Tag: side-wheeler Ben De Ford

Photographed 1863-1865 at Port Royal Sound, SC. Captain Hallet.

Gibson and Gibson, Dictionary of Transports and Combatant Vessels Steam and Sail Employed by the Union Army, 1861-1868 says: BEN DE FORD; sidewheel steamer; 1100 tons; 1090 tons. Utilized Oct 15, 1861-Mar 31, 1862, during expedition to Port Royal Sound, South Carolina. This is the “DE FORD” which was hired with the S. R. SPAULDING for an affreightment charter July 23, 1861, for an unknown period. Was apparently retained individually under charter at Hilton Head since she was active in amphibious operations during much of 1863 in Florida and Georgia. Margin note states vessel was purchased Dec 4, 1864, at Baltimore, Maryland, at a cost of $140,000. Mentioned in correspondence as passing off Cape Fear, North Carolina, during Dec of 1864. Reported on the St. John’s River, Florida, that Mar. At Beaufort North Carolina, on Jan 11, 1865, having participated the month before at the landings at New River Inlet, South Carolina.