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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Lenapee


Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Campaign Medal

Sassacus-class Gunboat:
  • Hull built in 1862-63 as the wood double-ended Sassacus-class Gunboat Lenapee by Edward Lupton, Brooklyn, N.Y. Engines by Washington Iron Works, Newburg, N.Y., Cost $175,000
  • Launched, 28 May 1863
  • Commissioned, 30 December 1864, LCDR. Samuel Magaw in command
  • USS Lenapee joined the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron at Beaufort, N.C., 23 January 1865 and was ordered to the Cape Fear River for final operations against Wilmington
  • In the weeks that followed she did reconnaissance and patrol work while RADM. Porter and MGEN. Terry marshalled their forces for an attack on Fort Anderson
  • On 7 February, as BGEN. Schofield advanced from Smithville with 8,000 men, Porter attacked Fort Anderson by water. USS Lenapee, USS Montauk, USS Pawtuxet, USS Unadilla, and USS Pequot shelled the defensive works
  • The next day the Union ships moved in closer and kept up a heavy fire until the dogged Confederate defenders were at last forced to evacuate the fort under cover of darkness
  • After Wilmington had fallen 22 February, USS Lenapee was one of three ships ordered to remain in the Cape Fear River to defend the town and to help clear the navigable waters around Wilmington of obstructions
  • There she served until after the end of the Civil War, retained at Wilmington through 1866 as protection against civil riots.
  • Decommissioned 17 October 1867 at Portsmouth, N.H.
  • Sold at public auction at Portsmouth, N.H., to E. Stannard 26 August 1868
  • Final Disposition, fate unknown.
    Specifications:
    Displacement 974 t.
    Length 205'
    Beam 35'
    Depth of Hold 7'11"
    Draft loaded forward 7'11", aft 7'7"
    Speed 12kts
    Complement 147
    Armament
    two 100-pdr Parrott rifles
    four 9" Dahlgren smoothbores
    two 24-pdr howitzers
    two 20-pdr rifles
    Propulsion
    one inclined, direct-action, surface condenser steam engine; cylinder diameter 58" stroke 8'9"
    two vertical tubular boilers
    two sidewheels

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    SizeImage Description Contributed
    By
    Sassacus (I)
    098635505
    85k Generic lithograph representing the Sassacus-class gunboats.
    Wikipedia
    John Spivey

    Lenapee
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
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    Last Updated 12 August 2022