USS General Thomas (1864)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
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| Laid down: | date unknown |
| Launched: | 1864 |
| Commissioned: | 8 August 1864 |
| Out of service: | 3 June 1865 |
| Struck: | 1865 (est.) |
| Fate: |
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| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 184 tons |
| Length: | 165' |
| Beam: | 26' |
| Draught: | depth of hold 4' 6" |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | not known |
| Complement: | not known |
| Armament: |
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USS General Thomas (1864) was a Steamship chartered from the U.S. War Department by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Navy as a gunboat in waterways of the Confederate South.
General Thomas was one of four light wooden gunboats built at Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the War Department in 1864. After cruising on the Ohio River without being formally commissioned in June and July 1864, she commissioned 8 August 1864 at Bridgeport, Alabama, Acting Master Gilbert Morton in command.
Assigned to the 11th district of the Mississippi Squadron, commanded by Lt. Mordeau Forrest, General Thomas served as a patrol vessel on the Tennessee River, above Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
During this period Confederate General John Bell Hood was mounting his campaign into Tennessee to divert General William Tecumseh Sherman's march on Atlanta, Georgia, and General Thomas patrolled the river unceasingly to prevent the Southern troops from crossing.
At Decatur, Alabama, 28 October 1864, the gunboat engaged strong batteries from General John Bell Hood's army. After passing the batteries downstream and sustaining several hits, General Thomas rounded to and, with Union Army gunboat Stone River, poured such a withering crossfire into the emplacements that the Confederates were forced to withdraw.
After Hood's repulse at Nashville, Tennessee in December, General Thomas was used on the upper Tennessee River to block his escape route. She aided General James B. Steedman in his successful attack on Decatur 27 December by giving his army concentrated gunfire support, and attempted to pass over Elk River Shoals to prevent a Southern crossing of the river. The Tennessee River was too low, however, and Forrest and his gunboats could not cross.
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