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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

CSS Raleigh


Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal

Steamer:
  • A small, iron-hulled, propeller-driven towing steamer, built, date and location unknown
  • Launched, date unknown
  • Operated on the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal
  • Taken over by the State of North Carolina in May 1861
  • Transferred to the Confederate States the following July
  • Commissioned CSS Raleigh, date unknown, LT. J. W. Alexander, CSN in command
  • Raleigh served in coastal waters of North Carolina and Virginia and in the James River
  • She supported Forts Hatteras and Clark on 28-29 August 1861
  • Participated in the expedition, 1 October, to capture United States Army steamer Fanny
  • Accompanied CSS Sea Bird when she reconnoitered Pamlico Sound 20 January 1862
  • She was active in defense of Roanoke Island, N.C., against an amphibious assault, 7-8 February 1862 and at Elizabeth City, N.C., 2 days later
  • Raleigh escaped the North Carolina sounds through Dismal Swamp Canal to Norfolk, VA.
  • The steamer served, 8-9 March 1862, as tender to CSS Virginia during the historic battle of ironclads at Hampton Roads
  • With the Federal recapture of Norfolk Navy Yard in May 1862, Raleigh steamed up the James River but a shortage of crew rendered her unable to continue to fight
  • Renamed Roanoke near the end of the war
  • Final Disposition, destroyed by the Confederates,4 April 1865, upon the evacuation of Richmond
    Specifications:
    Displacement 65 t.
    Length unknown
    Beam unknown
    Depth of Hold unknown
    Draft unknown
    Speed unknown
    Complement unknown
    Armament one to four guns
    Propulsion steam

    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image
    Size Image Description Source
    Fanny
    098606702
    92k Port side view of Fanny from "Harper's Weekly," 19 October 1861. From Harper's Weekly, Oct.19, 1861. Showing Fanny attacked by CSS Raleigh, CSS Curlew, and CSS Youngalasaka. It is not clear, however, if this was actually Fanny's appearance, as other contemporary drawings (in Frederick Stansbury Haydon's "Military Ballooning During the Early Civil War," for example) show a similar, but definitely different, ship, Fabio Pena and
    Tommy Trampp

    CSS Raleigh
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Commanding Officers
    01LT. Alexander, Joseph W., CSN1861 - 1862
    02LT. Clarke, Maxwell T., CSN1863 - June 1864
    03LT. Benton, Mortimer Murray, CSN1864
    04Master's Mate Albertson, A.E., CSN31 July 1864 - ?
    05Acting Master Shippey, W. Frank, CSNOctober 1864 - December 1864
    06LT. Pollock, William Wonder, CSNJanuary 1865 - end of war
    * Coski (1996), John M. Capital Navy: The Men, Ships and Operations of the James River Squadron, Campbell, CA: Savas Woodbury Publishers. ISBN 1-882810-03-1
    Courtesy Robert Hurst

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    Last Updated 10 February 2023