Potomac Flotilla
Attack on the Confederate Batteries at Aquia Creek by the Potomac Flotilla.
Active1861 - 1865
Country United States
Branch United States Navy
Typenaval squadron

The Potomac Flotilla, also called the Potomac Squadron, was a unit of the United States Navy created in the early days of the American Civil War to secure Union communications in the Chesapeake Bay, the Potomac River and their tributaries, and to disrupt Confederate communications and shipping there.

History

American Civil War

On April 22, 1861 Commander James H. Ward, who was the commanding officer of the receiving ship USS North Carolina at the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn New York, wrote to United States Secretary of the Navy Gideon Wells to put forth a plan for the protection of the Chesapeake Bay area. Ward suggested a "Flying Flotilla" of light-draft vessels to operate in the Chesapeake Bay, the Potomac River, and their tributaries. His commander, Captain Samuel L. Breese, commandant of the New York Navy Yard, endorsed his plan. Wells accepted this proposal and wrote back to Ward and Breese on 27 April 1861 authorizing them to begin carrying out Ward's plan. On 1 May 1861 the first vessels for the new flotilla were acquired. On 16 May 1861 Ward set out from the New York Navy Yard with three vessels, USS Thomas Freeborn, USS Reliance, and USS Resolute. He arrived at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., on 20 May 1861 on board his flagship,Thomas Freeborn.[1]

On 27 June 1861 Ward's flotilla engaged the Confederates at Mathias Point, Virginia. While he was sighting the bow gun of Thomas Freeborn, Ward was shot through the abdomen and died within an hour due to internal hemorrhaging. He was the first United States Navy officer to be killed during the American Civil War.[2]

After the death of Ward the flotilla was led by a succession of short-term commanders until the fall of 1862 when Commodore Andrew A. Harwood took command. He was in turn succeeded by Commander Foxhall A. Parker on 31 December 1864.[3]

The Civil War ended in April 1865, and on 18 July 1865 the United States Department of the Navy ordered Parker to disband the flotilla, effective 31 July 1865. Most of the flotilla's remaining vessels were sent to the Washington Navy Yard to be decommissioned.[4]

Name of the flotilla

It was not until August 1861 that the flotilla became known as the Potomac Flotilla. The designation of "Flying Flotilla" was dropped when Ward's force arrived in the theater of operations. The flotilla was then referred to by a variety of names, including: Flotilla, Potomac River; Potomac Blockade; Flotilla in the Chesapeake; etc. In early August 1861 the flotilla commander and the Department of the Navy began to consistently refer to the command as the Potomac Flotilla.[5]

Operations

1861
Engagement with the Confederate batteries at Aquia Creek, Virginia, 29 May – 1 June 1861
Affair at Mathias Point, Virginia, 27 June 1861
Engagement with the Confederate batteries at Potomac Creek, Virginia, 23 August 1861
Engagement with the Confederate battery at Freestone Point, Virginia, 25 September 1861

1862
Engagement at Cockpit Point, Virginia, 3 January 1862
Expedition up the Rappahannock River to Tappahannock, Virginia, 13–15 April 1862
Expedition up the Rappahannock River to Fredericksburg, Virginia, 20 April 1862
Expeditions to Gwynn's Island and Nomini Creek, Virginia, 3–4 Nov, 1862
Engagement at Port Royal, Virginia, 4 December 1862
Engagement at Brandywine Hill, Rappahannock River, Virginia, 10–11 December 1862

1863
Destruction of salt works on Dividing Creek, Virginia, 12 January 1863
Destruction of Confederate stores at Tappahannock, Virginia, 30 May 1863
Capture of U. S. steamers USS Satellite and USRC Reliance, 16 August 1863

1864
Expedition to the Northern Neck of Virginia, 12 January 1864
Expedition up the Rappahannock River, Virginia, 18–21 April 1864
Expedition to Carter's Creek, Virginia, 29 April 1864
Expedition to Mill Creek, Virginia, 12–13 May 1864
Expedition up the Rappahannock River, Virginia, 16–19 May 1864
Expedition to the Northern Neck of Virginia, 11–21 June 1864
Expedition to Milford Haven and Stutt's Creek, Virginia, 24 September 1864

1865
Expedition to Fredericksburg, Virginia, 6–8 March 1865
Expedition up the Rappahannock River, 12–14 March 1865
Operations in Mattox Creek, Virginia, 16–18 March 1865

