USS Osage
Union Navy Ironclad Monitor
American Civil War

USS Osage (1863-1865)

USS Osage , a 523-ton Neosho class single-turret ironclad river monitor, was built at Carondelet, Missouri. Commissioned in July 1863, she operated in the Mississippi River area in 1863 and 1864, including participation in expeditions up Louisiana's Black and Ouachita Rivers in February-March 1864 and the Red River in March-May of that year. In February 1865, Osage was transferred to the West Gulf Blockading Squadron for employment in Mobile Bay. In late March she took part in an attack on Spanish Fort, near Mobile, Alabama.

While engaged in that operation on 29 March 1865, USS Osage struck a Confederate "torpedo" and was sunk in the Blakely River. Her hulk was later raised and was sold in November 1867.

Photographed on the Western Rivers during 1863-65

Photographed on the Red River, Louisiana, circa March-May 1864.
Note that guns in turret bear dead ahead, and there are false gun ports painted on the turret side.


War, Technology, and Experience aboard the USS Monitor
The experience of the men aboard the Monitor and their reactions to the thrills and dangers that accompanied the new machine. The invention surrounded men with iron and threatened their heroism, their self-image as warriors, even their lives





Naval Strategies of the Civil War: Confederate Innovations and Federal Opportunism
Compare and contrast the strategies of the Southern Secretary of the Navy, Mallory, against his rival in the North, Welles. Mallory used technological innovation and the skill of individuals to bolster the South's seapower against the Union Navy's superior numbers

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American Civil War Naval Book Titles

Reign of Iron: The Story of the First Battling Ironclads, the Monitor and the Merrimack
The first ironclad ships to fight each other, the Monitor and the Virginia (Merrimack), were the unique products of American design genius

Ironclad Down: USS Merrimack-CSS Virginia from Design to Destruction
A treasure trove of detailed information about one of history s most famous vessels. Describing  Stephen Russell Mallory, John Mercer Brooke, John Luke Porter, et al.--who conceived, designed and built one of the world's first ironclads

Confederate Ironclad vs Union Ironclad: Hampton Roads 1862
The Ironclad was a revolutionary weapon of war. Although iron was used for protection in the Far East during the 16th century, it was the 19th century and the American Civil War that heralded the first modern armored self-propelled warships.
Release date Nov. 2008

Year on a Monitor and the Destruction of Fort Sumter
Personal view of the Civil War Navy. The monitor saw action in several significant naval assaults by the Union's Squadron. It took part in the failed Federal attack on Sumter in April 1863. The "Nahant" also participated in the capture of the Confederate Ram "Atlanta," and in the assault on Fort Wagner

Civil War History Documentary DVD Movie Titles

Halls of Honor
The U.S. Navy Museum takes you on an informed and entertaining romp through one of North America s oldest and finest military museums. The museum has been in continuous operation at the Washington Navy Yard since the American Civil War

Raise The Alabama
She was known as "the ghost ship." During the Civil War, the CSS Alabama sailed over 75,000 miles and captured more than 60 Union vessels. But her career came to an end in June of 1864 when she was sunk by the USS Kearsarge off the coast of Northern France

The Civil War - A Film by Ken Burns
Here is the saga of celebrated generals and ordinary soldiers, a heroic and transcendent president and a country that had to divide itself in two in order to become one

Civil War Journal - The Conflict Begins
These four programs from the History Channel series Civil War Journal cover critical aspects of the early days of the war.

 

Sources:
U.S. National Park Service
U.S. Library of Congress
US Naval Archives


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