USS Midnight (1861)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
|
|
| Ordered: | as Dawn |
| Acquired: | 31 July 1861 |
| Commissioned: | 19 October 1861 |
| Out of service: | July 1865 |
| Struck: | 1865 (est.) |
| Fate: | sold, 1 November 1865 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 387 |
| Length: | 126 ft (38 m) |
| Beam: | 27 ft 10 in (8.48 m) |
| Draft: | 11 ft (3.4 m) |
| Propulsion: | sail |
| Complement: | 70 |
| Armament: |
|
USS Midnight (1861) was a steamer purchased by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was planned by the Union Navy for use as a gunboat stationed off Confederate waterways to prevent their trading with foreign countries.
Midnight was purchased as Dawn by the Navy at New York City 31 July 1861 and commissioned at New York Navy Yard 19 October 1861, Acting Volunteer Lt. James Trathen in command.
Assigned to the Gulf Blockading Squadron 2 November 1861, Midnight operated primarily along the southwestern coast of Texas, from time to time engaging Confederate coastal batteries as she served the Union blockade.
Her faithful performance of duty in an area remote and neglected by war correspondents, illustrates the hardship often suffered by American sailors during the Civil War, in August 1862, as he reported sending Midnight home, Admiral Farragut commented:
Overhauled and her crew restored to health, Midnight arrived Port Royal, South Carolina, 16 October for service in the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. For almost 2 years she continued this duty, a strong link in the chain which the Union Navy had forged and was drawing ever tighter around the Confederacy. On 3 February 1864 she captured British schooner Defy off Doboy Light, Georgia, sailing from Nassau to Beaufort, North Carolina with a cargo of salt for the South. Midnight was ordered to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2 August for repairs.
Midnight’s last tour of duty took her to the East Gulf Blockading Squadron early in the fall. Besides serving in the blockade, she from time to time sent landing parties ashore in the vicinity of St. Andrews Bay, to gather information and to destroy Confederate resources.
...
Wikipedia