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USS William Bacon

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal
Schooner:
  • Built as a wooden-hulled schooner, date and location unknown
  • Launched, date unknown
  • Purchased by the Navy, 6 September 1861, at New York from Van Brunt and Slaight
  • Commissioned USS William Bacon, 3 February 1862, at the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, N.Y., Acting Master William P. Rogers, USN, in command
  • USS William Bacon was assigned to the mortar flotilla attached to Flag Officer David Glasgow Farragut's West Gulf Blockading Squadron
  • The schooner arrived under tow at Key West, 18 February, the next day, she shifted to Pilot Town
  • William Bacon participated in the attacks against Forts Jackson and St. Philip
  • USS William Bacon sailed for Hampton Roads soon thereafter and refitted there into the summer
  • Briefly assigned to the Potomac Flotilla, William Bacon subsequently received orders on 11 December 1862 to report for duty with the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron off Wilmington, N.C.
  • The schooner arrived on station at Wilmington towards the end of December to take up her duties
  • William Bacon operated primarily off Wilmington and the sounds of North Carolina into 1863
  • Relieving USS Matthew Vassar at Little River Inlet on 13 March 1863
  • On 21 March, off the mouth of the Little River, lookouts sighted a sail to the westward at about 0900 William Bacon< slipped her anchor chain and made sail
  • together USS Victoria she gave chase catching the British blockade runner the English steamer Nicolai I
  • Records are not clear as to what the ship did next, but it may be presumed that she served in a support capacity for the duration of the Civil War
  • Decommissioned at the Washington Navy Yard, 17 June 1865, and sold at auction to William L. Wall and Co., 20 July 1865
  • Final Disposition, fate unknown
    Specifications:
    Displacement 183 t
    Length 95'
    Beam 26'
    Draft 8'10"
    Depth of Hold 8'3"
    Speed unknown
    Complement unknown
    Armament
    one 13" mortar
    two 32-pdrs
    Propulsion sail
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Westfield 103k "Commander Porter's Mortar Flotilla".
    Line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", 1862, depicting the mortar schooner flotilla commanded by David Dixon Porter during the April 1862 attack on the forts below New Orleans.
    Vessels shown are (from left to right):
    USS Westfield,
    USS Adolph Hugel,
    USS Para,
    USS William Bacon,
    USS Oliver H. Lee,
    USS C.P. Williams,
    USS Henry Janes,
    USS George Mangham,
    USS Racer,
    USS Horace Beals,
    USS Sarah Bruen,
    USS Samuel Rotan,
    USS John Griffith,
    USS Rachel Seaman,
    USS Maria J. Carlton,
    USS Sidney C. Jones,
    USS T.A. Ward,
    USS Sea Foam,
    USS Maria A. Wood,
    USS Octorara (Porter's flagship) and
    USS Matthew Vassar.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 59061    		 Robert Hurst
    USS William Bacon
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 12 May 2017