View source for USS St. Clair

{{short description|Civil War era gunboat}}
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|Ship image=USS St Clair 1862.jpg
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|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag=[[File:US Naval Jack 36 stars.svg|48px|Union Navy Jack]]  {{USN flag|1861}}
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|Ship ordered=
|Ship laid down=
|Ship launched=1862
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|Ship acquired=13 August 1862
|Ship commissioned=24 September 1862
|Ship decommissioned=12 July 1865
|Ship fate=Sold, 17 August 1865
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|Ship displacement=203 tons
|Ship length={{convert|156|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|32|ft|m|abbr=on}}
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|Ship draft={{convert|2|ft|4|in|m|abbr=on}}
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|Ship propulsion=*[[steam engine]]
*stern wheel-propelled
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*2 × 12-pounder smoothbore guns
*2 × 12 pounder rifles
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'''USS ''St. Clair''''' was a [[Steamship|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 States of America|Confederate]] waterways.

== Service history ==
===1862===
''St. Clair'', a wooden, stern-wheel, river steamer built in 1862 at [[Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania]], was purchased on 13 August that year by the Navy Department from R. D. Cochran et al., at [[St. Louis, Missouri]]. She was fitted out by [[Edward Hartt]] and commissioned on 24 September 1862 at [[Carondelet, Missouri]], Act. Vol. Lt. J. S. Hurd in command. The next day, she sailed in company with [[USS Brilliant (1862)|''Brilliant'']] for [[Cairo, Illinois]]. For many months previous, Flag Officer Foote and Commodore C. H. Davis had commanded the victorious Western Flotilla for the [[U.S. War Department]], gaining control of the [[Mississippi River]] from Cairo, Illinois, to [[Memphis, Tennessee]].

On 1 October 1862, the Western Flotilla was transferred to the Navy Department, as the [[Mississippi Squadron]], and was placed under the command of Acting Rear Admiral [[David Dixon Porter|David D. Porter]] on the 15th. Davis, who had relieved Foote when the latter was incapacitated by wounds, was now appointed Chief of the [[Bureau of Navigation]]. Porter began to augment the gunboat squadron with many shallow-draft vessels, including ''St. Clair'', and to expand Union operations on the western rivers. The squadron assembled at Cairo, from which they were dispatched to and stationed along the Mississippi, [[Cumberland River|Cumberland]], [[Tennessee River|Tennessee]], and upper [[Ohio River]]s. The objectives of the Mississippi Squadron were to cooperate with and support Generals [[William Rosecrans]], [[Ambrose Burnside]], [[Ulysses S. Grant]], and others in combating [[guerrillas]] along the river banks; to stop the transport of arms and munitions from [[Mississippi]] to [[Arkansas]]; to punish rebel supporters living in and around the river communities; and to escort Federal troop and supply transports on the waterways. To these ends, ''St. Clair'' and her sister gunboats were successful throughout the war.

''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 [[USS Fairplay|''Fairplay'']] and ''Brilliant'', ''St. Clair'' then engaged in providing protection for loyal citizens. During December, she operated in the [[Green River (Kentucky)|Green]], Cumberland, and Tennessee Rivers to restrict commerce.

===1863–1864===
In January 1863, ''St. Clair'' provided [[convoy]] protection on the Cumberland to [[Nashville, Tennessee]], to support General William Rosecrans. In February, she participated in the relief of [[Fort Donelson]]. On 3 February, while convoying Army troop transports with ''Fairplay'', [[USS Lexington (1861)|''Lexington'']], ''Brilliant'', ''Robb'', and [[USS Silver Lake (1862)|''Silver Lake'']], ''St. Clair'' engaged in a three-hour duel with rebels who were attacking Union troops under Col. Harding near [[Dover, Tennessee]]. Driving the enemy from their positions, the gunboats followed their retreat up the river, shelling the woods. Though firing at supposed positions and blinded by the wooded river banks, it was later found that the rebels were never able to avoid the shelling and suffered several hundred casualties. Through March, she continued convoy operations. On 3 April, at [[Palmyra, Tennessee]], while in convoy, ''St. Clair'' was fired on by Confederate batteries and disabled when accurate shots crippled her machinery. She was safely towed away by ''Fairplay'' and later repaired at Cairo. The following day, her sister gunboats returned to Palmyra and burned the town in retaliation.

On 19 June, ''St. Clair'' was designated as ''Gunboat No. 19''. Following repair, she departed Cairo late in June to resume escort duty for convoys bringing supplies to forces [[Battle of Vicksburg|besieging Vicksburg]]. After the fall of that strong Confederate river fortress, the Mississippi Squadron and the [[Western Gulf Squadron]] were able to control the entire Mississippi River, though not on all of its tributaries. ''St. Clair'' was sent south in mid-September to operate between [[Donaldsonville, Louisiana]], and [[New Orleans, Louisiana]], in support of Union Army operations. On 17 February 1864, ''St. Clair'' was on the Mississippi River above New Orleans when a strong wind drove the U.S. 218-ton sidewheel [[paddle steamer]] ''Hope'' into her. ''Hope'' sank as a result of the collision.<ref>[http://scubagonewild.com/documents/Encyclopedia%20of%20Civil%20War%20Shipwrecks%20-%20(Malestrom).pdf Gaines, W. Craig, ''Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks'', Louisiana State University Press, 2008] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101129144606/http://scubagonewild.com/documents/Encyclopedia%20of%20Civil%20War%20Shipwrecks%20-%20(Malestrom).pdf |date=2010-11-29 }}, {{ISBN|978-0-8071-3274-6}}, p. 66.</ref>

Early in 1864, plans were laid down for a joint Army-Navy operation on the [[Red River of the South|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 DeRussy (Louisiana)|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 [[Yazoo River]] now became for a short time the focal point of Porter's squadron operations, while ''St. Clair'' continued patrol and convoy duty in the lower Mississippi until August when she steamed to [[Mound City, Illinois]], for repairs. ''St. Clair'' spent the remainder of the year at Mound City. In January 1865, she escorted convoys on the Tennessee River and carried dispatches between General Thomas's headquarters and [[Johnsonville, Tennessee]]. She remained in the Tennessee River until May and was reassigned to the 3d Division of the Mississippi Squadron to operate between [[Grand Gulf, Mississippi|Grand Gulf]] and New Orleans. In July, she returned to Mound City where she was decommissioned on the 12th and dismantled. On 17 August 1865, ''St. Clair'' was sold at [[public auction]] to J. H. Stearn at Mound City. She was redocumented on 27 September 1865 and operated in merchant service until abandoned in 1869.

== See also ==
{{Portal|American Civil War}}
*[[Anaconda Plan]]

== References ==
{{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/s17/st_clair.htm}}
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-s/st-clair.htm Pictures of USS ''St Clair'' at history.navy.mil]
{{1864 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:St. Clair}}
[[Category:Ships of the Union Navy]]
[[Category:Ships built in Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Steamships of the United States Navy]]
[[Category:Gunboats of the United States Navy]]
[[Category:American Civil War patrol vessels of the United States]]
[[Category:1862 ships]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in February 1864]]