The Conversion to Tinclad

With the advent of the Civil War came the creation of a number of innovations in military technology that would in turn change the face of warfare forever. The successful development and deployment of such designs as ironclad vessels and submersibles are perhaps the most well-known of maritime innovations. Stories of the battle between the two ironclads Monitor and Merrimac, and the Hunley and the Housatonic, are those often remembered most by aficionados of the Civil War.  In 1861 the Union realized the importance of controlling the western river system, including the Mississippi, the Tennessee, the Cumberland, the White, the Red, and the Arkansas Rivers as well as the numerous associated tributaries. The Union viewed the control of these river systems as a highway, enabling supplies and troops to be transported where needed. Although this was an important mission in controlling the western rivers, perhaps most important was the desire to close off the river systems from Confederate traffic across the rivers (Gosnell 1949:143). The Confederates actively used the western rivers to transport supplies to the east from western lands. Although Union armies controlled much of the land to the east of the Mississippi, it was up to a variety of vessels to keep control of the western river systems. The western rivers, however, offered a number of challenging obstructions that would in turn affect the style of vessels used to effectively ply the river systems during the Civil War. Such obstructions on these sinuous rivers were shallow river levels, narrow bend ways, and unexpected shoals. In an attempt to control the western rivers with some means of defense, the U.S. War Department bought a number of packets and towboats to be converted for military operations. The vessels of the Union gunboat fleet consisted of a variety of cladded vessels, including ironclad, tinclad, and woodclads, suited for military service on the western rivers. Tinclad U.S.S. Forest Rose (photo courtesy of Naval Historical Center) The first vessels to be converted for military operations by the Union on the western river were three sidewheel steamers called the A.O. Tyler, Lexington, and the Conestoga (Gosnell 1949:15). The conversion process (under the direction of Captain John Rodgers) was relatively simple. Captain Rodgers described the vessels as "sound and above average strength. Timbers and beams were put in to strengthen them to bear their batteries, the thin broad houses taken off and solid bulwarks of 5-inch oak plank put around them; the boilers were dropped into the hold" (J. Rodgers to G. Welles, Sept. 7 1861, Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion [ORN], 22:319). Each of the vessels were mounted with gunports and cannon on the broadsides, and the decks were also reinforced to accept the weight of the cannon. Cabin arrangements included eight staterooms on each vessel and two mess rooms, plus an aft gun room which doubled as a cabin (Canney 1993:37). All of the vessels' superstructures were removed, and a complement of five-inch thick wooden bulwarks were built around the vessels and the sidewheel boxes. These reinforcements were added to protect the crew from light artillery fire. It was intended that barges be lashed alongside to protect the hull and paddlewheels against heavier fire (Gosnell 1949:16). The three woodclad vessels played an important role in the campaign to control the western rivers. The Lexington was a sidewheeler 177 feet in length with a beam of 36 feet. This vessel was armed with six eight-inchers, one 32-pounder, and two 30-pounder rifles. The Lexington took part in the Battle of St. Charles on the White River, Arkansas in 1863 and the Battle of Arkansas Post on the Arkansas River (Canney 1993:37). The Tyler was the largest of the woodclads with a length of 178 feet and a 45-foot beam. The vessel displaced 525 tons and was built in 1854. The vessel had two cylinders, typical of western riverboats (Canney 1993:37). The Lexington and the Tyler both helped take the towns of Paducah and Smithland in Kentucky, and both stopped a drive by the Confederates at the mouth of the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers (Gibbons 1989:72). The Conestoga, armed with four 32-pound guns, helped in capturing the half-finished Confederate ironclad Eastport (Gibbons 1989:73). On March 8, 1864, the vessel sank after colliding with the General Price off Bayou Pierre, River Mile 397.5, on the Mississippi River. The New Era was another vessel converted to a woodclad vessel. Originally a river