| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Completed | August 1862 |
| Acquired | October 31, 1862 |
| Commissioned | December 11, 1862 |
| Decommissioned | June 30, 1865 |
| Fate | Sold, August 17, 1865 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Sternwheel steamer |
| Tonnage | 175 tons |
| Length | 154 ft 2 in (47.0 m) |
| Beam | 31 ft 2 in (9.50 m) |
| Draft | 4 ft 6 in (1.37 m) |
| Propulsion | 2 × steam engines |
| Armament | 6 ×24-pounder howitzers |
USSRomeo was asternwheel steamer that saw service as atinclad warship during theAmerican Civil War. Completed in August 1862 as a civilian vessel to be used for trade on theWabash River, she was instead purchased by theUnion Navy for military service in the war'swestern theater in October.Commissioned in December, she clearednaval mines from theYazoo River later that month before participating inoperations againstConfederate-heldFort Hindman in January 1863. After the fall of Fort Hindman,Romeo joined an expedition up theWhite River. In February and March 1863, she was part of theYazoo Pass expedition, and later that year she fought Confederates at river landings to help isolateVicksburg, Mississippi, during theVicksburg campaign.
Later in 1863,Romeo served on the White River for part of theLittle Rock campaign, but was in poor condition and required repairs. After these repairs, the vessel was transferred to theTennessee River. During February 1864, she was part of an expedition up the Yazoo River toYazoo City, Mississippi. She spent most of the rest of the war patrolling theMississippi River, encountering Confederate land forces on several occasions. With the war drawing to a close in April and May 1865,Romeo was declaredsurplus on May 29.Decommissioned on June 30, she was sold on August 17 and was then used in the merchant trade. At some point in her civilian career, she was converted into asidewheel steamer.Romeo ceased to appear in the shipping registers in 1870.
In mid-1862, with theCivil War ongoing, theUnion Navy authorizedCommodore Joseph B. Hull to purchase civilian vessels for conversion into warships.[1] Some of these civilian ships were converted intotinclad warships, a process that involved removing thepilothouse and usually removing thetexas (a structure used for crew housing not found on all steamboats). A woodencasemate[a] was then added to the vessel, along with a new armored pilothouse. The ships were also partially covered with thin metal armor, certain internal structures were reinforced, and cannons were added as armament.[3] The vessels were not actually armored withtin; rather it was a term used to distinguish the lighter-armored tinclads[b] from the more heavily armoredironclad warships.[5] One of the vessels purchased by Hull wasRomeo,[6] which was bought atCincinnati, Ohio, on October 31, 1862,[7] at a cost of $17,459 (equivalent to $550,000 in 2024).Romeo had been completed in August atBrownsville, Pennsylvania,[8] for John Rhoades, who was also the owner of the vessel that becameUSSJuliet.[9]Romeo had been earmarked for trade use on theWabash River when she was built.[8] The process of preparing her for military service took place atCairo, Illinois.[7]
Romeo was 154 feet 2 inches (47.0 m) long, with abeam of 31 feet 2 inches (9.50 m), and adraft of 4 feet 6 inches (1.37 m).[10] Herdepth of hold was 4 feet (1.2 m), and her tonnage was 175 tons.[7] Asternwheel steamer, power was provided by twosteam engines fed by twoboilers. The engines had acylinder diameter of 1 foot (0.3 m) and astroke of 4 feet (1.2 m).[10]Romeo was reported to have a maximum speed of 5 miles per hour (8 km/h; 4 kn) when going upstream. Originally armed with six 24-pounderDahlgren howitzers,[11] by July 1864 she had two more 24-pounders, but by the end of September was back down to six.[6]
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Romeo wascommissioned on December 11, 1862, and was placed under the command ofActingEnsign Robert B. Smith. She soon[c] moved downriver toHelena, Arkansas, to join theMississippi River Squadron.[7] On December 21, she left Helena, and then moved up theYazoo River as part of a group of warships led byLieutenant CommanderWilliam Gwin.[13] This was in support of aUnion Army attempt to captureConfederate-heldVicksburg, Mississippi.[7] From December 23 until December 26,Romeo clearednaval mines from the Yazoo River.[10] On December 29, 1862,Romeo joined the tincladUSSMarmora in moving up Old River[d] to shell Confederate positions near Vicksburg.[15] The Union Army'scampaign failed,[7] leading to the vessels up the Yazoo River, includingRomeo, being withdrawn to the mouth of the river on January 2.[16] On January 4, almost all of the Union vessels that had been supporting the Yazoo River expedition moved upriver, as part of Union operations against ConfederateFort Hindman inArkansas.[17] For this campaign,Romeo was assigned to a naval force commanded byLieutenant Commander Watson Smith.[18]
