| Arizona -- an iron-hulled, side-wheel steamer laid down
in 1858 at Wilmington. Delaware, by the shipbuilding firm, Harlan and
Hollingsworth, and completed in 1859 -- operated out of New Orleans carrying
passengers and cargo to and from ports along the gulf and Atlantic coasts
of the United State. Her commercial service ended on 15 January 1862 when
Confederate Major General Mansfield Lovell seized her at New Orleans, along
with 13 other steamers, for use as a blockade runner. |
| No continuous record of her operations during the next year is
existent, but sporadic reports suggest that the ship carried cotton from
New Orleans and Mobile to Havana and returned to those ports with war materiel.
Gaps exist in our knowledge of changes in the vessel's owners, name, and
registry. |
| In any case, on 28 October 1862, the side-wheeler was operating
under a "
._._._provisional register of the English steamer
Caroline
._._."
as she steamed from Havana with a cargo of munitions to be delivered to Mobile.
That morning, a lookout on Montgomery's topmast head sighted the blockade
runner. The Union screw gunboat immediately set out to pursuit of the stranger,
beginning a six-hour chase. When Montgomery pulled within range of
Caroline, she opened fire with her 30-pounder Parrott rifle and expended
17 shells before two hits brought the quarry to. |
| Two boats from the blockader rowed out to the former
Arizona and one returned with her master, a man named Forbes, who
claimed to have been bound for Matamoros, Mexico, not Mobile. "I do not take
you for running the blockade," the flag officer -- with tongue in cheek --
replied, "but for you damned poor navigation. Any man bound for Matamoros
from Havana and coming within twelve miles of Mobile light has no business
to have a steamer." |
| Farragut sent the prize to Philadelphia where she was condemned
by admiralty court. The Federal Government purchased her on 23 January 1863.
The Navy restored her original name, Arizona, and placed her in commission
on 9 March 1863, Lt. Daniel P. Upton in command. |
| Nine days later, the steamer stood down the Delaware River and
headed for the Gulf of Mexico. En route south, she chased and overtook the
cotton-laden sloop Aurelia off Mosquito Inlet, Florida, on 23 March
and sent her to Port Royal. |
| Shortly before Arizona joined the West Gulf Blockading
Squadron at New Orleans, Farragut had led a naval force up the Mississippi
past Port Hudson to close off the flow of supplies down the Red River and
across the Mississippi to Confederate armies fighting in the East. His warship
met a fierce cannonade as they attempted to pass Port Hudson, and only the
flagship Hartford and her consort Albatross made it safely
through to the strategic stretch of the river between Port Hudson and
Vicksburg. |
| Arizona played an important role in strengthening Farragut's
drastically reduced force and opening up communications between its commander
and the rest of his squadron. Form New Orleans, she proceeded to Berwick
Bay to join a naval force commanded by Comdr. Augustus P. Cook which, in
cooperation with troops commanded by Major General Nathaniel P. Banks, was
operating in the swampy backwaters of the Louisiana lowlands west of the
Mississippi. |
| On 14 April, while carrying army units, she, Estrella,
and Calhoun attacked CSS Queen of the West on Grand Gulf, a
wide and still stretch of the Atchafalaya River. A shell form Calhoun
set fire to cotton which her southern captors had loaded on that former Ellet
ram and blew up her boiler. The burning cottonclad drifted downstream for
several hours before running aground and exploding. The three Union steamers
also captured 90 members of the doomed vessel's crew who had jumped overboard
to escape scalding. |
| Six days later, Clifton and Calhoun joined the same
force and, working with four companies of Union infantry, took Fort Burton,
a Southern battery consisting of two old siege guns inplace at Butte La Rose,
Louisiana. This victory opened for Union ships a passage -- thought Atchafalaya
Bay and the River of the same name -- connecting the gulf with the Red and
Mississippi Rivers. Thus, Farragut could bypass Port Hudson with supplies,
messages and ships. |
| After this path was clear, Arizona entered the Red River
and descended it ti its mouth where she met Hartford, Farragut's flagship.
On 3 May, she was part of a three-ship reconnaissance force that ascended
the Red River until it encountered heavy fire from two large confederate
steamers, Grand Duke and Mary T.,, supported by Southern shore
batteries and snipers. Since the narrow channel prevented their maneuvering
to bring their broadsides to bear on their attackers, the Union ships were
compelled to retire. |
| As they descended, the Northern vessels met a large force led
by Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter who ordered Arizona and
Estella to join him in a much more powerful drive up the Red River.
