CSS General Sumter was originally a 524-ton side-wheel river towboat built at Algiers, Louisiana, in 1853. In 1861, while named Junius Beebe, she was in the service of the State of Louisiana. The steamer was converted at New Orleans in early 1862 to a River Defense Fleet "cottonclad" ram and renamed General Sumter. She went up the Mississippi River to Fort Pillow, Tennessee, in April 1862 and played a prominent role in the naval action there on 10 May. When Fort Pillow was evacuated on 1 June, the River Defense Fleet retreated to Memphis, where it fought a final battle on 6 June. General Sumter rammed the Union ship Queen of the West at that time, but was herself badly damaged, run aground and captured. Placed in Federal service under the name Sumter, she stranded off Bayou Sara, Louisiana, in August 1862 and was abandoned.
This page features our only views of CSS General Sumter.
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.
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 6 March 2000
Coding updated 5 May 2001