Lithograph published by Endicott & Co., New York, circa 1865. Collection of Commander Charles Moran, USNRF, 1935. |
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| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | USS Pontoosuc |
| Laid down: | 1863 |
| Commissioned: | 10 May 1864 |
| Decommissioned: | 5 July 1865 |
| Fate: | Sold, 3 October 1866 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Gunboat |
| Tonnage: | 974 long tons (990 t) |
| Length: | 205 ft (62 m) |
| Beam: | 35 ft (11 m) |
| Draft: | 9 ft (2.7 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 11 ft 6 in (3.51 m) |
| Propulsion: | Steam engine, side wheels |
| Speed: | 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph) |
| Complement: | 100+ |
| Armament: | • 2 × 100-pounder Parrott rifles • 4 × 9 in (230 mm) Dahlgren smoothbore guns • 2 × 20-pounder Parrott rifles • 1 × 12-pounder smoothbore • 1 × 12-pounder rifle • 2 × 24-pounder howitzers |
| Armor: | 4 in (100 mm) |
USS Pontoosuc was a Union Navy vessel in the American Civil War. A side wheel gunboat, Pontoosuc was built under contract with G. W. Lawrence and the Portland Company, Portland, Maine, was commissioned at Portland, on 10 May 1864, Lt. Comdr. George A. Stevens in command.
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Ordered to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron on 9 June 1864, she soon returned north and on 12 August departed New York in pursuit of the Confederate raider CSS Tallahassee. Arriving at Halifax soon after 0600 on the 20th, she discovered her quarry had sailed. Underway immediately Pontoosuc continued her search to the north among the fishing fleets in the Gulf of the St. Lawrence. Tallahassee, however, had turned south en-route back to Wilmington, North Carolina.
Pontoosuc returned to New York on the 30th and took up escort duties. By mid-December, she had resumed blockade duties, off Wilmington. On the 24th and 25th she participated in the assault on Fort Fisher, returning to shell the Fort again in the successful mid-January 1865 attack. In February she moved up the Cape Fear River for operations against Fort Anderson. After the fall of Wilmington she resumed cruising off the coast. After the war, she returned to Boston where she was decommissioned 5 July 1865 and was sold 3 October 1866.
She was named for Pontoosuc, Illinois, on the Mississippi River.
For action in the Civil War, the following crewmen of the USS Pontoosuc were awarded the Medal of Honor:
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