View source for CSS Tallahassee

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=CSS Tallahassee-Line Drawing.jpg
|Ship caption=CSS ''Tallahassee''
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=Confederate States
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Confederate States of America|naval}}
|Ship name=''Tallahassee''
|Ship namesake=
|Ship owner=
|Ship operator=
|Ship registry=
|Ship route=
|Ship ordered=
|Ship awarded=
|Ship builder=[[J & W Dudgeon]], [[Cubitt Town]], [[London]]
|Ship original cost=
|Ship yard number=
|Ship way number=
|Ship laid down=
|Ship launched=
|Ship sponsor=
|Ship christened=
|Ship completed=
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned=20 July 1864
|Ship recommissioned=
|Ship decommissioned=
|Ship maiden voyage=
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship renamed=CSS ''Olustee''
|Ship reclassified=
|Ship refit=
|Ship struck=
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship homeport=
|Ship identification=
|Ship motto=
|Ship nickname=
|Ship honours=
|Ship honors=
|Ship captured=
|Ship fate=Wrecked 21 July 1869
|Ship notes=
|Ship badge=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class=
|Ship type=
|Ship tonnage=
|Ship displacement=700 tons
|Ship tons burthen=
|Ship length={{convert|220|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|24|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship height=
|Ship draught=
|Ship draft={{convert|14|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship depth=
|Ship power=
|Ship propulsion=2 – 100 h.p steam engines. 2 screws. Mast and sails
|Ship sail plan=
|Ship speed={{convert|15|kn}}
|Ship range=
|Ship boats=
|Ship capacity=
|Ship troops=
|Ship complement=120
|Ship crew=
|Ship EW=
|Ship armament=1 rifled 32 pounder forward, 1 rifled 100 pounder amidship, 1 heavy Parrot aft
|Ship armour=
|Ship armor=
|Ship notes=
}}
|}

The '''CSS ''Tallahassee''''' was a twin-screw [[Steamship|steamer]] and [[cruiser]] in the [[Confederate States Navy]], purchased in 1864, and used for commerce raiding off the Atlantic coast. She later operated under the names '''CSS ''Olustee''''' and '''CSS ''Chameleon'''''.

==History==
The iron Confederate cruiser ''Tallahassee'' was named after the Confederate state capital of [[Tallahassee, Florida|Tallahassee]] in [[Florida]] and was built on the [[River Thames]] by [[J & W Dudgeon]] of [[Cubitt Town]], [[London]] for [[London, Chatham and Dover Railway|London, Chatham & Dover Rly. Co.]] to the design of Capt. T. E. Symonds, [[Royal Navy]], ostensibly for the Chinese [[opium]] trade. She was previously the [[Blockade runners of the American Civil War|blockade runner]] ''Atalanta'' and made the [[Dover]]-[[Calais]] crossing in 77 minutes on an even keel.  She had made several blockade runs between [[Bermuda]] and [[Wilmington, North Carolina|Wilmington]], [[North Carolina|N.C.]] before the Confederates bought her.

[[Image:John Taylor Wood.png|thumb|left|150px|[[John Taylor Wood]]]]
[[File:CSS Tallahassee.jpg|thumb|Confederate cruiser and blockade runner CSS ''Tallahassee''.]]

After the ''Tallahassee'' was commissioned and prepared for sea she was placed under Commander [[John Taylor Wood]], CSN. Wood was a grandson of President [[Zachary Taylor]] and a nephew of [[Jefferson Davis]], who at the time was President of the [[Confederate States of America]]. The officers and crew were all volunteers from the Confederate gunboats on the [[James River]] and North Carolina waters.

The ''Tallahassee'' went through the blockade on 6 August 1864 from her home port of [[Wilmington, North Carolina|Wilmington]], [[North Carolina]]. Her first day out, four cruisers chased the ''Tallahassee'' without incident.

