USS Columbine (1862)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
|
|
| Name: | USS Columbine |
| Laid down: | date unknown |
| Launched: | 1850 |
| Acquired: | 12 December 1862 |
| Out of service: | 23 May 1864 |
| Fate: | sunk, 23 May 1864 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | side-wheel steamer originally built as a tugboat |
| Tonnage: | 133 |
| Length: | 117 ft (36 m) |
| Beam: | 36 ft (11 m) |
| Draft: | 6 ft (1.8 m) |
| Propulsion: |
|
| Speed: | 10 kn (12 mph; 19 km/h) |
| Complement: | 25 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: | 2 × 20-pounder Parrott rifles |
USS Columbine (1862) was a side-wheel steamer that patrolled with the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron in the American Civil War.
On 22 May 1864, Columbine was planning a raid on Confederate supplies at St. Augustine, Florida, when local cavalry commander Captain John Jackson Dickison, alerted by Confederate spy Lola Sánchez, ambushed the vessel at Horse Landing. Half her crew were wounded, though only one man was killed, and the captured vessel was burned. It was one of the few times that a Union warship was destroyed by land-based forces in Florida.
Columbine was originally a tugboat. The vessel was built in New York City in 1850 as A. H. Schultz, purchased by the Union Navy on 12 December 1862, outfitted by Howe & Cope-\land, New York City, and placed under the command of Acting Master J. S. Dennis.
Columbine patrolled with the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron off Port Royal, South Carolina, from 6 January 1863-14 February 1864, when she arrived at Jacksonville, Florida. From 9–12 March, she participated in an expedition up the St. Johns River and Ocklawaha Rivers during which she took one prize.
After learning from Confederate spy Lola Sánchez, that on 21 May, the Union forces planned a surprise attack on the Confederates while they slept and with the intention of proceeding towards St. Augustine to "liberate" supplies for the Union army.Captain John Jackson Dickison, commander of Confederate forces of the 2nd Florida Cavalry, and his men crossed the St. Johns River that night and set a trap with an artillery piece from the Milton Light Artillery.
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