USS Alpha (1864)
Encyclopedia
USS Alpha (1864) was a side wheel Paddle steamer
acquired by the Union Navy
during the American Civil War
.
Alpha was used by the Union Navy as a tugboat
-- with a spar torpedo
as a weapon—in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate
waterways.
, in 1863 as Fred Wheeler -- was one of six similar vessels purchased by the Union Navy at Philadelphia on 3 June 1864 to support its warships in widely varied ways and to help protect them and Army transports against surprise attacks by Confederate rams, torpedo boats, or other novel craft.
Such raids had been a cause of great concern since the foray of the CSS Virginia
into Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 8 March 1862 and the threat they posed had been underscored more recently by the Southern submarine
H. L. Hunley's sinking of the Federal Navy's screw sloop of war Housatonic
and the ironclad ram CSS Albermarle's
destruction of the Southfield
.
She served on the James River
for the last months of the Civil War protecting the Union shipping which supported General Ulysses S. Grant
's troops operating against Richmond, Virginia
.
-- Alpha through Zeta.
Thus, Picket Boat No. 1 became Alpha. Some sources indicate that Alpha -- which was also called Tug No. 1 -- entered the Norfolk Navy Yard for the installation of a spar torpedo
; but, since Picket Launch No. 1 did carry a spar torpedo which Lt. William B. Gushing used to destroy Albemarle, it is reasonable to assume that similarity of names caused the two vessels to be confused and Alpha never received such a weapon.
, North Carolina
, which defended Wilmington, North Carolina
, the South's last open port. The Confederate Navy's squadron on that river had remained between Richmond, Virginia
, and a line of obstructions across the James, awaiting a chance to engage its Union counterpart on favorable terms.
Thinking that this temporary Federal weakness afloat in the area was just such an opportunity, Commodore John K. Mitchell, CSN, removed some of the obstructions; and, on the evening of 23 January, led the Southern Navy's James River Squadron downstream and attempted to slip through the new gap in the cordon of hulks
which separated them from the Union warships. The Davis Administration joined Mitchell in hoping that a Confederate naval victory on James would break General Grant's line of supply and communication and lift his siege of the Confederate capital.
, the double-turreted monitor Onondaga
-- ran aground; and Alpha proved to be invaluable by helping to refloat them.
, and a torpedo boat
also ran aground while attempting to slip through the gap despite fire from Union shore batteries. This development prompted Parker to return upstream to join in the bombardment.
A shell soon struck the stranded gunboat Drewry, detonating her magazine; and the resulting explosion so damaged Scorpion, grounded nearby, that Mitchell ordered that gunboat abandoned. Then when the stranded ironclads were again afloat, the surviving Confederate warships retired to Richmond.
's Army of Northern Virginia
abandoned the desperately defended city. During this operation Malvern
carried President Abraham Lincoln
to the former Confederate capital where former slaves paid the President homage and showed him their warm appreciation.
She was sold at public auction
at the Washington Navy Yard
on 23 September 1865 to William L. Wall and Company of Baltimore, Maryland. Redocumented as Alpha on 7 October 1865, she operated as a merchant tug for more than two decades. Her career was finally ended when she was destroyed by fire on 5 June 1886. Other details of her loss have not been found.
Paddle steamer
A paddle steamer is a steamship or riverboat, powered by a steam engine, using paddle wheels to propel it through the water. In antiquity, Paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were wheelers driven by animals or humans...
acquired by the Union Navy
Union Navy
The Union Navy is the label applied to the United States Navy during the American Civil War, to contrast it from its direct opponent, the Confederate States Navy...
during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
.
Alpha was used by the Union Navy as a tugboat
Tugboat
A tugboat is a boat that maneuvers vessels by pushing or towing them. Tugs move vessels that either should not move themselves, such as ships in a crowded harbor or a narrow canal,or those that cannot move by themselves, such as barges, disabled ships, or oil platforms. Tugboats are powerful for...
