USS Carondelet, a 512-ton Cairo class ironclad river gunboat, was built at Saint Louis, Missouri, for the U.S. Army's Western Gunboat Flotilla. Commissioned in January 1862 with Commander Henry A. Walke, USN, as her captain, Carondelet quickly entered combat, taking part in the captures of Forts Henry and Donelson, Tennessee, in February 1862. In March and April, she played an important role in the campaign to capture the Confederate fortress at Island Number Ten, on the Mississippi River. This was followed by operations against Fort Pillow and Memphis, Tennessee, during April-June 1862.
With the upper Mississippi now under Union control, Carondelet spent much of the following year in the long campaign against Vicksburg, Mississippi. On 15 July 1862, while in the Yazoo River, she was badly damaged in an engagement with the Confederate ironclad Arkansas. Along with the other units of the Army's Western Rivers "navy", she was formally transferred to the U.S. Navy in October 1862. In April 1863, Carondelet was a member of the ironclad force that ran past Vicksburg and later bombarded Grand Gulf, Mississippi. In May, she participated in extensive bombardments of Vicksburg, part of the combined Army-Navy operations that led to that fortified city's surrender on 4 July 1863. Thereafter, she was involved with a variety of expeditions and patrol operations, among them the March-May 1864 Red River expedition. Decommissioned in June 1865, USS Carondelet was sold in November of that year. Her hull was subsequently used as a civilian wharfboat, while her engines were installed in another river steamer.
This page features views of USS Carondelet and provides links to pictures of her actions and construction.
For additional images, showing USS Carondelet's Civil
War actions and her construction, see:
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.
Photo #: NH 63376 USS Carondelet (1862-1865) Photographed published in Rear Admiral Henry Walke's "Naval Scenes and Reminiscences of the Civil War in the United States ..." (1877). Note five-pointed star suspended between the ship's smokestacks. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 98KB; 740 x 515 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 49991 USS Carondelet (1862-1865) Seen from astern, tied up to the river bank, on the Western Rivers during the Civil War. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 74KB; 740 x 430 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 93893-KN (Color) USS Carondelet (1862-1865) Colored lithograph, after a sketch by L.W. Hastings, USN, published by Middleton, Strobridge & Co., Lithographers, Pike's Opera House, Cincinnati, Ohio, circa 1864-65. The text below the image includes a list of Carondelet's engagements, from February 1862 to May 1864. Courtesy of the Navy Art Collection, Washington, DC. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 122KB; 740 x 570 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 65476 USS Carondelet (1862-1865) Pen and ink drawing by Samuel War Stanton, depicting the ship operating on the Western Rivers during the Civil War. Collections of the Navy Department, 1968. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 85KB; 740 x 425 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 65478 USS Carondelet (1862-1865) Pen and ink drawing by Samuel War Stanton, depicting Carondelet in the middle distance, on the Western Rivers during the Civil War, with an illuminated text describing the ship and her construction. This is the lower portion of a montage, which has Photo # NH 65476 as its upper part. Collections of the Navy Department, 1968. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 112KB; 740 x 460 pixels |
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For additional images, showing USS Carondelet's Civil
War actions and her construction, see:
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Links retitled 5 March 2000