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

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

USS Black Hawk (1862-1865),
briefly named New Uncle Sam in 1862

USS Black Hawk, a 902-ton side-wheel "Tinclad" river gunboat, was built at New Albany, Indiana, in 1857 as the civilian steamboat New Uncle Sam. She was purchased by the Navy in November 1862 and commissioned the following month under her original name. Soon renamed Black Hawk, her large size made her especially suitable for employment as the Mississippi Squadron flagship, and she served in that capacity under Rear Admirals David Dixon Porter and Samuel Phillips Lee.

Black Hawk participated in most of the major Western Rivers operations during the remainder of the Civil War, including the long campaign against Vicksburg in December 1862 to July 1863, the capture of Fort Hindman in January 1863, the attack on Haines Bluff in April-May 1863 and the Red River campaign in 1864. On 22 April 1865, as the great conflict was coming to an end, Black Hawk accidently burned and sank near Cairo, Illinois. Her wreck was salvaged and sold in 1867.

This page features our only views of USS Black Hawk.

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 499

USS Black Hawk (1862-1865)


Photographed in 1863, while she was Flagship of the Mississippi Squadron.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 58KB; 740 x 525 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 49992

USS Black Hawk (1862-1865)


Photographed in the Mississippi River area, 1863, with a tug tied up alongside her starboard bow.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 93KB; 740 x 555 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 49993

USS Black Hawk (1862-1865)


Photographed on the Western Rivers, during the Civil War.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 51KB; 740 x 310 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 56675

USS Black Hawk (1862-1865)


Moored to the bank of one of the Western Rivers, while serving as Mississippi Squadron flagship during the Civil War.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 136KB; 740 x 495 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 56676

USS Black Hawk (1862-1865)


Tied up on the Western Rivers, while serving as Mississippi Squadron flagship during the Civil War.
Another river steamer is offshore, beyond Black Hawk's bow.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 84KB; 740 x 455 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 55838

USS Black Hawk (1862-1865)


Sepia wash drawing by F. Muller, circa 1900.

Courtesy of the Navy Art Collection, Washington, D.C.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 81KB; 740 x 450 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 65464

USS Black Hawk (1862-1865)


Pen and ink drawing by Samuel War Stanton, depicting the ship operating on the Western Rivers during the Civil War.

Collections of the Navy Department, 1967.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 90KB; 740 x 500 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 56677

USS Black Hawk (1862-1865)


Contemporary line engraving, after a sketch by Adam Rohe, depicting the ship's destruction in accidental fire on 22 April 1865, above Cairo, Illinois.

Courtesy of George Stegmann.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 134KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 


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.

18 December 1999