USS St . Clair ( 1862 ) USS " St . Clair " ( 1862 ) was a steamer purchased by the Union Navy during the American Civil War . She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat assigned to patrol Confederate waterways . Built in Pennsylvania in 1862 . " St . Clair " , a wooden , stern - wheel , river steamer built in 1862 at Belle Vernon , Pennsylvania , was purchased on 13 August that year by the Navy Department from R . D . Cochran et al . , at St . Louis , Missouri . She was fitted out and commissioned on 24 September 1862 at Carondelet , Missouri , Act . Vol . Lt . J . S . Hurd in command . Civil War operations . Assigned to Mississippi River operations . The next day , she sailed in company with " Brilliant " for Cairo , Illinois . For many months previous , Flag Officer Foote and Commodore C . H . Davis had commanded the victorious Western Flotilla for the U . S . War Department , gaining control of the Mississippi River from Cairo , Illinois , to Memphis , Tennessee . On 1 October 1862 , the Western Flotilla was transferred to the Navy Department , as the Mississippi Squadron , and was placed under the command of Acting Rear Admiral David D . Porter on the 15th . Davis , who had relieved Foote when the latter was incapacitated by wounds , was now appointed Chief of the Bureau of Navigation . Admiral Porter began to augment the gunboat squadron with many shallow - draft vessels , including " St . Clair " , and to expand Union operations on the western rivers . The squadron assembled at Cairo , from which they were dispatched to and stationed along the Mississippi , Cumberland , Tennessee , and upper Ohio Rivers . Objectives of the Mississippi Squadron . The objectives of the Mississippi Squadron were to cooperate with and support Generals William Rosecrans , Ambrose Burnside , Ulysses S . Grant , and others in combating guerrillas along the river banks ; to stop the transport of arms and munitions from Mississippi to Arkansas ; to punish rebel supporters living in and around the river communities ; and to escort Federal troop and supply transports on the waterways . To these ends , " St . Clair " and her sister gunboats were successful throughout the war . Assigned reprisal and indemnity duties . " St . Clair " was sent up the Ohio River on 23 October 1862 to assess rebel inhabitants of Caseyville , Kentucky , for robbery of the transport , " Hazel Dell " , and to close the ferries and curtail cross - river communications . She was ordered to effect reprisals against those persons known to shelter and supply guerrillas by confiscating goods and destroying property as a lesson to others . Failing to receive an indemnity of 35 , 000 dollars from the townspeople , " St . Clair ' s " crew arrested those who could not prove loyalty and held them on board to turn them over to the Union Army . Among those arrested were an official named William Pemberton and a notorious sutler , J . M . Scantlin , who dealt in gunpowder with the Confederates . Operating with " Fairplay " and " Brilliant " , " St . Clair " then engaged in providing protection for loyal citizens . During December , she operated in the Green , Cumberland , and Tennessee Rivers to restrict commerce . Supporting General Rosecrans Tennessee operations . In January 1863 , " St . Clair " provided convoy protection on the Cumberland to Nashville , Tennessee , to support General William Rosecrans . In February , she participated in the relief of Fort Donelson . On 3 February , while convoying Army troop transports with " Fairplay " , " Lexington " , " Brilliant " , " Robb " , and " Silver Lake " , " St . Clair " engaged in a three - hour duel with rebels who were attacking Union troops under Col . Harding near Dover , Tennessee . Driving the enemy from their positions , the gunboats followed their retreat up the river , shelling the woods . Though firing at supposed positions and blinded by the wooded river banks , it was later found that the rebels were never able to avoid the shelling and suffered several hundred casualties . Through March , she continued convoy operations . " St . Clair " comes under fire at Palmyra and is disabled . On 3 April , at Palmyra , Tennessee , while in convoy , " St . Clair " was fired on by Confederate batteries and disabled when accurate shots crippled her machinery . She was safely towed away by " Fairplay " and later repaired at Cairo , Illinois . The following day , her sister gunboats returned to Palmyra and burned the town in retaliation . Assigned to support Mississippi River operations . On 19 June , " St . Clair " was designated as " Gunboat No . 19 " . Following repair , she departed Cairo late in June to resume escort duty for convoys bringing supplies to forces besieging Vicksburg . After the fall of that strong Confederate river fortress , the Mississippi Squadron and the Western Gulf Squadron were able to control the entire Mississippi River , though not on all of its tributaries . " St . Clair " was sent south in mid - September to operate between Donaldsonville , Louisiana , and New Orleans , Louisiana , in support of Union Army operations . Early in 1864 , plans were laid down for a joint Army - Navy operation on the Red River with the prime purpose of restoring Federal control in Texas . Admiral Porter ' s Mississippi Squadron was to convey General William Tecumseh Sherman ' s forces up the river to Alexandria , Louisiana , timed with the movement of forces under General Nathaniel P . Banks and General Steele between there and Shreveport , Louisiana . The operation was to be carried out during expected high water conditions in mid - March . Clearing out the Red River and its tributary , the Black River . The major portion of Porter ' s fleet entered the mouth on 12 March and moved up the river . Unexpected strength in the Confederate ranks , unusual low water conditions for the year , and difficulty in coordinating movement of separate large forces overland brought about failure , to some extent , for the campaign . A portion of the fleet , some 14 vessels , became entrapped in the upper river as the Army was withdrawing from actions at Sabine Crossroads and Pleasant Hill . Only the determination of Admiral Porter and the resourcefulness of the Army engineers saved the fleet . As they were constructing dams to raise the river to float the boats over the rocks and falls , " St . Clair " was ordered from Baton Rouge , Louisiana , to Alexandria , Louisiana , to bolster defenses . On 21 April , she engaged rebels below Alexandria , and from 25 April to 3 May protected barges between Fort De Russy and Alexandria while silencing gun positions at Dunn ' s Bayou and Wilson ' s Bend . Admiral Porter now had his fleet reassembled at Alexandria and strengthened with the addition of three ironclads and a part of Farragut ' s detached squadron . General Banks arrived on 7 May , and they began to clear out the Red River and its tributary , the Black . St . Clair escorted the transports back to the Mississippi River and engaged rebel troops at Eunice ' s Bluff on the 15th . The transports safely reached Simmesport , Louisiana , at the mouth on the 21st , and " St . Clair " proceeded to Baton Rouge . Final operations of the war . The Yazoo River now became for a short time the focal point of Porter ' s squadron operations , while " St . Clair " continued patrol and convoy duty in the lower Mississippi until August when she steamed to Mound City , Illinois , for repairs . " St . Clair " spent the remainder of the year at Mound City . In January 1865 , she escorted convoys on the Tennessee River and carried dispatches between General Thomas ' s headquarters and Johnsonville , Tennessee . She remained in the Tennessee River until May and was reassigned to the 3d Division of the Mississippi Squadron to operate between Grand Gulf and New Orleans . Post - war decommissioning , sale and civilian career . In July , she returned to Mound City where she was decommissioned on the 12th and dismantled . On 17 August 1865 , " St . Clair " was sold at public auction to J . H . Stearn at Mound City . She was redocumented on 27 September 1865 and operated in merchant service until abandoned in 1869 . References . Pictures of the USS " St Clair "