She made a 19-day raid off the Atlantic coast as far north as [[City of Halifax|Halifax, Nova Scotia]]. The ''Tallahassee'' destroyed 26 vessels and captured 7 others that were bonded or released. Wood sailed the ''Tallahassee'' into [[Halifax Harbour]] on 18 August to take on bunker [[coal]] and water. Neutrality laws limited her stay in Halifax to 24 hours. ''Tallahassee'' was granted an extra 12 hours to fix a broken mast but was only allowed to load enough coal to take her to the nearest Confederate port. Two Federal war ships, the [[USS Nansemond (1862)|USS ''Nansemond'']] and {{USS|Huron|1861|6}}, were rumoured to be waiting for the ''Tallahassee'' at the harbour entrance. Wood hired legendary Halifax [[Maritime pilot|pilot]] [[John "Jock" Flemming]], who guided the warship through the narrow and shallow [[Eastern Passage]] between [[Dartmouth, Nova Scotia|Dartmouth]] and [[Lawlor Island]], a route only suited for small fishing vessels. ''Tallahassee'' succeeded in negotiating the passage out of the harbour, although no Northern warships were in fact waiting. The first Northern warship, the gunboat [[USS Pontoosuc|USS ''Pontoosuc'']], arrived at the harbour entrance several hours after the Confederate cruiser departed.<ref>Marquis, Gred. ''In Armagedon's Shadow: The Civil War and Canada's Maritime Provinces'', (1998) McGill Queens Press, p. 233</ref>

Being unable to procure enough coal to continue, Wood was forced to return to Wilmington where he arrived safely on 26 August.
{{Military history of Nova Scotia}}

==Prizes==
#The [[schooner]] ''Sarah A. Boice'' of Great Egg Harbor, N.J.; A.S. Adams, master; 381 tons.  Her crew and their personal effects were brought on board, and she was [[Scuttling|scuttled]].  The ''Boice'' failed to sink, however, presumably because she was in ballast.  She came ashore at Fire Island Inlet on Long Island, where she was salvaged and was reclaimed by her owners (after being ransacked by her "salvors", resulting in litigation) and was put back into service.
#The pilot-boat schooner ''[[James Funk]]'', No. 22 of [[New York City|New York]]; Robert Yates, master; 120 tons.  Was turned into a tender of the ''Tallahassee'' using 20 of the ''Tallahassee's'' crew.
#The [[Barque|bark]] ''Bay State'' of Boston; Thomas Sparrow, master; bound from Alexandria to New York, with wood; 199 tons; burned.
#The [[brigantine]] ''Carrie Estelle'' of Grand Manan, New Brunswick; Mark Thurlow, master; bound from Grand Manan to New York, with logs; 248 tons; burned.
#The brigantine ''A. Richards'' of Boston; Charles Dunovant, master; from Glace Bay, Cape Breton Island to New York, with coal; 274 tons; burned.
#The schooner ''Carroll'' of East Machias, Maine; ____ Sprague, master; ___ tons; taken by the ''Tallahassee's'' tender ''James Funk''; bonded in the sum of $10,000 and released.
#The pilot-boat schooner ''[[William Bell, No. 24]]'' of New York; James Callahan, master; 123 tons; burned.
#The [[packet ship]] [[Adriatic (ship, 1861)|''Adriatic'']] of New York, from [[London, England]] to New York, with emigrants; 989 tons; burned. During the seizure, the  ''Tallahassee'' collided with her losing her main mast.
#The bark ''Glenavon'' of [[Thomaston, Maine|Thomaston]], [[Maine]]; James Watt, master; from Greenock, Scotland, to New York; 789 tons; scuttled.
#The ship ''James Littlefield'' of [[Bangor, Maine|Bangor]], [[Maine]]; H.N. Bartlett, master; from Cardiff, Wales, to New York, with coal; 547 tons; scuttled.
#The schooner ''Atlantic'' of Addison, Maine; P.W. Look, master; from Addison to New York; 156 tons; burned.
#The schooner ''Spokane'' of Fremont, ?; C.H. Sayer, master; from Calais, Maine to New York, with lumber; 126 tons; burned.
#The schooner ''Billow'' of Salem, Mass.; M.A. Reed, master; from Calais, Maine to New York, with lumber; 173 tons; scuttled.
#The bark ''Suilote''; (no other information given); bonded and released.
#The schooner ''Robert E. Packer'' of Bath, Maine; Joseph E. Marston, master; from Baltimore to Richmond, Maine, with lumber; 222 tons; burned.
#The schooner ''Lamont Du Pont'' of Wilmington, Del.; L. C. Corson, master; from Cow Bay. Cape Breton Island, to New York, with coal; 194 tons; burned.
#The bark ''P.C. Alexander'' of Harpswell, Maine; A.B. Merryman, master; from New York to Pictou, Nova Scotia in ballast; 283 tons; burned.
#The brig ''Neva'', of East Machias, Maine; E.J. Tolbert, master; from Lingan, Nova Scotia, to New York, with coal; 286 tons; bonded in the sum of $17,500 and loaded with prisoners from the previous captures.
#The brig ''Roan'', of ?; C.E. Phillips, master; sailing to Cape Breton Island in ballast; 127 tons; burned.
#14 small schooners ranging from 39 tons to 148 tons, sunk.