After moving to the mouth of theWhite River, the Unionflotilla, accompanied by troop transports, steamed up the White, and then took a cutoff into theArkansas River.[19] On January 9, army forces began to land for operations against the fort. Following fighting on January 10, the fortfell to an assault on January 11. Some of the Union vessels provided supporting fire during the operations.[20] January 12 saw theironcladsUSSBaron de Kalb andUSSCincinnati move up the White River, in conjunction with an army movement towardsSt. Charles, Arkansas.Romeo was sent upriver after the two ironclads, bearing supplies. When St. Charles was reached, it was found that the Confederates had abandoned it, taking two cannons with them on a transport vessel.Baron de Kalb andRomeo continued upriver with a loaded troop transport and the tincladUSSForest Rose in pursuit of the Confederate transport.[21] The expedition reachedDeValls Bluff on January 17, where it captured two cannons, 200 small arms, and some prisoners.[22] These were the same two cannons that the Confederates had taken upriver from St. Charles.[23]Forest Rose,Romeo, and a troop transport continued toDes Arc the next day, where they took prisoners and captured corn and ammunition.[24] Having determined that flooding would make an overland advance onLittle Rock infeasible,[25] the Union force then turned back downriver, destroying much of St. Charles on the way.[24]
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Romeo returned to the Yazoo River on February 6, 1863,[7] and afterwards participated in theYazoo Pass expedition.[10] Along with other vessels under the command of Watson Smith,Romeo arrived at Helena on February 12; at this time Union soldiers were still working on clearing obstructions from the Yazoo Pass.[26] Once Smith received word that the removal of the obstructions was mostly complete, his vessels moved downriver from Helena to the Yazoo Pass area; by the afternoon of February 21,Romeo, five other warships, and several supply vessels had enteredMoon Lake through a cut between the lake and the Mississippi River.[27]Romeo and the other tinclads assigned to the operation were dispersed through the column of ships. This dispersion was done to guard the transports and assist the coal barges in traversing the pass.[28] The path of the Union expedition ran from Moon Lake through Old Pass into theColdwater River. Moving through the waterways was difficult. Some of the vessels were damaged by thick vegetation that lined the banks;Romeo had both of her chimneys knocked off.[29] As part of the expedition, she was involved in the fighting around theFort Pemberton area on theTallahatchie River from March 11 through 23.[10]Romeo and the other tincladsUSSPetrel andUSSSignal were loaded with troops, with plans of bringing the troops forward to storm Fort Pemberton if a Union effort on March 16 could knock out the Confederate guns, but the Confederate guns were not silenced and the landing did not occur.[30]
Acting VolunteerLieutenantJohn V. Johnston was ordered to take command ofRomeo on April 18.[31] On April 29 and 30,Romeo was part ofa feint designed to draw Confederate attention from the primary Union movement further downstream.[32] During thecontinuing operations against Vicksburg,Romeo provided naval support, engaging Confederate troops at river landings to help cut off the city.[7] On May 19, once Union land forces had reached the vicinity of Vicksburg,Romeo was part of a Union naval force that ascended the Yazoo River to open up contact with the army positions.[33] The next day, she returned to the Mississippi River.[34] On the morning of June 7, the appearance ofRomeo andPetrel played a role in causing Confederate forces to abandon a planned assault on Young's Point.[35][e] In mid-June, the tinclads were assigned identifying numbers to be painted on their pilothouses;[38]Romeo was given the number 3.[39] On June 29, she fired on Confederate raiding forces during part of theBattle of Goodrich's Landing.[40] Late on July 2, Confederate forces in theDonaldsonville, Louisiana, area deployed anartillery battery to ambush Union shipping. Not long after deploying, the transportIberville came past the ambush point. Confederate artillery fire disabledIberville, butRomeo then passed through the area escorting another transport. The two transports were able to escape whileRomeo engaged the battery.[41]
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In anticipation of the fall of Vicksburg (which occurred on July 4), the ships of the Mississippi River Squadron had been divided into sub-districts for administrative purposes. Following an August revision,Romeo was assigned to the Fifth District, which was commanded by Lieutenant CommanderElias K. Owen and encompassed the area from Vicksburg to the mouths of the Arkansas and White Rivers.[42] In August,Romeo was part of a small naval force that operated on the White River in conjunction with Brigadier GeneralJohn W. Davidson's cavalry command in theLittle Rock campaign.Romeo was in poor condition, and did not participate in an operation up theLittle Red River that resulted in the capture of two Confederate vessels. It was later determined that the repairs were extensive enough to require adry dock.[25] In October she was transferred to theTennessee River,[43] having been repaired.[25] By November 12,Romeo was considered to be no longer needed forconvoy duties on the Tennessee,[44] and later that month she was sent back to Cairo before returning to the Tennessee River the next month.[7] By January 1864, she was back on the Mississippi River, stationed nearBolivar, Mississippi, as of January 8,[45] and on January 15 was reported to be commanded by ActingMaster Thomas Baldwin.[46][47]
