USS Mound City

USS Mound City, circa 1864-65
History
Launched:	October 1861
Commissioned:	16 January 1862
Decommissioned:	sold 9 November 1865
Fate:	Scrapped
General characteristics
Displacement:	512 long tons (520 t)
Length:	175 ft (53 m)
Beam:	51 ft (16 m)
Draft:	6 ft (1.8 m)
Propulsion:	Steam-driven sternwheel
Speed:	9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph)
Complement:	251
Armament:	(see section below)
Armor:	Casemate:2.5 in (64 mm) Pilothouse: 1.25 in (32 mm)

USS Mound City was a City-class ironclad gunboat built for service on the Mississippi River and its tributaries in the American Civil War. Originally commissioned as part of the Union Army's Western Gunboat Flotilla, she remained in that service until October 1862. Then the flotilla was transferred to the Navy and she became part of the Mississippi River Squadron, where she remained until the end of the war.

While with the Western Gunboat Flotilla, Mound City took part in combat at Island No. 10, Fort Pillow, and in an expedition on the White River in Arkansas. At Fort Pillow, she was rammed by Confederate vessels of the River Defense Fleet and averted sinking only by retreating into shoals. On the White River during the Battle of Saint Charles, a chance Confederate shot penetrated the steam drum of her engines, resulting in 105 of its sailors being killed. An additional forty-five crew members were reported wounded, primarily by scalding. The ship suffered only minor damage.

After being transferred to the Navy's Mississippi River Squadron, she served in the Vicksburg campaign. Among her activities there were participation in the Steele's Bayou Expedition and the later bombardment of the batteries at Grand Gulf, Mississippi. Following the capture of Vicksburg and consequent opening of the Mississippi, she took part in the ill-fated Red River Expedition, from which she and the other ships were rescued only with difficulty.

With the end of hostilities, she was decommissioned and sold to private parties.

Mound City was one of seven gunboats built under contract for the Union Army by industrialist and inventor James B. Eads. The boats were collectively known by various names: Eads gunboats, City-class ironclads, or Cairo-class (after the lead vessel) gunboats. Unofficially and more commonly, they were referred to as "Pook turtles," in reference to both their peculiar shape and the man who was most responsible for their design. The initial specifications were drawn up by Eads, Commander John Rodgers of the US Navy, and the US Army's Quartermaster-General Montgomery C. Meigs. Chief of the Bureau of Construction and Repair John Lenthall provided some initial plans, but the pressure of other duties soon forced him to turn the task over to Samuel Moore Pook. Most of the final design was created by Pook, with some modifications by Flag Officer Andrew H. Foote. The engines were designed by A. Thomas Merritt.