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CSS ''Webb'', a 655-ton side-wheel steam ram, was originally built in 
On April 23–24, 1865, under the command of Charles S. Read, ''Webb'' broke through the Federal blockade at the mouth of the Red River, Louisiana, and made a dramatic run down the Mississippi toward the
CSS ''Webb'', a 655-ton side-wheel steam ram, was originally built in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
in 1856 as the civilian steamship ''William H. Webb''. She received a Confederate privateer's commission at New Orleans in May 1861, but was instead employed as a transport until January 1862. Converted to a "cotton clad
Cottonclads were a classification of steam-powered warships where a wooden ship was protected from enemy fire by bales of cotton lining its sides. Cottonclads were prevalent during the American Civil War, particularly in the Confederate States ...
" ram by the Confederate Army, thereafter served on the Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Mis ...
and Red Rivers. On February 24, 1863, under the command of Captain Charles Pierce, she participated in the sinking of the Federal ironclad . ''Webb'' was transferred to the Confederate Navy in early 1865.
On April 23–24, 1865, under the command of Charles S. Read, ''Webb'' broke through the Federal blockade at the mouth of the Red River, Louisiana, and made a dramatic run down the Mississippi toward the Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United S ...
. After eluding several United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
vessels and passing New Orleans
New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
sloop
A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular ...
. Rather than face the veteran ship's broadside, the ''Webb'' was run ashore and destroyed by her crew. Stern, 1962, pp. 140-141
See also
*Blockade runners of the American Civil War
The blockade runners of the American Civil War were seagoing Steamships, steam ships that were used to get through the Union blockade that extended some along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coastlines and the lower Mississippi River. The Confe ...
* List of ships of the Confederate States Navy
* Confederate River Defense Fleet
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 ...
* Mississippi River campaigns
* Red River Campaign
References
Sources
* * : - Cottonclad rams of the Confederate States Navy 1856 ships Ships built by William H. Webb Shipwrecks of the American Civil War Shipwrecks of the Mississippi River Maritime incidents in April 1865 {{AmericanCivilWar-stub