USS Mohican (1859)
| History | |
|---|---|
 
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| Name: | USS Mohican |
| Namesake: | Mohican |
| Builder: | Portsmouth Navy Yard |
| Laid down: | August 1858 |
| Launched: | 15 February 1859 |
| Commissioned: | 29 November 1859 |
| Decommissioned: | 25 June 1872 |
| Fate: | Broken up, 1873 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Steam sloop-of-war |
| Displacement: | 1,461 long tons (1,484 t) |
| Length: | 198 ft 9 in (60.58 m) |
| Beam: | 33 ft (10 m) |
| Draft: | 13 ft (4.0 m) |
| Propulsion: | Steam engine |
| Speed: | 10.5 kn (12.1 mph; 19.4 km/h) |
| Complement: | 160 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: | 2 × 11 in (280 mm) guns, 4 × 32-pounder guns |
The first USS Mohican was a steam sloop of war in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She was named for the Mohican tribe.
Mohican was laid down by Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine, in August 1858; launched on 15 February 1859; and commissioned on 29 November 1859, Commander Sylvanus William Godon in command.
Assigned to the African Squadron, Mohican departed Portsmouth on 19 January 1860 for the South Atlantic and for the next year and one-half cruised on patrol against pirates and slavers off the coasts of Africa and at times Brazil. On 8 August, the sloop captured the slaver Erie — commanded by Nathaniel Gordon — off the Congo and forced that ship to unload its captive cargo at Monrovia, Liberia. She remained on station until sailing for home on 13 August 1861.
Following her arrival at Boston, Massachusetts on 27 September, she sailed to join Flag Officer Samuel Du Pont's South Atlantic Blockading Squadron off Sandy Hook, New Jersey. Departing Norfolk, Virginia on 29 October for Port Royal, South Carolina, as part of the largest U.S. naval squadron assembled to that time, the sloop steamed in the battleline on 7 November as Du Pont's squadron pounded Fort Walker on Hilton Head Island, forcing the Confederates to abandon the emplacement, thereby allowing a combined Union Army and Navy Force to land and occupy this important base of operations. Mohican was hit six times by Confederate shells in this engagement, suffering superficial hull damage and having one man killed and seven wounded. One of the wounded officers was Acting Master Isaac D. Seyburn.
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