Tag: steamboat Thorn

Gibson and Gibson, Dictionary of Transports and Combatant Vessels Steam and Sail Employed by the Union Army, 1861-1868 says: THORN; screw steamer; 403 tons. At some point was chartered as a supply vessel by Navy. Her Army charters follow: Chartered April 16, 1862-Jan 1863; Nov 30 1863-Mar 31, 1864; Apr 5, 1864, for unknown period. One of ten transports sent from Army of the James at City Point in Nov ov 1864 a provisional division of troops bound to New York, their mission being to contain threats of civil unrest on the eve of the presidential elections and to guard against the threat of Confederate raiders coming out of Canada. One of 99 vessels engaged in the supply of Sherman’s army after it reached the sea at Savannah, Georgia, in Dec of 1864, and later during the Carolina campaign of early 1865. Blown up by torpedo (mine) Mar 4, 1865, when she was proceeding down river from Wilmington, North Carolina, heavily loaded with Union soldiers who had been held prisoners of the Confederates at stockades in Georgia and South Carolina. The numbers of men lost is not known. Owners of the THORN were paid $28,602.36.