ferry operating out of St. Louis, the New Era was powered by small cylinders that drove a recessed stern paddle wheel mounted below the cabin area. The timberclad served on the Cumberland River before returning to St. Louis to be re-outfitted as the ironclad Essex (Canney 1993:38-39). Although these woodclad vessels were considered an effective design, they still required at least six feet of water to operate in. Many of the western rivers and tributaries offered less than six feet of navigable water, making these large vessels inappropriate. In response it was decided to convert a number of sidewheel and sternwheel packets into lightly armed and lightly armored military vessels called "tinclads." The armor on these vessels was intended to deflect light arms fire and not much more; hence the name "tinclad" versus the more heavily clad "ironclads." Very little is known about the actual conversion of these vessels to tinclad status. Many plans of the original packets do not exist in the National Archives because the Army and Navy purchased the vessels and there was no reason for the government to have builder's plans for these vessels. Much of the conversion process was completed on site by carpenters and laborers; there was no need for specifications or plans for these vessels (Donald L. Canney, personal communication April 25, 1997). It is possible to review specifications mentioned in correspondence from the Civil War concerning the tinclad vessels and come to some conclusions about the conversion process. In a letter from Fleet Captain Pennock of the U.S. Navy, to Commodore Davis, Pennock describes the light draught vessels: The commodore desires that the boats be of the lightest draught possible, to be armed with 2-24 pounder and 2 12-pounder or 4-12 pounder howitzers; that the engines and boilers be protected against light field pieces and the space between them against Minie balls. That the protection be carried up from the main deck sufficiently high to prevent the enemy from firing from high banks between it and the hurricane decks. If to preserve the light draught it becomes necessary to take off a portion of the cabin, he desires that at least four rooms on a side, in addition to the small apartment usually found on the after part of the river boats be retained for the use of the captain and officers. If by placing these quarters amidships a light draught can be obtained, he prefers it so being placed. These remarks apply to stern-and sidewheel steamers. The commodore desires that if possible three of these boats be of the same style as the ferry boats used on the Missouri River. These must be of very light draught, with wheels amidships. The quarters for the officers must necessarily be on the upper deck of these boats as he desires the main deck should be clear of everything except the battery (ORN 23:353-354). In response to this request for light draught lightly armored vessels, Acting Rear Admiral David D. Porter responded: These boats have been covered with iron all around and 11 feet high, and perfectly rifle proof, and proof around the boilers against light cannon shot. They have every comfort and accommodation, and carry 8 24-pounder howitzers in smooth water without any trouble. I have contracted to have all the alterations made just as I want them for $8,000 each...These are boats of good size, will carry comfortably 200 men for an expedition, and accommodate a great many officers. What they will do at sea, or when there is any motion, I would not pretend to say, but think they would not suit to go far from the coast. Their draught, deep, will be 3 feet; light, from 18-22 inches (ORN 23:494). Porter goes on to explain the reinforcements to the boiler area of the tinclads: The vessels I am now fitting are well-protected, except in the hull, with an inch of iron all around the boilers, and an inch on the bulwarks abreast and in front of the boilers, making 2 inches of iron and 8 inches of wood, besides the coal... They are in every other respect musket proof (ORN 25:596). Other modifications are mentioned in the conversion process. Obviously all passenger accommodations were removed except the officers' quarters; the Texas deck (if there was one) was also removed. The second deck, called the boiler deck, where the crews slept and ate, was left completely vulnerable. The pilothouses were characteristically protected with sheet iron as were sections of the boiler deck. Identification of tinclads was rather easy. Once vessels were brought into service, the name of the vessel was often shortened under