==Renaming==

===CSS ''Olustee''===
The ''Tallahassee'' was renamed CSS ''Olustee'' after the [[Battle of Olustee]] in northern Florida and placed under the command of Lt. W. H. Ward, CSN. The ''Olustee'' ran through the blockade off Wilmington again on 29 October 1864 but suffered some damage from Federal guns. She captured and destroyed six ships off the Cape of [[Delaware]] before having to return for coal. She stopped attempts by [[USS Sassacus (1862)|USS ''Sassacus'']] to capture her on 6 November 1864 and by four other United States ships on 7 November 1864 finally passing into the safety of Wilmington harbor.

===CSS ''Chameleon''===
The ''Olustee'' was renamed the CSS ''Chameleon'' with Lt. [[John Wilkinson (CSN)]] commanding. The battery had been removed and she ran through the Union blockade on 24 December 1864 while the United States fleet was preoccupied with bombarding [[Fort Fisher]]. The ''Chameleon'' proceeded to [[Bermuda]] to obtain provisions for the Confederate army.

Wilkinson made two attempts to enter one of the southern ports, but finding it impossible, he took ''Chameleon'' to Liverpool, England, and turned her over to Comdr. J. D. Bullock, CSN, financial agent of the Confederate Navy Department.

On her arrival in England on 9 April 1865 the ''Chameleon'' was seized and sold by the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|British]] authorities and was about to enter the merchant service when the United States instituted suit for possession. She was awarded to the United States Government and handed over to the consul at Liverpool on 26 April 1866.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}} ''Chameleon'' was sold at [[auction]] on orders from the consul on 14 June 1866. She sold for [[pound sterling|£6,400]].<ref name=BNL180666>{{Cite news |title=The Tallahassee and Sumter under the Hammer |newspaper=Belfast News-Letter |location=Belfast |date=18 June 1866 |issue=33402 }}</ref> On 21 July 1869, [[telegram]]s were received at New York stating that she had been wrecked near [[Yokohama]], [[Empire of Japan|Japan]] with the loss of 22 lives.<ref name=MP220769>{{Cite news |title=Wreck of a Steam-ship, and Loss of 22 Lives |newspaper=Morning Post |location=London |date=22 July 1869 |issue=29834 |page=4 }}</ref>

==Legacy==
In 1958, a new school in [[Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia]], near Lawlor Island, was named after the ''Tallahassee'' to commemorate Flemming's 1864 navigational feat. After a replacement school with the same name was built in 1992, the name grew controversial due to the Confederacy's support of slavery. Following several community meetings, the Tallahassee Community School was renamed Horizon Elementary School in 2021.<ref>{{cite news |last=Lau |first=Rebecca |title=Two Halifax-area schools unveil new names after efforts to lose controversial namesakes |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/7731963/halifax-new-names-schools/ |work=[[Global News]] |date=31 March 2021 |access-date=17 October 2022}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{History of Halifax, Nova Scotia}}
*[[Canada in the American Civil War]]
*[[History of the Halifax Regional Municipality]]
*[[Military history of Nova Scotia]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20040208123142/http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/cfa9/tallahassee.htm Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]
*[http://www.tarleton.edu/~kjones/CSNavy.html Tarleton State Univ.]
*[http://ahoy.tk-jk.net/MaraudersCivilWar/CSSTallahassee.html Mac's Web Log]
*{{DANFS}}

==External links==
*[http://www.astrococktail.com/PDF/CNHSnewsletters/CNHS6.pdf CSS Tallahassee] The Confederate Naval Historical Society ~ 4 – Newsletter Number Six, February 1991
{{commons category-inline|Tallahassee (ship, 1863)}} 
{{CSN Cruisers}}
{{1869 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tallahassee}}
[[Category:Cruisers of the Confederate States Navy]]
[[Category:Ships built in Cubitt Town]]
[[Category:Culture of Tallahassee, Florida]]
[[Category:1860s ships]]
[[Category:Military history of Nova Scotia]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in July 1869]]