Tag: side-wheeler Constitution

Library of Congress says: Civil War paddlewheel transport Constitution, a 3,315-ton sidewheel steamer launched at New York in 1861.

Gibson and Gibson, Dictionary of Transports and Combatant Vessels Steam and Sail Employed by the Union Army, 1861-1868 says: CONSTITUTION; steamer; 3200 tons. Was considered by the Quartermaster Department to have one of the largest troop-carrying capacities of all the transports used; rated for the carriage of 5,000 troops (probably uncomfortably accommodated). Chartered Nov. 16, 1861-Apr. 23, 1862. Mentioned in correspondence as preparing to sail from Key West carrying a force of troops for landing on Ship Island, Nov. 1861. Reported Dec. 3, 1861, by Brigadier General J. W. Phelps that the CONSTITUTION arrived with a force of 2,000 who were landed for occupation of that island. Vessel remained at Ship Island as troop billet until Feb. 2, 1862, when she departed for the north with dispatches. Returned to Ship Island, Mar. 12, 1862, this time with 300 troops; departed Mar. 16. During this general time frame, was also reported as arriving at the Quartermaster loading facility at Washington, DC, presumably taking on cargo. On May 28, 1862, was reported at New Orleans.