U.S. ownership. The tinclads were then assigned a number that was painted on the pilot house for easy identification (S&D Reflector 1994:16). The majority of the sternwheel packets converted were in the area of 150 feet in length and over 30 feet wide. No sternwheel tinclads exceeded 175 feet in length. Sidewheel steamers averaged the same size (Canney 1993:36). By the end of the Civil War, approximately 60 packet steamers had been converted to tinclad status. As illustrated in Table 1, each of the tinclad gunboats lost at Johnsonville was a conversion of a civilian vessel. The U.S.S. Elfin was built in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1863 as the W.C. Mann. She was a sternwheel packet of 192 tons that measured 155 feet in length, 31 feet in width and had a four-foot four-inch depth of hold. The U.S.S. Key West was built as the Key West No. 3 at California, Pennsylvania in 1862 and sold to the Navy in 1863. She was a sternwheel packet measuring 156 feet long, 32 feet wide with a 4.5 foot depth of hold, measuring 207 tons. The U.S.S. Tawah started her career as the sidewheel ferry Ebenezer. She was built at Brownsville, Pennsylvania and was rated at 108 tons, measuring 114 feet long, 33 feet wide and had a three-foot nine-inch depth of hold. The U.S.S. Undine was constructed at Cincinnati, Ohio as the Ben Gaylord of 179 tons. She measured 140 feet in length, had a width of 27 feet and a depth of hold of three feet eight inches (Enrollment Documents; Lytle-Holdcamper 1975; Way 1983). In March 1864 she was purchased by Rear Admiral David D. Porter of the United States Navy at Cincinnati, Ohio for $35,600 (Figure 7). Converted to a gunboat, she was fitted with eight brass 24-pounder howitzers (Forrest 1965:11), a number which corresponds to Admiral Porter's statement above that "they have every comfort and accommodation, and carry 8 24-pounder howitzers in smooth water without any trouble."   Figure 7. Enrollment document of the Undine showing she was surrendered to the United States Government on March 7, 1864 (courtesy of the National Archives, Record Group 31). While little is known or written about the actual conversion of these vessels to tinclad status, numerous photographs of tinclads exist to aid in interpretation. Irion and Beard, in their 1993 report on the Johnsonville investigation, included a photograph from the National Archives of the Key West (1993:61). Figure 8 shows a typical sternwheeler of its time but converted to a tinclad. Photographs of the other three tinclads lost at Johnsonville have not been located to date. Photographs do, however, exist of some of the other tinclads, such as the Rattler No. 1, the Fort Hindman No. 13, the Ouachita (Canney 1993:36-37; S&D Reflector 1994:16), the Covington #25 (Huddleston et al. 1995:76; S&D Reflector 1994:16; Way 1983:114), the Cricket No. 6, the Marmora No. 2, the Fairy No. 51, and the Queen City No. 26 (Huddleston et al. 1995:78-81). The photographs shows that the cladding, while similar in coverage, differed in actual shape or arrangement especially on the main deck front or bow where generally two guns and a door are present. Similar to the Tawah which was lost at Johnsonville, the Fort Hindman (Figure 9), the Covington, and the Queen City were all sidewheel ferries before their tinclad conversion. The Fort Hindman was originally the James Thompson, built for the Jeffersonville, Indiana Ferry Co., and the Covington operated on the Ohio between Cincinnati and Covington (across the river). It is unknown where the Queen City operated but she was scuttled on the White River near Clarendon, Arkansas during the war (Huddleston et al. 1995:76; Way 1983:114). The tinclad Fort Hindman No. 13 was originally the sidewheeler James Thompson, built as a ferry for the Jeffersonville, Indiana Ferry Company. Note the boilers and stacks, as well as above main deck superstructure, placed well aft in order to accommodate horses, wagons, etc., on what was a spacious front or foredeck of the ferry. Also note main deck cladding and placement of gunports (courtesy of the Murphy Library, University of Wisconsin, La Crosse). The photographs of all three tinclads depict standard double-ended sidewheel hulls with rounded bows and sterns, the stern having a single rudder. The only difference between these sidewheelers and those not built as ferries was the placement of the boilers and stacks, and above main deck superstructure, further aft to accommodate horses, wagons, etc., on what was a spacious front or foredeck of the ferry. The photographs clearly indicate this characteristic.