Tag: side-wheeler Cahawba

Gibson and Gibson, Dictionary of Transports and Combatant Vessels Steam and Sail Employed by the Union Army, 1861-1868 says: CAHAWBA; sidewheel steamer; 1643 ton. Mentioned in ORN as due Potomac River from Maine with 1,500 troops May 11, 1861. (She actually had only 800 troop). Chartered June 3, 1861 for unknown period; Oct 4-Dec 30, 1861, during the expedition to Port Royal Sound, South Carolina. Chartered June 9, 1862-Apr 18, 1863. Was in convoy with USS MONITOR during storm off Cape Hatteras Jan 3, 1863. This wa the same convoy in which the USS MONITOR foundered. Chartered again May 7, 1863, for unknown period. Margin note HR-337 states vessel was purchased May 1, 1864, for $135,000. Reported in Army service at City Point, Virginia, in the summer of 1864. Record indicates vessel was owned by the United States on Oct 15, 1864.