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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --
USS Indianola (1862-1863)
USS Indianola, a 511-ton ironclad river gunboat, was
built at Cincinnati, Ohio. Commissioned in an incomplete state
in September 1862 to defend Cincinnati against a threatened Confederate
attack, she was ready for active service in January 1863. Sent
to join the Mississippi Squadron north of Vicksburg, she ran past
the guns of that fortress city on 13 February 1863 in an effort
to cut off Confederate supply lines. On 24 February, while near
the mouth of the Red River, Indianola was engaged by the
enemy rams Queen
of the West and Webb.
Rammed seven times, the Union ship ran aground and surrendered.
As the Confederates worked to salvage their prize, Federal
Rear Admiral David
Dixon Porter prepared a raft to resemble an ironclad and drifted
it down the Mississippi. As the "Wooden Dummy" approached
the salvage site, the Confederates exploded Indianola's
magazines to prevent what they thought was her possible recapture.
After Vicksburg was taken in July 1863, Federal forces also worked
to salvage the Indianola, finally getting her afloat in
January 1865. Not worth the effort to return her to service, her
hulk was sold in November of that year.
This page features all our views of USS Indianola.
Click on the small photograph to prompt
a larger view of the same image.
Photo #: NH 58715
USS Indianola (1862-1863)
Line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", 7 February
1863.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 118KB; 740 x 390 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 59540
USS Indianola (1862-1863)
Watercolor by Dr. Oscar Parkes.
Courtesy of Dr. Oscar Parkes, London, England, 1936.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 70KB; 740 x 450 pixels |
 |
Photo #: NH 59100
USS Indianola (1862-1863)
Running past the Confederate fortress at Vicksburg, Mississippi,
13 February 1863.
Line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", 1863.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 186KB; 740 x 535 pixels |
 |
Photo #: NH 59105
"'Bache's Quaker' Driving the 'Queen of the West,' and Causing
the Rebels to Blow Up the 'Indianola'."
Line engraving after a sketch by Theodore R. Davis, published
in "Harper's Weekly", 1863, depicting the 25 February
1863 operation in which a dummy ironclad (left) was floated down
the Mississippi River by the U.S. Navy, causing the Confederates
to destroy the captured ironclad USS Indianola. CSS Queen
of the West is depicted at the right.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 141KB; 740 x 515 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 53235
USS Indianola (1862-1863)
Is blown up by her Confederate captors, below Vicksburg, Mississippi,
circa 25 February 1863, upon the appearance of Rear Admiral David
Dixon Porter's fake monitor "Wooden Dummy".
Taken from a sketch by RAdm. Porter, this print is entitled "Dummy
Taking a Shoot".
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 145KB; 740 x 630 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 53234
USS Indianola (1862-1863)
Probably photographed while under construction at Cincinnati,
Ohio, in 1862.
This view was originally captioned "wreck of the Indianola",
and may depict salvagers at work on her in 1864-65, but it looks
far more like a construction view.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 133KB; 740 x 510 pixels |
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22 March 2000