USS Victory (1863)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
|
|
| Ordered: | as Banker |
| Laid down: | date unknown |
| Launched: | 1863 |
| Acquired: | May 1863 |
| Commissioned: | 8 July 1863 |
| Decommissioned: | 30 June 1865 |
| Struck: | 1865 (est.) |
| Fate: | sold, 17 August 1865 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 160 tons |
| Length: | 157 ft (48 m) |
| Beam: | 30 ft 3 in (9.22 m) |
| Draught: | 5 ft (1.5 m) |
| Propulsion: |
|
| Speed: | 5 mph |
| Complement: | not known |
| Armament: | one 24-pounder howitzer |
| Armour: | tinclad |
USS Victory (1863) was a steamer purchased by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
Victoria was used primarily by the Union Navy as a gunboat assigned to patrol Confederate waterways. She also performed duties as a reconnaissance boat, a convoy escort, and as a dispatch boat.
Victory—a wooden merchant steamer built at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1863 and originally named Banker—was acquired by the Navy at Cincinnati in May 1863; was commissioned at Cincinnati on 8 July; but was not formally purchased by the Navy until 15 July.
Victory was one of the lightly armor-plated gunboats of the Mississippi Squadron called "tinclads" which were used during the Civil War for shallow water patrol and reconnaissance duty on the Tennessee, Ohio, and Cumberland rivers.
On the day of Victory's commissioning, 8 July, Confederate General John Hunt Morgan crossed the Ohio River into Indiana at the head of a 2,460-man raiding party. From the 10th to the 19th, Victory, Moose, Reindeer, Springfield, Naumkeag, and Allegheny Belle chased Morgan as he proceeded eastward along the river. Union cavalry ashore prevented him from recrossing the Ohio River to safety in the South.
While Victory and three of the gunboats remained scattered downstream on the 19th to prevent the raiding party from doubling back, the Federals finally trapped Morgan at Buffington Island and forced him to attempt a crossing. The try failed miserably, and most of the Confederates surrendered. Morgan, himself, escaped with a few followers only to be caught near New Lisbon, Ohio, one week later.
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Wikipedia