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| History | |
|---|---|
.svg)  United States | |
| Name | USSMohican |
| Namesake | Mohican |
| Builder | Portsmouth Navy Yard |
| Laid down | August 1858 |
| Launched | 15 February 1859 |
| Commissioned | 29 November 1859 |
| Decommissioned | 25 June 1872 |
| Fate | Broken up, 1873 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Steamsloop-of-war |
| Displacement | 1,461 long tons (1,484 t) |
| Length | 198 ft 9 in (60.58 m) |
| Beam | 33 ft (10 m) |
| Draft | 13 ft (4.0 m) |
| Propulsion | Steam engine |
| Speed | 10.5 kn (12.1 mph; 19.4 km/h) |
| Complement | 160 officers and enlisted |
| Armament | 2 × 11 in (280 mm) guns, 4 × 32-pounder guns |
The firstUSSMohican was a steamsloop-of-war in theUnited States Navy during theAmerican Civil War. She was named for theMohican tribe and was the first ship of her class.
Mohican was laid down byPortsmouth Navy Yard,Kittery, Maine, in August 1858; launched on 15 February 1859; and commissioned on 29 November 1859,CommanderSylvanus William Godon in command.
Assigned to theAfrican Squadron,Mohican departed Portsmouth on 19 January 1860 for the South Atlantic and for the next year and one-half cruised on patrol against pirates and slavers off the coasts of Africa and at timesBrazil. On 8 August, the sloop captured the slaverErie — commanded byNathaniel Gordon — off theCongo and forced that ship to unload its captive cargo atMonrovia, Liberia. She remained on station until sailing for home on 13 August 1861.
Following her arrival atBoston, Massachusetts on 27 September, she sailed to joinFlag OfficerSamuel Du Pont'sSouth Atlantic Blockading Squadron offSandy Hook, New Jersey. DepartingNorfolk, Virginia on 29 October forPort Royal, South Carolina, as part of thelargest U.S. naval squadron assembled to that time, the sloop steamed in the battleline on 7 November as Du Pont's squadron poundedFort Walker onHilton Head Island, forcing theConfederates to abandon the emplacement, thereby allowing a combined UnionArmy and Navy Force to land and occupy this important base of operations.Mohican was hit six times by Confederate shells in this engagement, suffering superficial hull damage and having one man killed and seven wounded. One of the wounded officers wasActingMasterIsaac D. Seyburn.
The steamer sailed toCharleston Bar at the end of November accompanying part of the "Stone Fleet", and stood by while these ships were scuttled on 18–19 December to obstruct channels to Confederate ports in the Carolinas andGeorgia. The warship then operated off the southern coast with steamerUSS Bienville, searching for Confederate shipping, capturing Britishblockade runnerArrow offFernandina, Florida on 25 February 1862. In company with sloopPocahontas and schoonerUSS Potomska, she took possession ofSt. Simons Island andJekyll Island nearBrunswick, Georgia on 9–10 March, but found them deserted because of a general Confederate withdrawal from the seacoast and coastal islands. In early April,Mohican reconnoitered theWilmington River to determine the best way of obstructing it, helping to cut offFort Pulaski fromSavannah as part of the projected attack on that fort and then operated out ofSt. Simons Bay, Georgia, on blockade until ordered toPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania on 29 June. The ship decommissioned there on 9 July.
Mohican recommissioned on 17 October and five days later was ordered on special service chasing the Confederate raidersCSSFlorida andAlabama. Sailing immediately, the steamer cruised on station from theCape Verde Islands to theCape of Good Hope operating off the coasts of Africa and South America into 1864. She returned to Philadelphia on 14 April 1864 without contacting the elusive enemy and was decommissioned there two weeks later.
Reactivated on 7 October, the warship was assigned toRear AdmiralDavid Dixon Porter'sNorth Atlantic Blockading Squadron and cruised offWilmington, North Carolina through December. She then joined the rest of the squadron in theattack on Fort Fisher on 24–25 December, firing over 500 shells in the fierce bombardment.Mohican resumed her blockade, now offBeaufort, North Carolina, until thesecond attack on Fort Fisher from 13–15 January 1865. As part of the first line of battle, the sloop bombarded the Confederate bastion throughout the three-day campaign, supplying covering fire for the landings on the second and third days until the fort was taken on the 15th. During the engagement,Mohican lost one man killed and 10 wounded.
The warship was ordered to Rear Adm.John Dahlgren'sSouth Atlantic Blockading Squadron on 17 January, carrying dispatches forGeneralWilliam T. Sherman. She began blockading offOssabaw Island, South Carolina on 3 February and remained there until ordered north on the 24th. The steam sloop decommissioned atBoston Navy Yard on 26 April and remained there — repairing — until recommissioning on 18 August 1866.
The sloop was then assigned to thePacific Squadron and departed 6 September for the west coast, steaming viaSt. Thomas, ports in Brazil,Montevideo, round Cape Horn, toValparaíso, joining Rear Adm. Dahlgren inPowhatan atCallao, Peru on 25 April 1867 and then steaming up the Pacific coast, throughPanama and the coast of Mexico, arriving atSan Francisco, California on 28 July.
Mohican remained on the Pacific coast through 1872, cruising to South America in the fall and winter of 1867 and then decommissioning from 3 April 1868 – 7 June 1869 atMare Island Navy Yard. The warship made one cruise to Siberia and the northwest coast during the summer of 1869 and then departed on 11 October to cruise toHawaii, returning on 11 January 1870. She then made a second cruise to the Pacific Northwest and in May sailed to patrol off Mexico. On 17 June 1870, men fromMohican attacked the Mexican pirate steamerForward, which had terrorized the coast for the previous month. In a fierce gunbattle betweenMohican's armed boats and the outlaw vessel offMazatlán, thepirate was boarded and captured. The sloop continued her cruise as far south as Callao through August 1871, returning on the 25th. The warship made one more cruise along the coast of Mexico to Panama from October–April 1872.
Mohican decommissioned at Mare Island on 25 June 1872 and by the end of the year had sunk at her moorings. She was subsequently towed onto the Mare Island mud flats and broken up.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.