He allowed Albatross, the third ship, to return to the Mississippi
to report to Farragut. |
| The next morning, Porter's force arrived at Fort DeRussy -- an
uncompleted stronghold the South had been building on the banks of the river
-- and found it abandoned. After partially destroying the fortifications,
Porter continued on up stream to Alexandria which surrendered without resistance.
Before Porter left the river, Arizona took part in a reconnaissance
of the Black River, a tributary of the Red. On 10 May, she joined in an attack
on Fort Beauregard at Harrisonburg, Louisiana, on the Ouachita River. |
| Following her return to the Mississippi, Arizona supported
operations against Port Hudson which finally fell on 9 July -- five days
after the surrender of Vicksburg -- removing the last Southern hold on the
river and finally cutting the Confederacy in two. |
| Arizona then returned to New Orleans for repairs. During
this work, Acting Master Howard Tibbito relieved Upton in command of the
side-wheeler. |
| On 4 September, Arizona departed New Orleans and proceeded
to Southwest Pass to embark 180 sharpshooters to be distributed among
Clifton, Sachem, and herself in a forthcoming attack on Sabine
Pass, Texas. She next proceeded to Atchafalaya Bay where she met her consorts
and a group of Army transports, distributed her sharpshooters, and continued
on to Sabine Pass. |
| On the morning of 8 September, the combined force crossed the
bar and then split, with Sachem and Arizona advancing up the
Louisiana (right) channel and Clifton and Granite City moving
forward through the Texas (left) channel. When they arrived within range
of the Confederate batteries they opened fire preparatory to landing the
troops. The Southern gunners then countered with a devastating cannonade.
A shot through her boiler totally disabled Sachem; another carried
away Clifton's wheel rope, causing her to run aground under the
Confederate guns. Crocker -- who commanded Clifton as well as the
whole naval force -- fought his ship until, with 10 men killed and nine other
wounded, he deemed it his duty "to stop the slaughter by showing the white
flat
._._._." After flooding her magazine to prevent
its exploding, Sachem also surrendered and was taken under tow by
CSS Uncle Ben. With the loss of Clifton's and Sachem's
firepower, the two remaining gunboats and troop transports recrossed the
bar and departed for New Orleans. |
| The Sabine Pass expedition had, in the words of Commodore H. H.
Bell, "totally failed." Nevertheless, Major General Banks reported: "In all
respects the cooperation of the naval authorities had been hearty and
efficient._._._." |
| Arizona subsequently served on blockade duty along the
Texas coast, especially at Galveston. |
| Later in the year, yellow fever broke out on board Arizona,
forcing her back to New Orleans until the ship's company had returned to
good health. During the month of November, she had made trips to Calcasieu
Pass, Vermilion Bay, and Mermentau Lake on convoy and transport trips, and
on 10 December, she transported Capt. John B. Marchand to Forts St. Philip
and Jackson to investigate a mutiny. In December 1863, she went to Jackson
to investigate a mutiny. In December 1863, she went to Derwick Bay and, when
the rise of water permitted, entered Grand Lake and the Atchafalaya and remained
there on constant blockade. In February 1864, she went to New Orleans and,
when repaired, returned to Sabine Pass for blockade duty -- one of 14 vessels
under Capt. Marchand in USS Lackawanna. That duty lasted until September
1864 when she proceeded to New Orleans for repairs. There, she was fitted
out for service as the flagship of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron. In
January 1865, Lt. Comdr. George Brown took command of the ship. |
| On the evening of 27 February 1865, while underway from South
West Pass to New Orleans, 38 miles below New Orleans, a fire broke out in
the engineer's after storeroom and spread with great rapidity. Brown ordered
the magazine flooded an, when no possibility of saving the ship remained,
ordered the crew to the boats. Some leaped overboard and swam to shore. The
vessel drifted to the west bank of the river, grounded, and burned until
she exploded 35 minutes past midnight. Out of a crew of 98 on board four
were missing. |
Tonnage, 959; Length, 200'; Beam, 34'; Depth of hold, 17'6"; Draft,
8'; Speed, 15 knots; Complement, 82; Armament, four 32-pdrs., one 30-pdr.
Parrot Rifle; one 12-pdr Rifle |
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