View source for CSS Robert E. Lee

{{Other ships|Robert E. Lee (disambiguation)}}
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|Ship image= [[Image:CSSRobertELee.jpg|300px|CSS Robert E. Lee]]
|Ship caption=CSS ''Robert E. Lee'', 1862
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|Ship country=[[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]]
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|civil}}
|Ship name=''Giraffe''
|Ship owner=[[J. & G. Burns]] Line
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|Ship builder=[[John Brown & Company#J&G Thomson|J&G Thomson's Clyde Bank Iron Shipyard]], [[Govan]], [[Glasgow]]
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|Ship launched=16 May 1860
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|Ship country=Confederate States
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Confederate States of America|naval}}
|Ship name=''Robert E. Lee''
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|Ship operator=[[Confederate States Navy]]
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|Ship fate= Captured by U.S. Navy, 9 November 1863
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|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag= {{USN flag|1863}}
|Ship name=''Fort Donelson''
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|Ship operator=[[Union Navy]]
|Ship acquired= 9 November 1863
|Ship commissioned= 29 June 1864
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|Ship fate= Sold October 1865 and renamed ''Isabella''
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|Ship country=Chile
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Chile}}
|Ship name=''Concepción''
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|Ship acquired= 1866
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|Ship fate= Sold 1 May 1868
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|Ship displacement= 900 tons
|Ship length= {{convert|283|ft|m|abbr=on}} 
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|Ship armament=*5 × 12-pounder cannons
*2 × 30-pounder cannons
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'''CSS ''Robert E. Lee''''' was a fast [[paddle-steamer]], originally built as a [[Glasgow]]-[[Belfast]] [[packet boat]] named ''Giraffe'', which was bought as a [[Blockade runners of the American Civil War|blockade runner]] for the [[Confederate States]] during the [[American Civil War]], then subsequently served in the [[United States Navy]] as '''USS ''Fort Donelson''''' and in the [[Chilean Navy]] as '''''Concepción'''''.
[[File:Steamship) Ft. Donelson LCCN2004660397.jpg|thumb|242x242px|USS ''Fort Donelson'' drawing]]

==CSS ''Robert E. Lee''==
''Robert E. Lee'' was originally the merchant ship ''Giraffe'', a [[schooner]]-rigged, iron-hulled, oscillating-engined [[paddle-steamer]] with two stacks, built by [[John Brown & Company#J&G Thomson|J&G Thomson's Clyde Bank Iron Shipyard]] at [[Govan]] in [[Glasgow]], Scotland, and launched on 16 May 1860 as a fast [[Glasgow]]-[[Belfast]] [[Packet boat|packet]] for the [[J. & G. Burns]] Line.<ref name="Silverstone2006">{{cite book|author=Paul Silverstone|title=Civil War Navies, 1855-1883|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=77v2AX6IxUoC&pg=PA49|date=6 November 2006|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-86549-8|page=49}}</ref><ref name="Robins 2012 p. 84">{{cite book | last=Robins | first=N. | title=The Coming of the Comet: The Rise and Fall of the Paddle Steamer | publisher=Seaforth Publishing | year=2012 | isbn=978-1-84832-134-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J0SuCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA84 | access-date=4 December 2021 | page=84}}</ref>

Alexander Collie & Co. of [[Manchester]] acquired her for their blockade-running fleet, but were persuaded by renowned blockade-runner [[Lieutenant]] [[John Wilkinson (CSN)]] to sell her to the [[Confederate States Navy]] for the same £32,000 just paid.

Her first voyage for the Confederacy was into [[Old Inlet]], [[Wilmington, North Carolina|Wilmington]], [[North Carolina]] in January 1863 with valuable munitions and 26 Scottish [[lithographer]]s, eagerly awaited by the Confederate Government bureau of engraving and printing. On January 26, [[United States|Union]] [[military intelligence|intelligence]] maintained she "could be captured easily" at anchor in [[Ossabaw Sound]], but this was not to be for another 10 months. Running out again, ''Robert E. Lee'' started to establish a near-legendary reputation for blockade running by leaving astern blockader {{USS|Iroquois|1859|6}}.

