USS General Grant

General Grant in 1864

USS General Grant was a steamship chartered from the U.S. War Department by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Navy as a gunboat in waterways of the Confederate South.

Constructed in Pennsylvania in 1863

General Grant was built in 1863 at Monongahela, Pennsylvania; purchased by the War Department; chartered by the Navy and commissioned at Bridgeport, Alabama, 20 July 1864, Acting Master Joseph Watson in command.

Patrolling the Tennessee River

General Grant constantly patrolled the upper Tennessee River from Bridgeport until close of the Civil War, fighting guerrillas and aiding the Union Army in clearing Confederate troops from the region.

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36 star US flag flown from the ship

River operations under fire

In October 1864 she destroyed 22 small boats off Port Deposit and Crow Island. On 25 November she assisted in taking up pontoon bridges under guns of Confederate sharpshooters at Decatur, Alabama. She hurled 52 shells into that town 12 December 1864 and joined 15 January 1865 in the destructive bombardment of Guntersville, Alabama.

Post-war decommissioning, sale, and subsequent career

She decommissioned and was returned to the War Department 2 June 1865. She was lost when stranded in ice 18 March 1866 at Plattsmouth, Nebraska.

References

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