USS ''Jacob Bell'' was a sidewheel
steamer acquired by the
Union Navy for use during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
. She was one of the oldest vessels so acquired.
[Silverstone, Paul H. (1989): ''Warships of the Civil War Navies'', p. 85; Naval Institute Press, Maryland, .] Her duties included river patrols, guard duty, and other duties as assigned.
Commissioned in New York City
''Jacob Bell'', was built by
Brown & Bell at
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
in 1842.
[ She was purchased at New York City from O. T. Glover and F. R. Anthony on 22 August 1861 and commissioned the same day; Lt. Edward P. McCrea was in command.
]
Civil War service
Potomac River operations
''Jacob Bell'' immediately sailed for the Potomac River
The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augus ...
, where the following day she joined steamer in shelling a Confederate
Confederacy or confederate may refer to:
States or communities
* Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities
* Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...
battery at the mouth of Potomac Creek. She remained in the Potomac enforcing the blockade of the Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
coast, reconnoitering along the shore of the Potomac and in its tributaries for Confederate fortifications and shelling any batteries found.
Supporting McClellan's Peninsular Campaign
In April 1862 ''Jacob Bell'' accompanied five other Union ships to the Rappahannock River to gather information for Major General George B. McClellan, who was then launching his