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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
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Photo # NH 63868:  Steamship Bienville, which was USS Bienville during the Civil War.  Artwork by Erik Heyl

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Bienville (1861-1867).
Originally the civilian steamship Bienville (1860)

Bienville, a 1558-ton (Burden) wooden side-wheel steamship built at Brooklyn, New York in 1860, was purchased by the Navy in August 1861 as part of the great expansion that took place in the first months of the Civil War. She was commissioned in October 1861 and soon participated in the expedition that seized future Naval bases at Port Royal and Beaufort, South Carolina. Bienville operated off the Confederacy's Atlantic coast for more than a year, taking part in the capture of positions along the Georgia and Florida shore as well as ending the careers of several blockade runners, among them the steamers Stettin (taken on 24 May 1862) and Patras (27 May 1862).

In 1863, Bienville was transferred to the Gulf of Mexico, where she continued her blockading work. In addition, she supported the capture of the entrances to Mobile Bay, Alabama, on 5 August 1864. In an operation typical of the era's coastal warfare, she sent a boat party into Galveston Bay, Texas, on the night of 7 February 1865 and seized two schooners loaded with cotton. Bienville was decommissioned soon after the end of the Civil War. Following some two years in reserve, she was sold in October 1867. Operating under the same name as a commercial steamship, she lasted until 15 August 1872, when a fire destroyed her at Watling Island, Bahamas.

This page features all the views we have related to USS Bienville (1861-1867) and the civilian steamship Bienville.


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 63868

Steamship Bienville
(1860-1872)

Watercolor by Erik Heyl, 1947, painted for use in his book "Early American Steamers", Volume I.
Built at Brooklyn, New York, in 1860, this steamer served as USS Bienville in 1861-1867.

Courtesy of Erik Heyl.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 71KB; 740 x 395 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 59366

"Merchant Steamers Converted into Gun-boats."


Engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", July-December 1861 volume.
It depicts thirteen merchant steamships acquired by the U.S. Navy between April and August 1861 and subsequently converted into warships, plus the steamer Nashville (far left), which became a Confederate cruiser.
U.S. Navy ships, as identified below the image bottom, are (from left to right: Alabama, Quaker City, Santiago de Cuba (listed as "St. Jago de Cuba", Mount Vernon, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Florida, De Soto, Augusta, James Adger, Monticello, Bienville and R.R. Cuyler.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 182KB; 1200 x 470 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 59256

Bombardment and Capture of Port Royal, South Carolina, 7 November 1861


Engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", July-December 1861 volume, pages 760-761.
It depicts Federal warships, under Flag Officer Samuel F. DuPont, USN, bombarding Fort Beauregard (at right) and Fort Walker (at left). The Confederate squadron commanded by Commodore Josiah Tattnall is in the left center distance.
Subjects identified below the image bottom are (from left): tug Mercury, Fort Walker, USS Wabash (DuPont's flagship), Screamer (?), USS Susquehanna, CSS Huntsville, Commo. Tattnall, USS Bienville, USS Pembina, USS Seneca, USS Ottawa, USS Unadilla, USS Pawnee, USS Mohican, USS Isaac Smith, USS Curlew, USS Vandalia, USS Penguin, USS Pocahontas, USS Seminole, Fort Beauregard, USS R.B. Forbes and "Rebel Camp".

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 73KB; 740 x 300 pixels

 


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


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Page made 3 August 2002
Link added 10 December 2003