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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

CSS Nashville I

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal

Nashville Class Brig-rigged Sidewheel Steamer:

Built as a brig-rigged, passenger steamer, in 1853 at Greenpoint N.Y.

Seized in 1861 at Charleston S.C. by Confederates after the fall of Fort Sumter

Fitted out as the lightly-armored cruiser CSS Nashville, LT. R. B. Pegram, CSN, in command

Passing the blockade, 21 October 1861, Nashville crossed the Atlantic to Southampton, England, the first ship of war to fly the Confederate flag in English waters

Nashville captured and burned the sailing merchantman Harvey Birch in the English Channel, 19 November 1861

Returning to American waters early in 1862, she captured and burned the schooner Robert Gilfillan, 26 February 1862

Nashville returned to Beaufort, N.C., 28 February 1862, having captured two prizes worth $66,000 during the cruise

Sold for use as a blockade runner and renamed SS Thomas L. Wragg

Commissioned as the privateer, Rattlesnake, 5 November 1862

Final Disposition, destroyed by the monitor USS Montauk, in the Ogeechee River, GA., 28 February 1863

Specifications:
Displacement 1,221 t.
Length 215' 6"
Beam 34' 6"
Depth of Hold 21' 9"
Draft unknown
Speed unknown
Complement 40

Armament

two 12-pdr guns

Propulsion steam and sail

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Contributed By
CSS Nashville
	186k	"Merchant Steamers Converted into Gun-boats." Engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", July-December 1861 volume. Depicts thirteen merchant steamships acquired by the U.S. Navy between April and August 1861 and subsequently converted into warships, plus the steamer *Nashville* (far left), which became a Confederate cruiser. US Navy ships as identified below the image bottom, are (from left to right: USS Alabama, USS Quaker City, USS Santiago de Cuba, (listed as "St. Jago de Cuba") USS Mount Vernon, USS Massachusetts, USS South Carolina, USS Florida, USS De Soto, USS Augusta, USS James Adger, USS Monticello, USS Bienville and USS R.R. Cuyler. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59366.	Robert Hurst
	229k	"The 'Nashville' and 'Tuscarora' at Southampton" Line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", January-June 1862, page 96, depicting CSS Nashville in dock at Southampton, England, circa January 1862, with USS Tuscarora keeping watch in the right distance. Other identified ships in the distance are probably HMS Dauntless and HMS Moulton, British warships present to protect English neutrality. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59348	Bill Gonyo
098646614	525k	"The Modern Janus" is a political cartoon from the Civil War era depicting a symbolic Janus enforcing British Maritime law. British maritime law required belligerents from the same country finding themselves in the same British port, in this case Southampton, could only leave the port separated by no less than 24 hours. In the version on the left the banner reads, "Now then you Villains sheer off" requiring USS Tuscarora to remain at Southampton for at least 24 hours after CSS Nashville had departed. On the right the carton is flipped over 180°s and the banner reads "All right my lads, I'll protect ye." Allowing CSS Nashville at least 24 hours head start before USS Tuscarora would be allowed to leave Southampton in per3suit.	Tommy Trampp
098646616	321k	CSS Nashville destroying a federal merchantman Image from "Story of the war : pictorial history of the great Civil War by John Laird Wilson, (1832-1896) Illinois History Collection ICarbs. Publisher J.F. Lawrence, Chicago, IL. Contributing Library. Morris Library, Southern Illinois University Carbondale.	Robert Hurst
	69k	CSS Nashville burning the 1,700 ton sailing merchantman *Harvey Birch* out of Mystic, CT. in the English Channel, 19 November 1861. Oil painting signed by D. McFarlane, 1864. Courtesy Peabody Essex Museum, England.	Bill Gonyo
	219k	Line engraving published in "The Soldier in Our Civil War", volume I, page 215, depicting USS Nashville capturing and burning the U.S. merchantman *Harvey Birch* in the English Channel, 19 November 1861. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59350	Bill Gonyo
	103k	Wash drawing by R.G. Skerrett, 1901, depicting CSS Nashville steaming away after burning a captured schooner. Probably the schooner *Robert Gilfillanon 26 February 1862. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 57824*, courtesy of the Navy Art Collection, Washington, DC.	Bill Gonyo
	199k	"The Rebel Steamer 'Nashville' Running the Blockade at Beaufort, North Carolina." Line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", January-June 1862, page 209, depicting CSS Nashvillerunning into Beaufort, 28 February 1862, after her raiding cruise in the Atlantic and European waters. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59291	Bill Gonyo
098687701	194k	Currier & Ives lithograph "The Blockade on the 'Connecticut Plan'" Library of Congress Catalog: http://lccn.loc.gov/90711961	Robert Hurst
Confederate Privateer Rattlesnake
	91k	Blueprint of *Rattlesnakes*, rigging details and plan.	Tommy Trampp
	94k	Line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", 1863, showing the Confederate Privateer *Rattlesnake* (ex-CSS Nashville lying by the railway bridge on the Ogeechee River, Georgia, in about February 1863. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 58765	Bill Gonyo
	162k	Line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", January-June 1863, page 193, showing the monitor USS Montauk shelling the Confederate Privateer *Rattlesnake* (ex-*CSS Nashville) in the Ogeechee River, Georgia, 28 February 1863. Fort McAllister is in the right-center distance. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59285*	US Naval History and Heritage Command
	170k	Line engraving published in "The Soldier in Our Civil War", Volume II, page 41, showing *Rattlesnake* burning after being shelled by the monitor USS Montauk commanded by CAPT. John L. Worden, USN, in the Ogeechee River, Georgia, 28 February 1863. Fort McAllister is in the right-center background, and the U.S. Navy gunboats USS Wissahickon, USS Seneca and USS Dawn are providing supporting fire in the left distance. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59286	US Naval History and Heritage Command
	372k	*Rattlesnake* sketch for publication for Harpers Weekly. Measures 9x5.5 the sketch titled >The Pirate Steamer Nashville lying at the R.R. Bridge on the Ogeechee River". A sketch from a deserter from Savannah via Ogeechee River.	Tommy Trampp
	315k	*Rattlesnake* sketch for publication for Harpers Weekly. Measures 7x5 sketch captioned "Explosion of the Magazine of the Nashville".	Tommy Trampp
	219k	Line engraving published in "The Soldier in Our Civil War", Volume II, page 39, showing Confederate Privateer *Rattlesnake's remains in the Ogeechee River, near Fort McAllister, GA. She had been destroyed by gunfire from USS Montauk, 28 February 1863. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 58766*	Robert Hurst
098646615	250k	Historical marker about of the sinking of the CSS Nashville (Rattlesnake) taken at Darien, GA., Fort McAllister Historic State Park. Photo by Ebyabe, 18 August 2011	Robert Hurst

CSS Nashville II
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)

Commanding Officers
01	LT. Pegram, Robert Baker CSN	27 September 1861 - 28 February 1862	CSS Nashville
02	CAPT. Gooding, Matthew Wragg, CSN	17 March 1862 - 5 November 1862	SS Thomas L. Wragg
03	LT. Baker, Thomas Harrison, CSN	5 November 1862 - 28 February 1863 (Sunk)	SS Rattlesnake


Courtesy Bill Gonyo

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Last Updated 9 July 2021