USS Whitehead
| History | |
|---|---|
 
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| Name: | USS Whitehead |
| Launched: | 1861 |
| Commissioned: | 19 November 1861 |
| Decommissioned: | 29 June 1865 |
| Fate: |
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| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Steam gunboat |
| Displacement: | 136 long tons (138 t) |
| Length: | 93 ft 2 in (28.40 m) |
| Beam: | 19 ft 9 in (6.02 m) |
| Draft: | 8 ft (2.4 m) |
| Propulsion: | Steam engine |
| Speed: | 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) |
| Armament: | 1 × 30-pounder Parrott rifle |
USS Whitehead, a screw steamer built in 1861 at New Brunswick, New Jersey, served as a gunboat in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.
Whitehead was purchased by the Navy on 17 October 1861 at New York City from D. B. Martin, and commissioned on 19 November 1861, Acting Master Charles A. French in command.
The following day, Whitehead reached Hampton Roads and joined the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. She sailed for the North Carolina coast on 28 December 1861 and arrived at Hatteras Inlet on 4 January 1862.
During the next few months, the steamer Whitehead carried out extensive operations against Confederate vessels and shore installations in the sounds and rivers of North Carolina. On 7–8 February, she helped to capture Roanoke Island. On 10 February, Whitehead took schooner M. C. Etheridge on the Pasquotank River. On 10 April, she made prizes of schooners Comet and J. J. Crittendon and of sloop America in Newbegun Creek. Together with the John L. Lockwood, General Putnam, and Shawsheen, Whitehead blocked the mouth of the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal with fill on 23–24 April. She captured schooner Eugenia in Bennett's Creek on 20 May and took Ella D off Keel's Creek two days later.
Late in September, Whitehead briefly left North Carolina waters to participate in a Federal assault upon Confederate forces gathered at Franklin, Virginia. On 3 October, Commodore Perry, Hunchback and Whitehead entered the Blackwater River and fired on Rebel troops for over six hours before a barricade placed across the channel necessitated retreat. One of Whitehead's sailors, Ordinary Seaman Edwin Smith, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during this engagement.
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