USS Quaker City

USS ''Quaker City'' was a heavy, sidewheel steamship leased by the Union Navy at the start of the American Civil War. She was subsequently purchased by the navy, outfitted with a powerful 20-pounder long rifle, and assigned to help enforce the Union blockade of the ports of the Confederate States of America.

Service history

''Quaker City''—a sidewheel steamer built at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1854—was chartered by the navy for 30 days on 25 April 1861 from Hargous & Co., re-chartered for three months on 25 May; purchased on 12 August 1861, and commissioned at New York City on 14 December 1861, Commander James M. Frailey in command. Placed in service only six days after President Abraham Lincoln declared a blockade of the Confederate coast, ''Quaker City'' was one of the most active and effective blockaders in the Union Navy. Stationed off the entrance to Chesapeake Bay, she shared in the capture of ship ''North Carolina'' on 14 May, of bark ''Pioneer'' in Hampton Roads on the 25th, and of bark ''Winifred'' off Cape Henry the same day. She captured schooner ''Lynchburg'', carrying coffee in the Chesapeake Bay on 30 May and took bark ''General Green'' off Cape Henry on 4 June. Already a veteran, she shared in the capture of ''Amy Warwick'' in Hampton Roads on the 10th, took bark ''Sally Magee'' there on the 26th, and shared in taking schooner ''Sally Mears'' on 1 July. Schooner ''Fair Wind'' became her prize on 29 August, and the sidewheeler shared in the capture of steamer ''Elsie'' on 4 September. Three days later she sailed north for repairs and to receive a naval crew and organization.

Commissioned at New York City on 14 December, ''Quaker City'' was detached from the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron to cruise in search of CSS ''Sumter'' and turned her attention to hunting Confederate raiders. She captured ''Model'' in the Gulf of Mexico on 30 June 1862 and ''Lilla'' carrying drugs off Hole-in-Wall, Virginia on 3 July. Four days later, she helped take ''Adela'' off the Bahamas, and on the 24th blockade runner ''Orion'' at Champeche Bank, south of Key West, Florida. ''Mercury'' struck to the sidewheeler off Charleston, South Carolina on 4 January 1863, and ''Quaker City'' shared in the capture of ''Princess Royal'' on the 29th. Two days later she helped fight CSS ''Chicora'' and ''Palmetto State'' when the Confederate rams attacked the Union squadron in the morning fog off Charleston.

She suffered considerable damage from a shell which entered about seven feet above the water line and exploded in the engine room. This damage and the wear from her hard service took its toll forcing her north for overhaul. Departing Port Royal on 8 March, she took schooner ''Douro'' off Wilmington, North Carolina, the following day, heading for Nassau with a cargo of cotton, turpentine, and tobacco. Back in action she picked up 40 bales of cotton at sea on 26 June 1864 and shared in the capture of steamer ''Elsie'' off Charleston on 5 September. She participated in the abortive attack on Fort Fisher, North Carolina, on Christmas Eve. Cruising in the Gulf of Mexico, she took schooner ''R. H. Vermilyea'' on 12 March 1865, ''Telemico'' on the 16th and ''George Burkhart'' the next day. Steamer ''Cora'' surrendered to her near Brazos Santiago, Texas, on the 24th. She chased CSS ''Webb'' as the Confederate steamer attempted to run down the Mississippi River and escape to sea on 24 April.

After the war, ''Quaker City'' was decommissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 18 May and sold at auction there on 20 June. Redocumented on 11 August, ''Quaker City'' then served American commerce under U.S. registry. In 1867, she was chartered to carry a group of American travelers on a "package tour" of France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, the "Holy Land", and Egypt, departing 8 June from New York City. Mark Twain was a member of the tour group, sponsored by the newspaper '' The Daily Alta CaliforniAlta California'', and his humorous letters about the trip became his best-selling book ''The Innocents Abroad''. The steamer was sold and renamed ''Columbia'' in 1869; later that year she was acquired by the Haitian Navy and renamed ''Mont Organisé''. Sold again in February 1871, she was renamed ''République'', but was lost at sea off Bermuda later in that month. She was on a voyage from "Le Marc" to New York.

References

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External links

USS ''Quaker City'' (1861-1865)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quaker City
Ships of the Union Navy
Steamships of the United States Navy
Gunboats of the United States Navy
American Civil War patrol vessels of the United States
Ships built in Philadelphia
1854 ships
Shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean