Potomac Flotilla


The Potomac Flotilla, also called the Potomac Squadron, was a unit of the United States Navy created in the early days of the American Civil War to secure Union communications in the Chesapeake Bay, the Potomac River and their tributaries, and to disrupt Confederate communications and shipping there.

History

American Civil War

On April 22, 1861 Commander James H. Ward, who was the commanding officer of the receiving ship at the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn New York, wrote to United States Secretary of the Navy Gideon Wells to put forth a plan for the protection of the Chesapeake Bay area. Ward suggested a "Flying Flotilla" of light-draft vessels to operate in the Chesapeake Bay, the Potomac River, and their tributaries. His commander, Captain Samuel L. Breese, commandant of the New York Navy Yard, endorsed his plan. Wells accepted this proposal and wrote back to Ward and Breese on 27 April 1861 authorizing them to begin carrying out Ward's plan. On 1 May 1861 the first vessels for the new flotilla were acquired. On 16 May 1861 Ward set out from the New York Navy Yard with three vessels,,, and. He arrived at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., on 20 May 1861 on board his flagship,Thomas Freeborn.
On 27 June 1861 Ward's flotilla engaged the Confederates at Mathias Point, Virginia. While he was sighting the bow gun of Thomas Freeborn, Ward was shot through the abdomen and died within an hour due to internal hemorrhaging. He was the first United States Navy officer to be killed during the American Civil War.
After the death of Ward the flotilla was led by a succession of short-term commanders until the fall of 1862 when Commodore Andrew A. Harwood took command. He was in turn succeeded by Commander Foxhall A. Parker on 31 December 1864.
The Civil War ended in April 1865, and on 18 July 1865 the United States Department of the Navy ordered Parker to disband the flotilla, effective 31 July 1865. Most of the flotilla's remaining vessels were sent to the Washington Navy Yard to be decommissioned.

Name of the flotilla

It was not until August 1861 that the flotilla became known as the Potomac Flotilla. The designation of "Flying Flotilla" was dropped when Ward's force arrived in the theater of operations. The flotilla was then referred to by a variety of names, including: Flotilla, Potomac River; Potomac Blockade; Flotilla in the Chesapeake; etc. In early August 1861 the flotilla commander and the Department of the Navy began to consistently refer to the command as the Potomac Flotilla.

Operations

1861
Engagement with the Confederate batteries at Aquia Creek, Virginia, 29 May – 1 June 1861
Affair at Mathias Point, Virginia, 27 June 1861
Engagement with the Confederate batteries at Potomac Creek, Virginia, 23 August 1861
Engagement with the Confederate battery at Freestone Point, Virginia, 25 September 1861
1862
Engagement at Cockpit Point, Virginia, 3 January 1862
Expedition up the Rappahannock River to Tappahannock, Virginia, 13–15 April 1862
Expedition up the Rappahannock River to Fredericksburg, Virginia, 20 April 1862
Expeditions to Gwynn's Island and Nomini Creek, Virginia, 3–4 Nov, 1862
Engagement at Port Royal, Virginia, 4 December 1862
Engagement at Brandywine Hill, Rappahannock River, Virginia, 10–11 December 1862
1863
Destruction of salt works on Dividing Creek, Virginia, 12 January 1863
Destruction of Confederate stores at Tappahannock, Virginia, 30 May 1863
Capture of U. S. steamers and USRC Reliance, 16 August 1863
1864
Expedition to the Northern Neck of Virginia, 12 January 1864
Expedition up the Rappahannock River, Virginia, 18–21 April 1864
Expedition to Carter's Creek, Virginia, 29 April 1864
Expedition to Mill Creek, Virginia, 12–13 May 1864
Expedition up the Rappahannock River, Virginia, 16–19 May 1864
Expedition to the Northern Neck of Virginia, 11–21 June 1864
Expedition to Milford Haven and Stutt's Creek, Virginia, 24 September 1864
1865
Expedition to Fredericksburg, Virginia, 6–8 March 1865
Expedition up the Rappahannock River, 12–14 March 1865
Operations in Mattox Creek, Virginia, 16–18 March 1865

Ships of the flotilla

When Commander James H. Ward departed the New York Navy Yard on 16 May 1861 his flotilla consisted of three vessels. The size of the flotilla steadily increased until it reached a strength that hovered between 15 and 25 vessels.
ShipRateTypeNotes
4thIronclad monitorCasco class
4thIronclad monitorCasco class
4thIronclad monitorCanonicus class
4thIronclad monitorCanonicus class
2ndScrew sloop
3rdScrew sloop
3rdScrew sloopCommander Wilkes' Flagship
4thScrew sloopReceiving Ship at Baltimore
3rdSidewheel gunboatRevenue cutter from United States Revenue-Marine
3rdSidewheel gunboat
3rdSidewheel gunboat
4thScrew gunboat
4thScrew gunboat
4thScrew gunboat
4thScrew gunboat
4thScrew gunboat
4thScrew gunboatBlockade runner captured by 4 March 1864 off Beaufort, North Carolina.
4thScrew gunboat
4thScrew gunboat
4thScrew gunboatSteamer captured by 20 April 1862 on the Rappahannock River, Virginia.
4thScrew gunboat
4thScrew gunboatBlockade runner captured by 9 July 1864 in South Santee River, South Carolina.
4thScrew gunboat
4thScrew gunboat
4thScrew gunboat
4thScrew gunboatex-Confederate captured by 4 July 1862 on the James River, Virginia
4thScrew gunboatSunk by boiler explosion off Ragged Point, Virginia, 11 November 1864
4thScrew gunboat
4thScrew gunboat
4thScrew gunboat
4thSidewheel gunboatBlockade runner captured by 7 July 1862 off New Providence in the Bahamas
4thSidewheel gunboatBlockade runner captured by USAT Fulton and on 21 November 1863 off Wilmington, North Carolina
4thSidewheel gunboat
4thSidewheel gunboat
4thSidewheel gunboatex-ferryboat
4thSidewheel gunboatex-ferryboat
4thSidewheel gunboat
4thSidewheel gunboat
4thSidewheel gunboat
4thSidewheel gunboat
4thSidewheel gunboat
4thSidewheel gunboatex-ferryboat
4thSidewheel gunboatKnown as USS Mount Vernon until 4 November 1861
4thSidewheel gunboat
4thSidewheel gunboatCaptured by Confederate boarding party 23 August 1863 in Rappahannock River, scuttled at Port Royal, Virginia, 28 August 1863
4thSidewheel gunboatex-ferryboat
4thSidewheel gunboatCommander Ward's Flagship
4thSidewheel gunboat
4thScrew auxiliary
4thSidewheel auxiliaryOrdnance vessel, Washington Navy Yard
4thSidewheel auxiliarySupply ship
4thSidewheel auxiliaryPicket and dispatch vessel
4thSidewheel auxiliaryIcebreaker
4thSidewheel auxiliaryDispatch vessel, known as USS Powhatan until 4 November 1861
4thSidewheel auxiliaryTransport ferry
4thSidewheel auxiliaryStoreship
4thScrew tug
4thScrew tug
4thScrew tug
4thScrew tug
4thScrew tug
4thScrew tugCaptured by Confederate boarding party 23 August 1863 in Rappahannock River, scuttled at Port Royal, Virginia, 28 August 1863
4thScrew tug
4thScrew tug
4thScrew tugSunk 10 September 1861 in collision with merchant ship State of Maine off Indian Head, Maryland
4thScrew tug
USS Watch4thScrew tugKnown as USS A. C. Powell until August 1862, known as USS Alert from August 1862 to 2 February 1865
4thScrew tugex-Confederate, captured 24 April 1861 by at Hampton Roads, Virginia
4thSidewheel tugAlso known as USS William G. Putnam
4thSidewheel tug
4thSidewheel tugTug and dispatch boat
4thSidewheel tug
E. H. Herbert-TugChartered vessel
Edwin Forrest-TugChartered vessel
James Murray-TugChartered vessel
-Sidewheel steamerfrom United States Coast Survey
-Sidewheel Steamerfrom United States Coast Survey
4thSailing schoonermortar schooner
4thSailing schoonerMortar schooner
4thSailing schoonerMortar schooner
4thSailing schoonerMortar schooner
4thSailing schoonerMortar schooner
4thSailing schoonerMortar schooner
4thSailing schoonerMortar schooner
4thSailing schoonerMortar schooner
4thSailing schoonerMortar schooner
-Sailing schoonerfrom United States Coast Survey
Chaplin4thSailing schooner
-Sailing schoonerfrom United States Coast Survey
-Sailing schoonerfrom United States Coast Survey
USS Alpha4thScrew picket boatKnown as Picket Boat No. 1 until sometime between 1 November and 5 December 1864.
USS Beta4thScrew picket boatKnown as both USS Bazely and as Picket Boat No. 2 until sometime between 1 November and 5 December 1864. Hit a torpedo and was destroyed 25 December 1864 by retreating Union troops to prevent Confederate capture.
USS Gamma4thScrew picket boatKnown as Picket Boat No. 3 until sometime between 1 November and 5 December 1864.
USS Delta4thScrew picket boatKnown as Picket Boat No. 4 until sometime between 1 November and 5 December 1864.
USS Epsilon4thScrew picket boatKnown as Picket Boat No. 5 until sometime between 1 November and 5 December 1864.
USS Zeta4thScrew picket boatKnown as Picket Boat No. 6 until sometime between 1 November and 5 December 1864.

Commanders

Flotilla commanderFromToNotes
Commander James Harmon Wardlate April 186127 June 1861Killed in action 27 June 1861
Commander Stephen Clegg Rowan27 June 186110 July 1861Commander pro tem
Commander Thomas Tingey Craven10 July 18612 December 1861
Lieutenant Abram D. Harrell2 December 18616 December 1861Commander pro tem
Lieutenant Robert Harris Wyman6 December 1861early July 1862-
Lieutenant Commander Samuel Magawearly July 18621 September 1862Commander pro tem
Commodore Charles Wilkes1 September 186210 September 1862
Commodore Andrew Allen Harwood10 September 186231 December 1863
Commander Foxhall Alexander Parker, Jr.31 December 186331 July 1865-