USS Sumter (1863)
| History | |
|---|---|
  United States
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| Launched: | 1853 |
| In service: | April 1862 |
| Captured: | by U.S. Navy ca. 6 June 1862 |
| Fate: |
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| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 525 tons |
| Length: | 182' |
| Beam: | 28' 4" |
| Draught: | depth of hold 10' 8" |
| Propulsion: | Steam engine; sidewheel |
| Armament: | two 32-pounder guns or four 32-pounder and one 12-pounder gun |
| Armour: | Steel plate, cotton bales |
USS Sumter was a 525-ton sidewheel paddle steamer captured by the Union Navy during the Union blockade of the American Civil War.
Sumter originally was the Confederate cottonclad ram CSS General Sumter. She was placed into Confederate service and then United States Navy service, each for a short period of time, before she ran aground and was destroyed.
Sumter was a sidewheel steamer built as Junius Beebe in 1853 at Algiers in New Orleans, Louisiana. She operated on the Mississippi River and its tributaries as a towboat until early 1861, when she was purchased by the State of Louisiana from Charles H. Morgan′s Southern Steamship Company.
In January 1862, Confederate States Navy Captain James E. Montgomery for the Confederate Department of War's River Defense Fleet. The steamer was refitted at Algiers as a cottonclad ram by the James Martin yard. Her bow was strengthened by 4-inch (10.2-cm) oak sheathing covered by 1-inch (2.54-cm) iron plates. In addition, cotton bales were compressed between double pine bulkheads for added strength.
Renamed General Sumter, the ram proceeded to Fort Pillow, Tennessee, on 17 April 1862 to be armed.
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