Please report any broken links or trouble you might come across to the Webmaster. Please take a moment to let us know so that we can correct any problems and make your visit as enjoyable and as informative as possible.

NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Red Rover
ex
 CSS Red Rover (1861 - 1862)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal
Sidewheel steamer:
  • Built in 1859 at Cape Girardeau, MO.
  • Launched, date unknown
  • Purchased by the Confederacy, 7 November 1861
  • Commissioned CSS Red Rover, date unknown
  • During the Civil War CSS Red Rover served as a barracks ship at New Orleans
  • At Island No. 10 from 15 March 1862 she was holed prior to 25 March and abandoned
  • Seized by the Union gunboat USS Mound City, 7 April 1862
  • Fitted out as a hospital boat for the Army's Western Flotilla at St. Louis and completed at Mound City, IL.
  • Red Rover was placed in service, 10 June 1862, CAPT. McDaniel of the Army's Gunboat Service in command, Assistant Surgeon George H. Bixby became Surgeon in Charge.
  • Assigned to the Western Flotilla above Vicksburg
  • Purchased by the US Navy, 30 September 1862
  • Commissioned, USS Red Rover, 26 December 1862, Acting Master William R. Wells USN in command
  • During January 1963 USS Red Rover served with the White River expedition
  • From February to the fall of Vicksburg early in July, she cared for the sick and wounded of that campaign
  • Red Rover continued her service along the river, taking on sick and wounded and delivering medicine and supplies, until the fall of 1864
  • USS Red Rover arrived at Mound City, 11 December 1864, and remained there until decommissioned
  • Decommissioned, 17 November 1865
  • Struck from the Naval Register, date unknown
  • Sold at public auction to A. M. Carpenter, 29 November 1865
  • Final Disposition, fate unknown
    Specifications:
    Displacement 786 t.
    Length 256'
    Beam 49'9"
    Draft 7'9"
    Speed 8 kts
    Complement
    crew 47
    medical department 30+
    Armament
    one 32-pdrs
    Propulsion steam
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    USS Red Rover
    Red Rover 71k USS Red Rover on the Western Rivers during the Civil War, with an ice boat tied up alongside her port side.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # 49980    		 US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Red Rover 117k USS Red Rover tied up to the shore on the Western Rivers during the Civil War. Firewood is stacked in the foreground.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # 59653    		 US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Red Rover 95k USS Red Rover Tied up astern of USS General Sterling Price, on the Western Rivers during the Civil War. Note derelict machinery in the foreground.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # 60501. Courtesy National Library of Medicine    		 Bill Gonyo
    Red Rover 73k USS Red Rover on the Western Rivers during the Civil War, with two rowing boats alongside.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # 60500.    		 Mike Green
    Red Rover 97k USS Red Rover moored to a Western Rivers' shoreline, during the Civil War. Note awning spread over the ship's foredeck, and bell at the front of her superstructure.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # 49981.    		 US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Red Rover 69k Sepia wash drawing by F. Muller, circa 1900. of USS Red Rover.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # 55837. Courtesy of the Navy Art Collection, Washington, DC.    		 US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Red Rover 252k Illustration of USS Red Rover underway from "Harper's Weekly", date unknown.
    Courtesy of the National Museum of Health and Medicine     		Robert Hurst
    Red Rover 130k Pen and ink drawing of USS Red Rover by Samuel Ward Stanton.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo #: NH 65458. Collections of the Navy Department, 1967.    		 Robert Hurst
    Red Rover 120k Line engraving published in Harper's Weekly, January-June 1863, page 300, depicting scenes on board the U.S. Navy's Western Rivers hospital ship USS Red Rover during the Civil War. The scene at left, entitled The Sister, shows a nurse attending to a patient. That at right shows a convalescent ward. The middle view is of a lonely grave on the river bank.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo #: NH 59652.    		 Robert Hurst
    Red Rover 187k Line engraving after a drawing by Theodore R. Davis, published in "Harper's Weekly", January-June 1863, page 300, depicting a scene in the ward of USS Red Rover.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # 59651.    		 US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Red Rover 150k "The Interior of a Sanitary Steamer" A line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", 1862. This may represent a view in one of the wards of USS Red Rover.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # 58897.    		 US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Red Rover 12k USS Red Rover's Medical Officers and Paymaster, circa late 1864 or early 1865. Those present are (as numbered on the print):
    1. Acting Assistant Surgeon James T. Field,
    2. Acting Assistant Paymaster Alexander W. Pearson,
    3. George Lawrence,
    4. Acting Assistant Surgeon George H. Bixby,
    5. Assistant Surgeon James S. Knight,
    6. Fleet Surgeon Ninian Pinkney,
    7. Assistant Surgeon Michael Bradley
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # 45613.    		 US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Red Rover 78k Acting Assistant Surgeon George H. Bixby served on board USS Red Rover during the Civil War. The original photograph is mounted on a carte de visite.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # 59799.    		 US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Red Rover 68k Acting Assistant Surgeon George Hopkins served on board USS Red Rover during the Civil War. The original photograph is mounted on a carte de visite.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # 49078.    		 Bill Gonyo
    CSS Red Rover
    Yazoo 112k "View of Steamers Sunk by the Rebels Between Island Number Ten and New Madrid"
    Line engraving, based on a sketch by Alexander Simplot, published in "Harper's Weekly", 1862, depicting ships sunk by the Confederates off their fortifications at Island Number 10, circa 7 April 1862. As identified on the engraving, the ships are (from left to right):

    USS Champion,
    CSS Yazoo,
    CSS Grampus,
    CSSJohn Simonds,
    CSS Red Rover,
    CSSPrince,
    CSS Admiral,
    CSS Ohio Belle,
    CSS De Soto,
    CSS Kanawha Valley,
    CSS Winchester and
    CSS Mars. Most of these vessels, some of which were not sunk, were later employed by the Union forces.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59024    		 Tommy Trampp
    CSS / USS Red Rover
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    USS Red Rover Ship's History, CNO (Op 92) Ships Histories Section, BUMED On-line Library
    Back To The Navsource Photo Archives Main Page Back To The Old Navy" Steam and Sail Index
    Comments, Suggestions, E-mail Webmaster.
    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History
    Last Updated 3 March 2017