-- with a spar torpedo
Spar torpedo
A spar torpedo is a weapon consisting of a bomb placed at the end of a long pole, or spar, and attached to a boat. The weapon is used by running the end of the spar into the enemy ship. Spar torpedoes were often equipped with a barbed spear at the end, so it would stick to wooden hulls...
as a weapon—in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
waterways.
Concern over the dangers posed by CSS Virginia and Albemarle
Alpha -- a screw tug built at Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, in 1863 as Fred Wheeler -- was one of six similar vessels purchased by the Union Navy at Philadelphia on 3 June 1864 to support its warships in widely varied ways and to help protect them and Army transports against surprise attacks by Confederate rams, torpedo boats, or other novel craft.
Such raids had been a cause of great concern since the foray of the CSS Virginia
CSS Virginia
CSS Virginia was the first steam-powered ironclad warship of the Confederate States Navy, built during the first year of the American Civil War; she was constructed as a casemate ironclad using the raised and cut down original lower hull and steam engines of the scuttled . Virginia was one of the...
into Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 8 March 1862 and the threat they posed had been underscored more recently by the Southern submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
H. L. Hunley's sinking of the Federal Navy's screw sloop of war Housatonic
USS Housatonic (1861)
The first USS Housatonic was a screw sloop-of-war of the United States Navy, named for the Housatonic River of New England which rises in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, and flows southward into Connecticut before emptying into Long Island Sound a little east of Bridgeport, Connecticut...
and the ironclad ram CSS Albermarle's
CSS Albemarle
CSS Albemarle was an ironclad ram of the Confederate Navy , named for a town and a sound in North Carolina and a county in Virginia...
destruction of the Southfield
USS Southfield (1857)
USS Southfield, was a a double-ended, sidewheel steam gunboat of the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was sunk in action against the Confederate ironclad ram CSS Albemarle during the Battle of Plymouth ....
.
Assigned to the North Atlantic blockade of the South
Designated Picket Boat No. 1, the tug—commanded by Acting Ensign Nathaniel R. Davis—was assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and first appeared on its list of vessels on 1 November 1864.She served on the James River
James River (Virginia)
The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia. It is long, extending to if one includes the Jackson River, the longer of its two source tributaries. The James River drains a catchment comprising . The watershed includes about 4% open water and an area with a population of 2.5 million...
for the last months of the Civil War protecting the Union shipping which supported General Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...
's troops operating against Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
.
A confusion of names
However, when she and her sister tugs joined their squadron at Hampton Roads, Virginia, there were already six other smaller vessels on its rolls designated Picket Launch No. 1 through Picket Launch No. 6. Great confusion resulted and prompted the Navy—sometime between 1 November and 5 December 1864—to rename the former Fred Wheeler and her five sisters for the first six letters of the Greek alphabetGreek alphabet
The Greek alphabet is the script that has been used to write the Greek language since at least 730 BC . The alphabet in its classical and modern form consists of 24 letters ordered in sequence from alpha to omega...
-- Alpha through Zeta.
Thus, Picket Boat No. 1 became Alpha. Some sources indicate that Alpha -- which was also called Tug No. 1 -- entered the Norfolk Navy Yard for the installation of a spar torpedo
Spar torpedo
A spar torpedo is a weapon consisting of a bomb placed at the end of a long pole, or spar, and attached to a boat. The weapon is used by running the end of the spar into the enemy ship. Spar torpedoes were often equipped with a barbed spear at the end, so it would stick to wooden hulls...
; but, since Picket Launch No. 1 did carry a spar torpedo which Lt. William B. Gushing used to destroy Albemarle, it is reasonable to assume that similarity of names caused the two vessels to be confused and Alpha never received such a weapon.
Protecting the James against passage of Confederate ships
Alpha's most exciting service occurred late in January 1865, when most of the more powerful Union warships had withdrawn from the James to participate in an attack on Fort FisherSecond Battle of Fort Fisher
The Second Battle of Fort Fisher was a joint assault by Union Army and naval forces against Fort Fisher, outside Wilmington, North Carolina, near the end of the American Civil War...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, which defended Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington is a port city in and is the county seat of New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. The population is 106,476 according to the 2010 Census, making it the eighth most populous city in the state of North Carolina...
