USS St. Clair

History
United States
Launched	1862
Acquired	13 August 1862
Commissioned	24 September 1862
Decommissioned	12 July 1865
Fate	Sold, 17 August 1865
General characteristics
Displacement	203 tons
Length	156 ft (48 m)
Beam	32 ft (9.8 m)
Draft	2 ft 4 in (0.71 m)
Propulsion	steam engine stern wheel-propelled
Armament	2 × 12-pounder smoothbore guns 2 × 12 pounder rifles

USS St. Clair was a steamer purchased by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.

She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat assigned to patrol Confederate waterways.

Service history

1862

St. Clair, a wooden, stern-wheel, river steamer built in 1862 at

St. Clair was sent up the Ohio River on 23 October 1862 to assess rebel inhabitants of Caseyville, Kentucky, for robbery of the transport, Hazel Dell, and to close the ferries and curtail cross-river communications. She was ordered to effect reprisals against those persons known to shelter and supply guerrillas by confiscating goods and destroying property as a lesson to others. Failing to receive an indemnity of 35,000 dollars from the townspeople, St. Clair's crew arrested those who could not prove loyalty and held them on board to turn them over to the Union Army. Among those arrested were an official named William Pemberton and a notorious sutler, J. M. Scantlin, who dealt in gunpowder with the Confederates. Operating with Fairplay and Brilliant, St. Clair then engaged in providing protection for loyal citizens. During December, she operated in the Green, Cumberland, and Tennessee Rivers to restrict commerce.

1863–1864

In January 1863, St. Clair provided

Early in 1864, plans were laid down for a joint Army-Navy operation on the Red River with the prime purpose of restoring Federal control in Texas. Admiral Porter's Mississippi Squadron was to convey General William Tecumseh Sherman's forces up the river to Alexandria, Louisiana, timed with the movement of forces under General Nathaniel P. Banks and General Steele between there and Shreveport, Louisiana. The operation was to be carried out during expected high water conditions in mid-March. The major portion of Porter's fleet entered the mouth on 12 March and moved up the river. Unexpected strength in the Confederate ranks, unusual low water conditions for the year, and difficulty in coordinating movement of separate large forces overland brought about failure, to some extent, for the campaign. A portion of the fleet, some 14 vessels, became entrapped in the upper river as the Army was withdrawing from actions at Sabine Crossroads and Pleasant Hill. Only the determination of Admiral Porter and the resourcefulness of the Army engineers saved the fleet.

As they were constructing dams to raise the river to float the boats over the rocks and falls, St. Clair was ordered from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to Alexandria to bolster defenses. On 21 April, she engaged rebels below Alexandria, and from 25 April to 3 May protected barges between Fort De Russy and Alexandria while silencing gun positions at Dunn's Bayou and Wilson's Bend. Admiral Porter now had his fleet reassembled at Alexandria and strengthened with the addition of three ironclads and a part of Farragut's detached squadron. General Banks arrived on 7 May, and they began to clear out the Red River and its tributary, the Black. St. Clair escorted the transports back to the Mississippi River and engaged rebel troops at Eunice's Bluff on the 15th. The transports safely reached Simmesport, Louisiana, at the mouth on the 21st, and St. Clair proceeded to Baton Rouge.

1865

The

See also

• Anaconda Plan

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.