''Defiance,'' a high-pressure steamer, was built at
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
, in 1849. She was purchased for the
Confederate Army
The Confederate States Army (CSA), 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), fi ...
, probably from the
Southern Steamship Co.,
New Orleans
New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
, 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. 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 (), first recorded in ancient India, 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 ...
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 U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...
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.
[Silverstone, p. 167]
References
Bibliography
*
Naval ships of the Confederate States of America
{{AmericanCivilWar-ship-stub