''Defiance,'' a high pressure steamer, was built at
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
in 1849. She was purchased for the
Confederate Army
The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...
, probably from the
Southern Steamship Co.,
, La., in the latter part of 1861. Capt. J. E. Montgomery, a former river steamboat captain, selected her to be part of his
River Defense Fleet
The River Defense Fleet was a set of fourteen vessels in Confederate service, intended to assist in the defense of New Orleans in the early days of the American Civil War. All were merchant ships or towboats that were seized by order of the War De ...
. On January 25, 1862 he began to convert her into a cottonclad ram by placing a 4-inch oak sheath with a one-inch iron covering on her bow, and by installing double pine bulkheads filled with compressed
cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...
bales.
On March 10, 1862, ''Defiance'' conversion was completed and she steamed from New Orleans to
Fort Jackson on the lower
Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
to operate in the Confederate defense of New Orleans. ''Defiance,'' with five other ships of Montgomery's fleet in that area was under the overall command of Capt. J. A. Stevenson, who operated under Capt. J. K. Mitchell, commanding Confederate naval forces on the lower Mississippi.
When Flag Officer D. G. Farragut, USN, ran his fleet past Forts Jackson and
St. Philip on April 24, 1862 on his way to New Orleans, ''Defiance'', under Capt. J. D. McCoy, was the only river defense vessel to escape destruction or capture. On April 26, Captain Stevenson turned her over directly to Captain Mitchell after her captain, officers, and crew left her. On April 28, Captain Mitchell, not having enough men for a crew, and realizing that capture was inevitable after the forts surrendered, burned her to keep her from falling into Union hands.
References
Naval ships of the Confederate States of America
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