Lieutenant [[Richard H. Gayle]], CSN, assumed command in May 1863, relieving Lieutenant John Wilkinson; but Wilkinson was conning the ship again out of the [[Cape Fear River]] from [[Southport, North Carolina|Smithville, North Carolina]] on October 7, 1863, as recounted by Lieutenant [[Robert D. Minor]], CSN, in a letter to [[Admiral]] [[Franklin Buchanan]] dated February 2, 1864, detailing the first venture to capture {{USS|Michigan|1843|6}} and liberate 2,000 Confederate prisoners at [[Johnson's Island]], [[Sandusky, Ohio|Sandusky]], [[Ohio]]. ''Robert E. Lee'' transported Wilkinson, Minor, Lieutenant [[Benjamin P. Loyall]] and 19 other naval officers to [[City of Halifax|Halifax]], [[Nova Scotia]] with $35,000 in gold and a cotton cargo "subsequently sold at Halifax for $76,000 (gold) by the War Department — in all some $111,000 in gold, as the sinews of the expedition."

Thus Wilkinson was in Canada and Gayle commanding when ''Robert E. Lee''{{'s}} luck ran out on November 9, 1863, after 21 voyages in 10 months carrying out over 7,000 bales of cotton, returning with munitions invaluable to the Confederacy. She left [[Bermuda]] five hours after her consort, [[CSS Cornubia|CSS ''Cornubia'']], only to be run down a few hours after her by the same blockader, {{USS|James Adger|1851|6}}. The two runners were conceded to be easily "the most noted that ply between Bermuda and Wilmington."

This ship was not the one immortalised in the American popular song [[Waiting for the Robert E. Lee]] (1912), which was based on [[Robert E. Lee (steamboat)|a later Mississippi steamer of the same name]].

==USS ''Fort Donelson''==
[[File:BlockadeRunnerRobertELee.jpg|thumb|right|300px|CSS ''Robert E. Lee'']]
[[Image:USSFortDonelson.jpg|thumb|right|300px|USS ''Fort Donelson'', December 1864]]
''Robert E. Lee'' was condemned as a prize at [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]], acquired by the United States Navy and placed in commission on June 29, 1864, as USS ''Fort Donelson'', with Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Thomas Pickering in command.

''Fort Donelson'' was assigned to the [[North Atlantic Blockading Squadron]], cruising in blockade of the North Carolina coast through the remainder of 1864 with brief periods of repair at [[Norfolk, Virginia|Norfolk]], [[Virginia]]. From January 13 to January 22, 1865, she aided in the bombardment of [[Fort Fisher]]'s batteries and landed ammunition supplies for the Union forces. ''Fort Donelson'' joined the fleet in attacking [[Fort Anderson (North Carolina)|Fort Anderson]] on February 17&ndash;February 18. During March she cruised in company with {{USS|Pequot|1863|6}} to Bermuda, was present at [[City Point, Virginia]] when [[President of the United States|U.S. President]] [[Abraham Lincoln]] arrived on board ''River Queen'' on March 20, and acted as guardship at Fort Fisher. She operated with the [[South Atlantic Blockading Squadron]] until June, but when ordered to the [[West Gulf squadron]] was found to be in such poor condition that she returned to Norfolk.

''Fort Donelson'' was decommissioned on August 17, 1865, at [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]] and sold in October 1865. She subsequently returned to civilian employment under the name ''Isabella''.

==''Concepción''==
In 1866 the ship was purchased for $85,000 (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=85000|start_year=1866}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) by the Chilean Navy and commissioned as ''Concepción'', arriving at [[Valparaíso]] on August 22. On September 3, as the Spanish fleet had left the Pacific, after the [[Chincha Islands War]] of Chile-Perú against Spain.<ref>Chilean Navy site, [http://www.armada.cl/prontus_armada/site/artic/20090716/pags/20090716185343.html Concepción] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130116020443/http://www.armada.cl/prontus_armada/site/artic/20090716/pags/20090716185343.html |date=2013-01-16 }}, retrieved on 19 December 2012</ref> [[Commander]] [[Galvarino Riveros Cárdenas]] was placed in command of ''Concepción'', which saw service in southern [[Chile]]. The Chilean Navy sold ''Concepción'' on May 1, 1868; her subsequent history is unknown.

==See also==
*{{Portal-inline|American Civil War}}
*[[Blockade runners of the American Civil War]]
*[[List of ships captured in the 19th century#American Civil War|Captured ships of the American Civil War]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/cfa8/robert_e_lee.htm Confederate service|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/f3/fort_donelson.htm Union service}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20041212161324/http://www.armada.cl/site/unidades_navales/151.htm Vapor ''Concepción'' (Steamship ''Concepción'')] at the [http://www.armada.cl/ Armada de Chile (Chilean Navy)] web site

{{CSN blockade runners}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robert E. Lee}}
[[Category:1860 ships]]
[[Category:Blockade runners of the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Blockade runners of the Confederate States Navy]]
[[Category:Ships built on the River Clyde]]
[[Category:Ships captured by the United States Navy from the Confederate States Navy]]
[[Category:Ships of the Chilean Navy]]