, the South's last open port. The Confederate Navy's squadron on that river had remained between Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, and a line of obstructions across the James, awaiting a chance to engage its Union counterpart on favorable terms.
Thinking that this temporary Federal weakness afloat in the area was just such an opportunity, Commodore John K. Mitchell, CSN, removed some of the obstructions; and, on the evening of 23 January, led the Southern Navy's James River Squadron downstream and attempted to slip through the new gap in the cordon of hulks
Hulk (ship)
A hulk is a ship that is afloat, but incapable of going to sea. Although sometimes used to describe a ship that has been launched but not completed, the term most often refers to an old ship that has had its rigging or internal equipment removed, retaining only its flotational qualities...
which separated them from the Union warships. The Davis Administration joined Mitchell in hoping that a Confederate naval victory on James would break General Grant's line of supply and communication and lift his siege of the Confederate capital.
Preparing for battle on the James
When word of this threatening thrust reached Comdr. William Albert Parker -- who commanded the Union naval forces remaining on the James—he dropped his ships downstream to a position where they could maneuver effectively during the expected battle. His vessels experienced great difficulty turning in the narrow, shallow, and meandering channel of the upper river; and Alpha assisted them to reach their new positions downstream. During the movement, several of Parker's warships—including his flagshipFlagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...
, the double-turreted monitor Onondaga
USS Onondaga (1864)
USS Onondaga was a monitor acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. Onondaga spent her entire active career with the James River Flotilla, covering the water approaches to Richmond, Virginia, during the Civil War's last year...
-- ran aground; and Alpha proved to be invaluable by helping to refloat them.
Drewry explodes, and the Confederates withdraw
However, the navigational difficulties of the upper James impartially plagued both sides; and two of Mitchell's ironclads, one gunboatGunboat
A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...
, and a torpedo boat
Torpedo boat
A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval vessel designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs rammed enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes, and later designs launched self-propelled Whitehead torpedoes. They were created to counter battleships and other large, slow and...
also ran aground while attempting to slip through the gap despite fire from Union shore batteries. This development prompted Parker to return upstream to join in the bombardment.
A shell soon struck the stranded gunboat Drewry, detonating her magazine; and the resulting explosion so damaged Scorpion, grounded nearby, that Mitchell ordered that gunboat abandoned. Then when the stranded ironclads were again afloat, the surviving Confederate warships retired to Richmond.
Participating in the expedition into a captured Richmond
The highlight of Alpha's service on the James River was her participation in the expedition upstream to Richmond immediately after General Robert E. LeeRobert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....
's Army of Northern Virginia
Army of Northern Virginia
The Army of Northern Virginia was the primary military force of the Confederate States of America in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War, as well as the primary command structure of the Department of Northern Virginia. It was most often arrayed against the Union Army of the Potomac...
abandoned the desperately defended city. During this operation Malvern
USS Malvern (1860)
USS Malvern was a large steamer captured by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was then used by the Union Navy to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries.Malvern was built in 1860 as William G...
carried President Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
to the former Confederate capital where former slaves paid the President homage and showed him their warm appreciation.
Post-war decommissioning, sale, and subsequent career
Alpha left the James in July 1865 and steamed to Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
She was sold at public auction
Public auction
A public auction is an auction held on behalf of a government in which the property to be auctioned is either property owned by the government, or property which is sold under the authority of a court of law or a government agency with similar authority....
at the Washington Navy Yard
Washington Navy Yard
The Washington Navy Yard is the former shipyard and ordnance plant of the United States Navy in Southeast Washington, D.C. It is the oldest shore establishment of the U.S. Navy...
on 23 September 1865 to William L. Wall and Company of Baltimore, Maryland. Redocumented as Alpha on 7 October 1865, she operated as a merchant tug for more than two decades. Her career was finally ended when she was destroyed by fire on 5 June 1886. Other details of her loss have not been found.