USS Carondelet
Civil War Union Naval Ship

USS Carondelet (1862-1865)

USS Carondelet , a 512-ton Cairo class ironclad river gunboat, was built at Saint Louis, Missouri, for the U.S. Army's Western Gunboat Flotilla. Commissioned in January 1862 with Commander Henry A. Walke , USN, as her captain, Carondelet quickly entered combat, taking part in the captures of Forts Henry and Donelson, Tennessee, in February 1862. In March and April, she played an important role in the campaign to capture the Confederate fortress at Island Number Ten, on the Mississippi River. This was followed by operations against Fort Pillow and Memphis, Tennessee, during April-June 1862.

With the upper Mississippi now under Union control, Carondelet spent much of the following year in the long campaign against Vicksburg, Mississippi. On 15 July 1862, while in the Yazoo River, she was badly damaged in an engagement with the Confederate ironclad Arkansas . Along with the other units of the Army's Western Rivers "navy", she was formally transferred to the U.S. Navy in October 1862. In April 1863, Carondelet was a member of the ironclad force that ran past Vicksburg and later bombarded Grand Gulf, Mississippi. In May, she participated in extensive bombardments of Vicksburg, part of the combined Army-Navy operations that led to that fortified city's surrender on 4 July 1863. Thereafter, she was involved with a variety of expeditions and patrol operations, among them the March-May 1864 Red River expedition. Decommissioned in June 1865, USS Carondelet was sold in November of that year. Her hull was subsequently used as a civilian wharfboat, while her engines were installed in another river steamer.

Photographed published in Rear Admiral Henry Walke's "Naval Scenes and Reminiscences of the Civil War in the United States ..." (1877).
Note five-pointed star suspended between the ship's smokestacks.

Seen from astern, tied up to the river bank, on the Western Rivers during the Civil War.

"City" Class armored gunboats

Under construction by James Eads, at St. Louis, Missouri, prior to October 1861.
This view shows four ships being built in pairs, at two levels on the shore, with casemate side timbers largely installed. Vertical timbers extending above the slanting casemate sides are framing for the ships' paddle-wheel boxes.
The four ships of this class built at St. Louis were Carondelet , Louisville , Pittsburg and Saint Louis .
Note building and flagpole in the right background, timber stockpile in the foreground, and twin rudder posts at the ships' sterns with the paddle raceway between them.

This view looks along the main deck on one gunboat, with its boilers in the foreground and casemate timbers at the sides. Another vessel is beyond, with some spar deck beams atop the casemate side timbers and upright framing in place for her wheel box.
The four ships of this class built at St. Louis were Carondelet , Louisville , Pittsburg and Saint Louis .
Note flagpole in the left background.

"The Gun-boat Attack on the Water Batteries at Fort Donelson"
Line engraving, based on a sketch by Alexander Simplot, published in "Harper's Weekly", 1862, depicting the bombardment of Fort Donelson, Tennessee, by Federal warships, 14 February 1862. Many of the ships were damaged in this action. As identified on the engraving, they are (from left to right): "Timberclads" Tyler and Conestoga ; Ironclads Carondelet , Pittsburg , Louisville and Saint Louis .

Line engraving, based on a sketch by Alexander Simplot, published in "Harper's Weekly", 1862, depicting USS Carondelet passing the Confederate fortress at Island Number Ten, Mississippi River, during the night of 4 April 1862. She was accompanied by a coal barge, lashed to her port side to provide additional protection.

Bombardment and Capture of Island Number Ten on the Mississippi River, April 7, 1862
Colored lithograph published by Currier & Ives, New York, circa 1862.
It depicts the bombardment of the Confederate fortifications on Island Number Ten by Federal gunboats and mortar boats. Ships seen include (from left to right): Mound City , Louisville , Pittsburg , Carondelet , Flagship Benton , Cincinnati , Saint Louis and Conestoga . Mortar boats are firing from along the river bank.