USS ''Cambridge'' was a heavy () steamship purchased by the Union Navy at the start of the American Civil War. She was outfitted as a gunboat, with two powerful rifled guns, and assigned to the blockade of ports and waterways of the Confederate States of America.

Service history

''Cambridge'' — an armed steamer — was built in 1860 by Paul Curtis,

Medford, Massachusetts Medford is a city northwest of downtown Boston on the Mystic River in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, Medford's population was 59,659. It is home to Tufts University, which has its campus alo ...

; purchased at Boston, Massachusetts on 30 July 1861; and commissioned on 29 August 1861,

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

W. A. Parker in command. Assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron from 9 September 1861 – 5 October 1864, and to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron from 9 February 1865 until the close of the war, ''Cambridge'' helped tighten the stranglehold on the Confederacy as she cruised off the coasts of Virginia and North Carolina and South Carolina. Determined vigilance and alert action won her 11 prizes, some of them taken under the guns of Confederate shore batteries. In a brief five days, she and two other ships in company took four

blockade runner A blockade runner is a merchant vessel used for evading a naval blockade of a port or strait. It is usually light and fast, using stealth and speed rather than confronting the blockaders in order to break the blockade. Blockade runners usuall ...

s, and chased a fifth ashore. In one of her most daring exploits, ''Cambridge''s guns drove a

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

ashore near Masonboro Inlet, North Carolina on 17 November 1862. Boat parties from ''Cambridge'' rowed through boiling surf, which swamped one of the boats, to burn the

, only to be made prisoner themselves by a party of armed Confederate men who sprang out of the brush. ''Cambridge'' was decommissioned at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and sold there on 20 June 1865.

Historical Relevance

''Cambridge '' is notable for having picked up escaped slave

William B. Gould William Benjamin Gould Sr. (November 18, 1837 – May 25, 1923) was a former enslaved person and veteran of the American Civil War, serving in the U.S. Navy. His diary is one of only a few written during the Civil War by a formerly enslaved per ...

off Cape Fear, North Carolina.

References

External links

USS ''Cambridge'' (1861-1865)

Diary of a Contraband: The Civil War Passage of a Black Sailor
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cambridge Ships of the Union Navy Ships built in Medford, Massachusetts Steamships of the United States Navy Gunboats of the United States Navy American Civil War patrol vessels of the United States 1860 ships