Friday, June 8, 2007

How About a Confederate Ship on the Header?

The new header, the first Confederate ship to grace that spot, is the CSS Nashville. This 1221-ton sidewheel steamer was built in New York in 1853 and seized by the Confederate government in Charleston in 1861, being converted to a blockade runner/cruiser. She ran the blockade into Beaufort, NC on 28 February 1862, carrying a much-needed cargo of supplies and weapons. Not too long afterwards she was sold to private interests in Georgetown, SC and operated first as a blockade runner Thomas L. Wragg, then as a privateer Rattlesnake. On 28 February 1863, just one year after running the blockade into Beaufort, she was destroyed in Savannah by the Federal ironclad USS Montauk.

This ship holds a special place in my pantheon of vessels because a few years ago a friend of mine who is an antique weapons collector/dealer obtained an Enfield rifle with "CSS Nashville" stamped on the underside of the barrel. What a find!

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