USS ''Smith Briggs'' was a

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

gunboat destroyed 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 ...

Background

The ''Smith Briggs'' was originally a

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

tugboat built in East Albany, New York, for Samuel Schuyler and the Schuyler Steam Towing Company, and named after an agent for the

Hudson River Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mid ...

Company. The ship was laid down in January 1862, and launched on May 3, 1862, at a cost of $20,000, and made her maiden trial voyage on September 27, 1862. The side-wheel steamer was powered with a Maginnis-built 36-inch cylinder with a 9-foot stroke with 30 pounds steam and a speed of 30 RPMs. It was 135 feet long and had a draft of 4 feet. The private ship was leased by the U.S. government for $200 a day and converted into a gunboat at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, in

Portsmouth, Virginia Portsmouth is an independent city in southeast Virginia and across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk. As of the 2020 census, the population was 97,915. It is part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. The Norfolk Naval Shipyard and Naval M ...

, in March 1863. It was outfitted with armor plating and two guns: a 32-pound

Parrott rifle The Parrott rifle was a type of muzzle-loading rifled artillery weapon used extensively in the American Civil War. Parrott rifle The gun was invented by Captain Robert Parker Parrott, a West Point graduate. He was an American soldier and invent ...

and a 42-pound banded rifle gun.

Service history

In the spring of 1863, the ''Smith Briggs'' participated in the Siege of Suffolk, and on June 5, 1863, it participated in a combined expedition with the gunboats , , and the transport ''Winnissimet'' as they ascended the

Mattaponi River The Mattaponi River is a tributary of the York River estuary in eastern Virginia in the United States. History Historically, the Mattaponi River has been known by a variety of names and alternate spellings, including ''Mat-ta-pa-ment'', Matapa ...

to attack

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 ...

ordnance works at the town of Walkerton. On June 23, 1863, the ''Smith Briggs'' and other gunboats – including ''Commodore Morris'', , ''Jesup'', , and – formed an escort flotilla to provide support for a week-long mission to land a Union force at White House plantation along the

Pamunkey River The Pamunkey River is a tributary of the York River, about long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 in eastern Virginia in the United States. Via the York Rive ...

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 ...

. It also patrolled the

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

Rappahannock Rappahannock may refer to: Education *Rappahannock Academy & Military Institute (1813–1873), a school in Caroline County, Virginia *Rappahannock Community College, a two-year college located in Glenns and Warsaw, Virginia *Rappahannock County ...

Nansemond The Nansemond are the indigenous people of the Nansemond River, a 20-mile long tributary of the James River in Virginia. Nansemond people lived in settlements on both sides of the Nansemond River where they fished (with the name "Nansemond" meanin ...

, and

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

Rivers in addition to

Chuckatuck Creek Chuckatuck Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the James River in the U.S. state of Virginia. The creek rises in Isle of Wight County and ...

Hampton Roads, Virginia Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James, Nansemond and Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point where the Chesapeake Bay flows into the Atlantic O ...

Battle of Smithfield

''Smith Briggs'' was a key ship in the

Battle of Smithfield The Battle of Smithfield was a relatively small skirmish during the American Civil War – taking place on from January 31 to February 1, 1864, in Smithfield, Virginia. Background In 1863 and early 1864, Confederate units harassed Union gun ...

in 1864. During the engagement with Confederate troops, members of the 99th New York Infantry were waiting for the ship to arrive down the Pagan River to pick them up. Upon reaching the troops who were under fire, the gunboat was hit in its exposed

boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, central h ...

causing it to run aground. As a result, the Union soldiers were taken as prisoners. By 3 p.m. on February 1, 1864, the battle was over.

soldiers and civilians climbed aboard the ship to look for souvenirs and provisions such as coffee and tea. The golden eagle figurehead was also removed from atop the boat's pilot house. Once the looting was complete, soldiers set it on fire. When the flames reached the two tons of black powder on board, the ship was blown to pieces. What was left of the wreck remained in the Pagan River until it was salvaged by the company Maltby & Brown a few years later. The owner of the ship was paid $45,000 in restitution by the government after it was destroyed.

References

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith Briggs 1862 ships Maritime incidents in February 1864 Ships built in Albany, New York Ships of the United States Army Captured ships Shipwrecks of the American Civil War Shipwrecks in rivers Ship fires