Ships of the flotilla

When Commander James H. Ward departed the New York Navy Yard on 16 May 1861 his flotilla consisted of three vessels. The size of the flotilla steadily increased until it reached a strength that hovered between 15 and 25 vessels.[6]

ShipRateTypeNotes
USS Casco4thIronclad monitorCasco class
USS Chimo4thIronclad monitorCasco class
USS Mahopac4thIronclad monitorCanonicus class
USS Saugus4thIronclad monitorCanonicus class
USS Pawnee2ndScrew sloop
USS Seminole3rdScrew sloop
USS Wachusett3rdScrew sloopCommander Wilkes' Flagship
USS Allegheny4thScrew sloopReceiving Ship at Baltimore
USRC Harriet Lane3rdSidewheel gunboatRevenue cutter from United States Revenue-Marine
USS Mahaska3rdSidewheel gunboat
USS Port Royal3rdSidewheel gunboat
USS Anacostia4thScrew gunboat
USS Aroostook4thScrew gunboat
USS Crusader4thScrew gunboat
USS Currituck4thScrew gunboat
USS Dawn4thScrew gunboat
USS Don4thScrew gunboatBlockade runner captured by USS Pequot 4 March 1864 off Beaufort, North Carolina.
USS Dragon4thScrew gunboat
USS E. B. Hale4thScrew gunboat
USS Eureka4thScrew gunboatSteamer captured by USS Anacostia 20 April 1862 on the Rappahannock River, Virginia.
USS Fuchsia4thScrew gunboat
USS Little Ada4thScrew gunboatBlockade runner captured by USS Gettysburg 9 July 1864 in South Santee River, South Carolina.
USS Mystic4thScrew gunboat
USS Penguin4thScrew gunboat
USS Pocahontas4thScrew gunboat
USS Teaser4thScrew gunboatex-Confederate captured by USS Maratanza 4 July 1862 on the James River, Virginia
USS Tulip4thScrew gunboatSunk by boiler explosion off Ragged Point, Virginia, 11 November 1864
USS Valley City4thScrew gunboat
USS Western World4thScrew gunboat
USS Wyandotte4thScrew gunboat
USS Adela4thSidewheel gunboatBlockade runner captured by USS Quaker City 7 July 1862 off New Providence in the Bahamas
USS Banshee4thSidewheel gunboatBlockade runner captured by USAT Fulton and USS Grand Gulf on 21 November 1863 off Wilmington, North Carolina
USS Ceres4thSidewheel gunboat
USS Coeur de Lion4thSidewheel gunboat
USS Commodore Barney4thSidewheel gunboatex-ferryboat
USS Commodore Read4thSidewheel gunboatex-ferryboat
USS Delaware4thSidewheel gunboat
USS Jacob Bell4thSidewheel gunboat
USS Isaac N. Seymour4thSidewheel gunboat
USS John L. Lockwood4thSidewheel gunboat
USS Mercury4thSidewheel gunboat
USS Morse4thSidewheel gunboatex-ferryboat
USS Mount Washington4thSidewheel gunboatKnown as USS Mount Vernon until 4 November 1861
USS Nansemond4thSidewheel gunboat
USS Satellite4thSidewheel gunboatCaptured by Confederate boarding party 23 August 1863 in Rappahannock River, scuttled at Port Royal, Virginia, 28 August 1863
USS Stepping Stones4thSidewheel gunboatex-ferryboat
USS Thomas Freeborn4thSidewheel gunboatCommander Ward's Flagship
USS Underwriter4thSidewheel gunboat
USS Union4thScrew auxiliary
USS Baltimore4thSidewheel auxiliaryOrdnance vessel, Washington Navy Yard
USS Cactus4thSidewheel auxiliarySupply ship
USS Ella4thSidewheel auxiliaryPicket and dispatch vessel
USS Ice Boat4thSidewheel auxiliaryIcebreaker
USS King Philip4thSidewheel auxiliaryDispatch vessel, known as USS Powhatan until 4 November 1861
USS Philadelphia4thSidewheel auxiliaryTransport ferry
USS Wyandank4thSidewheel auxiliaryStoreship
USS Juniper4thScrew tug
USS Leslie4thScrew tug
USS Moccasin4thScrew tug
USS Periwinkle4thScrew tug
USS Primrose4thScrew tug
USS Reliance4thScrew tugCaptured by Confederate boarding party 23 August 1863 in Rappahannock River, cuttled at Port Royal, Virginia, 28 August 1863
USS Rescue4thScrew tug
USS Resolute4thScrew tug
USS Tigress4thScrew tugSunk 10 September 1861 in collision with merchant ship State of Maine off Indian Head, Maryland
USS Verbena4thScrew tug
USS Watch4thScrew tugKnown as USS A. C. Powell until August 1862, known as USS Alert from August 1862 to 2 February 1865
USS Young America4thScrew tugex-Confederate, captured 24 April 1861 by USS Cumberland at Hampton Roads, Virginia
USS Zeta4thScrew tug
USS General Putnam4thSidewheel tugAlso known as USS William G. Putnam
USS Heliotrope4thSidewheel tug
USS Island Belle4thSidewheel tugTug and dispatch boat
USS Yankee4thSidewheel tug
E. H. Herbert-TugChartered vessel
Edwin Forrest-TugChartered vessel
James Murray-TugChartered vessel
USS Bibb-Sidewheel steamerfrom United States Coast Survey
USS Corwin-Sidewheel Steamerfrom United States Coast Survey
USS Adolph Hugel4thSailing schoonermortar schooner
USS Arletta4thSailing schoonerMortar schooner
USS Dan Smith4thSailing schoonerMortar schooner
USS George Mangham4thSailing schoonerMortar schooner
USS Matthew Vassar4thSailing schoonerMortar schooner
USS Racer4thSailing schoonerMortar schooner
USS Sophronia4thSailing schoonerMortar schooner
USS T. A. Ward4thSailing schoonerMortar schooner
USS William Bacon4thSailing schoonerMortar schooner
USS Bailey-Sailing schoonerfrom United States Coast Survey
Chaplin4thSailing schooner
USS Dana-Sailing schoonerfrom United States Coast Survey
USS Howell Cobb-Sailing schoonerfrom United States Coast Survey
Picket Boat No. 4-Screw picket boat
Picket Boat No. 6-Screw picket boat

Commanders

Flotilla commanderFromToNotes
Commander James Harmon Wardlate April 186127 June 1861Killed in action 27 June 1861
Commander Stephen Clegg Rowan27 June 186110 July 1861Commander pro tem
Commander Thomas Tingey Craven10 July 18612 December 1861
Lieutenant Abram D. Harrell2 December 18616 December 1861Commander pro tem
Lieutenant Robert Harris Wyman6 December 1861early July 1862
Lieutenant Commander Samuel Magawearly July 18621 September 1862Commander pro tem
Commodore Charles Wilkes1 September 186210 September 1862
Commodore Andrew Allen Harwood10 September 186231 December 1863
Commander Foxhall Alexander Parker, Jr.31 December 186331 July 1865

References

  • In these notes the abbreviation ORN is used for the work Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion.
Notes
  1. ORN, Ser. I, Vol. 4 (1896), pp. 420, 430, 443, 458, 467, 471.
  2. ORN, Ser. I, Vol. 4 (1896), pp. 539–41.
  3. ORN, Ser. I, Vol. 4 (1896), pp. 541, 570–1, 575, 757–8, 760–1. ORN, Ser. I, Vol. 5 (1897), pp. 3, 72, 75, 82, 84, 379.
  4. ORN, Ser. I, Vol. 5 (1897), pp. 576, 578.
  5. ORN, Ser. I, Vol. 4 (1896), pp. 488, 504, 509, 511, 596–600.
  6. ORN, Ser. I, Vol. 4 (1896), pp. xv-xvi, 458, 508, 570, 666. ORN, Ser. I, Vol. 5 (1897), pp. xv-xvi, 60–1, 75, 100, 108, 204–5, 245–6, 260, 287, 361–2, 391, 366–7, 374, 380, 408–9, 461, 496, 502, 506, 508, 515, 531, 548–9, 567, 571–4.
Bibliography
  • Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume 4. (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1896).
    Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume 5. (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1897).
  • Silverstone, Paul H. Warships of the Civil War Navies. (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1989). ISBN 0-87021-783-6
  • Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from Commander James H. Ward. Naval History and Heritage Command.


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