Blockade Runner Thistle
USS Dumbarton
Civil War Union Naval Ship

Steamship Thistle (1863).
Blockade Runner
Served as USS Dumbarton in 1864-1867.
Later: commercial steamer Dumbarton (1867-1868) and City of Quebec (1868-1870)

Thistle , a 636-ton (burden) iron side-wheel steamship, was built at Glasgow, Scotland in 1863. She was operated as a blockade runner during the American Civil War, making a successful round-trip voyage between Bermuda and Wilmington, North Carolina, in March-May 1864. However, another attempt to run into Wilmington was cut short when she was captured by USS Fort Jackson on 4 June.

The U.S. Navy purchased her from the Boston Prize Court in July and, after conversion to a gunboat, placed her in commission as USS Dumbarton in August 1864. After participating in a fruitless search for the Confederate raider Tallahassee , she returned to the Wilmington area, where she served until December as an enforcer of the blockade that she had previously challenged. Dumbarton had flagship duty on Virginia's James River during February and March 1865 and was subsequently decommissioned at Washington, D.C.. Moved to New York in November 1865, she was sold to private owners in October 1867.

Briefly retaining the name Dumbarton , she changed to British registry and was given a new rig and engines in the months after she left Navy ownership. During 1868-1870 she operated under the name City of Quebec , but was sunk in a collision while in Canadian waters on 1 May 1870 (another source gives the date of her loss as 28 April 1870).

Artwork by Erik Heyl, 1957, for use in his book "Early American Steamers", Volume III.
Built in Scotland in 1863, Thistle was a blockade runner until captured on 4 June 1864. She served as USS Dumbarton in 1864-1867 and was the merchantman Dumbarton in 1867-1868. Rerigged and reengined in 1868, she operated under the British flag as the SS City of Quebec until sunk in a collision on 1 May 1870.


Confederate Ironclad
1861-1865
Every aspect of Confederate ironclads is covered: design, construction, armor, armament, life on board, strategy, tactics, and actual combat actions.





Confederate Submarines and Torpedo Vessels 1861-65
Interesting information and many excellent illustrations. It addresses the CSA David class torpedo boats and the Hunley (and its predecessors), as well as Union examples such as the Alligator and the Spuyten Duyvil

Civil War Ships and Battles
Civil War Submarines
Civil War Naval Timeline
American Civil War Exhibits
State Battle Maps
Civil War Summary
Civil War Timeline
Women in the Civil War
Battles by Campaign
Civil War Store

American Civil War Naval Book Titles

The Hunt for the Albemarle: Anatomy of a Gunboat War
The Confederate ironclad Albemarle was the key to the river wars in North Carolina.
Ironclad of the Roanoke: Gilbert Elliott's Albemarle
The story of a Confederate Ironcald that was a powerful force until sunk by a Union Torpedo Boat after its brief stormy life. Ironic in the fact it was built in a Cornfield. Confederate Ingenunity at it finest!
Ironclads and Big Guns of the Confederacy : The Journal and Letters of John M. Brooke
Information about the Confederate Navy's effort to supply its fledgling forces, the wartime diaries and letters of John M. Brooke tell the neglected story of the Confederate naval ordnance office, its innovations, and its strategic vision.
Battle on the Bay:
The Civil War Struggle for Galveston
Civil War history of Galveston is one of the last untold stories from America's bloodiest war, despite the fact that Galveston was a focal point of hostilities throughout the conflict. Galveston emerged as one of the Confederacy's only lifelines to the outside world.

Civil War History Documentary DVD Movie Titles

Halls of Honor
The U.S. Navy Museum takes you on an informed and entertaining romp through one of North America s oldest and finest military museums. The museum has been in continuous operation at the Washington Navy Yard since the American Civil War
Raise The Alabama
She was known as "the ghost ship." During the Civil War, the CSS Alabama sailed over 75,000 miles and captured more than 60 Union vessels. But her career came to an end in June of 1864 when she was sunk by the USS Kearsarge off the coast of Northern France
The Civil War - A Film by Ken Burns
Here is the saga of celebrated generals and ordinary soldiers, a heroic and transcendent president and a country that had to divide itself in two in order to become one
Civil War Combat: America's Bloodiest Battles
The violent mayhem of the hornet's nest at Shiloh, the valiant charge on the sunken road at Antietam, the carnage in the wheat field at Gettysburg, and the brutal fighting at Cold Harbor

 

Sources:
U.S. National Park Service
U.S. Library of Congress
US Naval Archives


Search
AmericanCivilWar.com
 
Enter the keywords you are looking for and the site will be searched and all occurrences of your request will be displayed. You can also enter a date format, April 19,1862 or September 1864.
Battle of Shiloh
Civil War Map
First Manassas
Civil War Pictures
Civil War Cooking
Gettysburg
Civil War Ships