On February 2,Romeo re-entered the Yazoo River, as part of a squadron commanded by Owen that also included the tincladsUSSExchange,Marmora,Prairie Bird, andPetrel. Owen's command was to cooperate with an army brigade commanded byColonelJames H. Coates.[48] The expedition fought a minor skirmish with Confederate forces nearSatartia, Mississippi, that day before facing heavier resistance nearLiverpool the next day.[48] In the action at Liverpool,Romeo passed the Confederate position before the Confederate artillery finished deploying, but the other vessels were halted when the artillery opened fire.Romeo moved back downriver to support the other vessels. A Union infantry landing and assault were unsuccessful.Romeo was struck by small-arms fire in the fighting at Liverpool, but suffered no significant damage. On February 4, the Union vessels successfully ran past the Confederate position at Liverpool,[49] reaching a mill 6 miles (10 km) fromYazoo City. Most of the force remained in the area of the mill whileExchange andMarmora continued on to Yazoo City, which they found held by Confederate forces. The next day, the expedition withdrew to Satartia. After theMeridian campaign drew Confederate troops away from the Yazoo City area, the Union forces occupied it on February 9.[50]
Romeo was assigned in May to the area between Vicksburg andNatchez, Mississippi, for patrol duties, although she also patrolled as far as the mouth of the Arkansas River. She continued in this duty for most of the rest of the war.[7] On May 24, Confederatehorse artillery under the command of ColonelColton Greene opened fire on the tincladUSSCurlew from the banks of the Mississippi River in Arkansas. This was part of a multi-week campaign led by Greene against Union shipping; the Confederates had an advantage because the land-based artillery could move across the base curves in the river while the Union ships had to steam the long way around.[51] The artillery left when thetimbercladUSSTyler approached the area, andCurlew moved upriver to joinRomeo. Together, the two tinclads escorted the transportNicholas Longworth downriver.Curlew had a mechanical failure on the way downriver, and was left behind. NearColumbia, Arkansas,Romeo andNicholas Longworth came under artillery fire from Greene's repositioned artillery.Romeo fought with the Confederates whileNicholas Longworth continued on downriver. However, the transport came under more Confederate fire.Romeo ran out of ammunition and had to return to whereCurlew had been left behind to pick up more. Together,Romeo and the transport were able to make it downriver toGreenville, Mississippi, although both vessels had suffered damage to theirhulls and upper structure. Two vessels from theMississippi Marine Brigade escorted the transport downriver, whileRomeo anchored off Columbia for repairs. Greene's mobile artillery also returned to Columbia, and further damagedRomeo.[52] One sailor onRomeo was wounded; Greene reported that his artillery fire had struckRomeo 17 times.[25]
On August 10,Romeo intervened when Confederate artillery and cavalry nearGaines Landing, Arkansas, badly damaged and almost captured thepacket steamerEmpress.[53]Romeo fired her two bow guns at the Confederates, and used ahawser to towEmpress to safety.[54]Romeo towed the steamer 5 miles (8 km) upriver to a landing whereEmpress' mechanical damage was repaired. The following morning,Romeo escorted the civilian vessel another 25 miles (40 km) to safety, and later in the day came to the assistance ofPrairie Bird when that vessel was fired on by Confederate forces near whereEmpress had been fired on the day before.[55] Aside from a short assignment to theOhio River late in the war,Romeo operated in the region between Natchez and the mouth of the Arkansas.[7] On September 30,Romeo was fired on by a group of Confederateguerrillas, who were driven off without the Union ship suffering any casualties.[56]Romeo was one of the vessels earmarked in late April 1865 to patrol portions of the Mississippi River where fleeing Confederate presidentJefferson Davis was expected to try to cross the river; Davis was eventually captured inGeorgia in May.[57] With the war winding down in April and May as a Confederate defeat,[58]Romeo returned to Cairo in May,[7] and was determined to be surplus on May 29 as part of the postwar reduction in the strength of the navy.[59]
On June 30, she wasdecommissioned atMound City, Illinois.[7][6]Romeo and the other surplus tinclads had their armor and protective features, as well as their armaments, removed.[60] Including vessels other than tinclads, sixty-three surplus vessels were anchored between Cairo and Mound City in preparation for sale.[61] On August 17, she was sold at auction.[9][f] After her sale, she was converted into asidewheel steamer.Romeo was used in the merchant trade atEvansville, Indiana, captained by J. Ham Throop; George Throop was her clerk. In 1870, she ceased to appear in the shipping registers.[9]