men on the Ceres, commanded by Lieut. Joseph A. Greene, also of Co. F. Lieut. Flusser, in his report to Flag Officer Goldborough, says: "About 1 o'clock p.m. in. we were fired upon from the south bank of the river by musketry, returned the fire with great guns and small arms, and pushed on for Hamilton, where I hoped to meet the enemy in force. We were under fire for two hours running very slowly and keeping a lookout for a battery. Two or three miles below Hamilton we found a deserted battery. At Hamilton we landed 100 men, soldiers and sailors, and one field piece, but the rebels, who fired on us from high banks, where they were comparatively safe, were afraid to meet us. The steamer Wilson, belonging to the rebels, run into our hands at Hamilton and was taken possession of. The officers and men both soldiers and sailors behaved with great spirit."

Acting Master Mac Diarmid, in command of the Ceres, in his report of the affair to his superior officer, under the date of 10 July 1862, says : "When within a few miles of Hamilton, was fired on by the enemy from the left bank with small arms. Returned fire with great guns and small arms. This firing was kept up on both sides until within one-half-mile of Hamilton. Lieutenant Greene was wounded in the leg by first volley, but sat on deck and loaded the muskets for his men."^{[citation needed]}

Commodore Perry took part in the capture of

. ^[2][3] After another combined expedition against Hertford, North Carolina on 30 January 1863, Commodore Perry patrolled constantly in Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds and the streams which enter them, frequently exchanging fire with small detachments of Confederates ashore.^[1]

Repaired at Norfolk, Virginia and Baltimore, Maryland late in 1863, she returned to her squadron in March 1864 for duty in the inland and coastal waters of Virginia on picket, guard, and patrol duty, joining in many amphibious expeditions, until the close of the war. She sailed from Norfolk for New York City on 12 June 1865, and there was decommissioned on 26 June.^[1] On 12 July, she was sold to the New York and Brooklyn Ferry Company for $16,500 ($328,422 in present-day terms).^[4]

References