Tag: side-wheeler Thomas Powell

Photographed at Broadway Landing, VA in January of 1865.

Gibson and Gibson, Dictionary of Transports and Combatant Vessels Steam and Sail Employed by the Union Army, 1861-1868 says: THOMAS POWELL; steamer; 585 tons. Chartered Apr 21, 1864-June 9, 1865. Reported at City Point, Virginia, in June 1864. Was being utilized as a hospital ship for the Army of the James in Jan 1865.

Wikipedia says: Thomas Powell was a fast and popular steamboat built in Manhattan, New York, in 1846 for service on the Hudson River. She ran between New York City and various Hudson River destinations during her career, including Newburgh, Piermont, Poughkeepsie, Rondout, Catskill, and finally as a nightboat to Troy. She also ran on the Delaware River for some years in the 1850s, and during the American Civil War served as a Union Army dispatch boat.

Thomas Powell was considered one of the fastest, if not the fastest, of the Hudson River steamers of her time, capable of speeds in excess of 22 miles per hour (35 km/h). Her speed, excellent accommodations and good management made her a favorite with the traveling public, and consequently, she retained her original name to the end of her career. Her last known trip was made in 1879 and she was scrapped in 1881.

…On April 12, 1864, Thomas Powell was chartered at the rate of $300 (equivalent to $4,964 in 2020) per day by the United States Quartermaster Department for service in the American Civil War. She subsequently served as Major-General Benjamin Butler’s dispatch boat, and participated in the Bermuda Hundred campaign. The steamer’s charter expired on June 9, 1864.