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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Indianola

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal

Side-wheel Screw Steamer:

Built in 1862 by Joseph Brown, Cincinnati, OH.

Launched, 4 September 1862

Commissioned, USS Indianola, 13 September 1862, Acting Master Edward Shaw in command

During the Civil War USS Indianola participated in the following actions / expeditions and campaigns:

Indianola joined the Mississippi Squadron, 23 January 1863, for service on the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers

Lost to enemy action on the Mississippi River, 24 February 1863 to the CSS Queen of the West

Final Disposition, refloated, 5 January 1865, towed to Mound City, 17 January where she was sold, fate unknown

Specifications:
Displacement 511 t.
Length 174'
Beam 50'
Draft 5'
Speed 9 kts.
Complement unknown

Armament

two 11" Dahlgren smoothbores

two 9" Dahlgren smoothbores

PropulsionSail/Steam

Size	Image Description	Contributed By
136k	*Indianola* under construction at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1862. This view was originally captioned "wreck of the Indianola", and may depict salvagers at work on her in 1864-65, but it looks far more like a construction view. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 53234	Robert Hurst
71k	Watercolor by Dr. Oscar Parkes of USS Indianola. Courtesy of Dr. Oscar Parkes, London, England, 1936. US Navy History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59540.	Aryeh Wetherhorn
121k	Line engraving of USS Indianola published in "Harper's Weekly", 7 February 1863. US Navy History and Heritage Command photo # NH 58715.	US Navy History and Heritage Command
190k	USS Indianola running past the Confederate fortress at Vicksburg, Mississippi, 13 February 1863. Line engraving published in Harper's Weekly, 1863. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 59100	Robert Hurst
148k	USS Indianola blown up by her Confederate captors, below Vicksburg, Mississippi, circa 25 February 1863, upon the appearance of Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter's fake monitor Wooden Dummy. Taken from a sketch by RAdm. Porter, this print is entitled "Dummy Taking a Shoot". US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 53235	Robert Hurst
143k	Line engraving after a sketch by Theodore R. Davis, published in "Harper's Weekly", 1863, depicting the 25 February 1863 operation in which a dummy ironclad (left) was floated down the Mississippi River by the U.S. Navy, causing the Confederates to destroy the captured ironclad USS Indianola. CSS Queen of the West is depicted at the right. Ship was sunk at the head of Palmyra island. Then adjacent to the plantation of Jefferson Davis, and "New Carthage". Shown on this map. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 59106	Robert Hurst
306k	Ex-USS Indianola under way in a drawing from the "History of the Confederate States Navy" by J. Thomas Scharf. Note that the drawing caption is inaccurate as *Indianola* was never put into service by the Confederacy. Admiral Porter sent a dummy gunboat floating down from Vicksburg with the words “Deluded People Cave In” painted on the paddle wheel housings. Confederate salvagers panicked at the approach of this new “ironclad” and blew up the wreck of the *Indianola*. The hulk was recovered by the US after the fall of Vicksburg.	Drawing - Tommy Trampp Caption - Karl Bacon

USS Indianola
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)

Commanding Officers
01	Act. Master Shaw, Edward	13 September 1862 - ?
02	LT. Brown, George	? - 24 February 1863


Courtesy Bill Gonyo

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Last Updated 21 April 2017