Return to Naval Historical Center home page. Return to Online Library listing

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # NH 66951:  Steamship Calhoun.  Artwork by Erik Heyl

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- CIVILIAN SHIPS --

Steamship Calhoun (1851-1883).
Served as CSS Calhoun; USS Calhoun; and U.S. Army steamer General Sedgewick during the Civil War

Calhoun, a 508-ton side-wheel steamship, was built in 1851 at New York City. In May 1861 she became a Confederate privateer and later served as a Confederate Navy gunboat. Captured by Federal forces on 23 January 1862, she was soon commissioned as USS Calhoun, operating in the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico area until May 1864. She was transferred to the U.S. Army the next month and spent the rest of the Civil War as the Army steamer General Sedgewick. Sold by the Government in 1865, she returned to civilian employment under the name Calhoun. The old steamship's diverse career finally ended in 1883, when she was broken up.

This page features, and provides links to, our only views of the steamship Calhoun, built in 1851.

For views of Calhoun as a U.S. Navy ship during the Civil War, see:

  • USS Calhoun (1862-1864).


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: NH 66951

    Steamship Calhoun
    (1851)

    Watercolor by Erik Heyl, 1963, prepared for use in his book "Early American Steamers", Volume III.
    This vessel, considerably modified, served as CSS Calhoun in 1861-62, USS Calhoun in 1862-64 and as the U.S. Army steamer General Sedgewick in 1864-65.

    Courtesy of Erik Heyl.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 50KB; 740 x 375 pixels

     

    For views of Calhoun as a U.S. Navy ship during the Civil War, see:

  • USS Calhoun (1862-1864).


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 17 November 2001