USS Benton (1861)
| 300px USS Benton | |
| Career | Union Navy Jack 100x35px |
|---|---|
| Builder: | James B. Eads, St. Louis, Missouri |
| Laid down: | date unknown |
| Launched: | 1861 |
| Commissioned: | 24 February 1862 |
| Decommissioned: | 20 July 1865 |
| Struck: | 1865 (est.) |
| Fate: | sold 29 November 1865 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 1033 tons |
| Length: | 202 ft (62 m) |
| Beam: | 72 ft (22 m) |
| Draught: | 9 ft (2.7 m) |
| Propulsion: | steam engine |
| Speed: | 5.5 knots |
| Complement: | 176 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: |
two 9” smoothbores seven 32-pounder smoothbores seven 42-pounder rifles |
| Armor: | ironclad |
USS Benton (1861) was an ironclad river gunboat in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She was named for American senator Thomas Hart Benton.
Contents
Conversion from snagboat
Benton was a former center-wheel catamaran snagboat and was converted by James B. Eads, St. Louis, Missouri, in 1861 and commissioned 24 February 1862, Lieutenant J. Bishop in command as part of the Army's Western Gunboat Flotilla.
Civil War service
In the spring of 1862, she was present at the captures of Island Number Ten, Fort Pillow and Memphis, Tennessee. During the summer, Benton was in action with the Confederate ironclad Arkansas near Vicksburg, Mississippi, and participated in an expedition up the Yazoo River. She was transferred to the Union Navy in October 1862, and continued her service as the Mississippi Squadron's flagship into 1863.
In December 1862, Benton was damaged by Confederate gunfire during another operation on the Yazoo River. She was one of the ships that ran past Vicksburg, Mississippi on 16 April 1863 and bombarded Grand Gulf, Mississippi, later in that month. She participated in an attack on Fort DeRussy, Louisiana, in May, then provided gunfire support for the siege of Vicksburg.
In March-May 1864, Benton was involved in the Red River expedition, in Louisiana, and according to Admiral Porter's memoirs "Incidents and Anecdotes of the Civil War" she fired one volley from her bow battery on Fort DeRussy; the only ship in the fleet proported to have fired on the fort before its surrender to Union General A.J. Smith.
The Bention returned to the Red River vicinity in June 1865 during operations that followed the formal end of the Civil War.
Post-war decommissioning
Decommissioned 20 July 1865 at Mound City, Illinois, Benton was sold 29 November 1865.
References
This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
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