QUEEN OF THE WEST and MORNING STAR

The full index of our ship stamp archive
Post Reply
aukepalmhof
Posts: 7771
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:28 am

QUEEN OF THE WEST and MORNING STAR

Post by aukepalmhof » Fri Oct 26, 2012 8:04 pm

The miniature sheet is designed after a lithograph by Currier & Ives 1866, which shows two paddle steamers rounding the bend on the Mississippi River. The first is the QUEEN OF THE WEST, the second is the MORNING STAR the third is not identified. .

QUEEN OF THE WEST was built 1854 as a side-wheeler paddle steamer at Cincinnati, Ohio for the Cincinnati-New Orleans service.
Dim. 181 x 36 x 6ft.
Powered by a steam engine.

During the American Civil War was she purchased by the United States Department of War in 1862 and converted in a ram ship for Colonel Charles Ellet Jr’s Ram Fleet which operated on the Mississippi River in the US Civil War in conjunction with the Western Flotilla.
Displacement 406 ton.
Armament 1 – 30 pounder cannon and 3 – 12 pounder howitzers.
Crew 120.
1862 Commissioned under command of Colonel Charles Rivers Ellet, the Fleet Commanders son.
6 June 1862 together with the USS MONARCH and five ironclads gunboats of the Western Flotilla engaged the Confederate States River defense Fleet at Memphis, Tennessee.
QUEEN OF THE WEST was rammed and the elder Colonel Ellet was mortally wounded, but the Union ships destroyed the Southern Flotilla and won for the Union control of the Mississippi as far south as Vicksburg, Mississippi.
15 July 1862 QUEEN OF THE WEST, USS CARONDELET and USS TYLER engaged Confederate ironclad ram CSS ARKANSAS in the Yazoo River. The Southern ram escaped into the Mississippi River and heavily damaged, found refuge under the Southern batteries at Vicksburg.
22 July QUEEN OF THE WEST and USS ESSEX attacked ARKANSAS, despite the Southern guns. ESSEX steamed through a hail of sheel past the shore batteries and joined Admiral David Farragut’s ships below Vicksburg, and QUEEN OF WEST rammed ARKANSAS before rejoining the Western Flotilla ships above the river fortress.
In ensuing months, QUEEN OF THE WEST continued to support operations against Vicksburg. On 19 September, while escorting two troop transports, she had a short engagement with Confederate infantry and artillery above Bolivar, Mississippi. As the year closed, she was busy clearing the Yazoo of torpedoes and engaging Confederate batteries at Drumgold's Bluff.
On 02 February 1863, after ramming and firing incendiary projectiles into the Confederate steamer CSS CITY OF VICKSBURG under the fortress’s guns, QUEEN OF THE WEST was caught in the conflagration and forced to withdraw down stream, fighting fires in the bow and near her starboard wheelThe next day she forced ashore and captured Confederate steamers O. W. BAKER, MORO and BERWICK BAY. On 12 February she ascended the Red River and entered the Atchafalaya River where a landing party destroyed Confederate Army wagons. That evening, Southern planters fired into the ship, severely wounding the senior naval officer aboard. The next day, in reprisal, Ellet destroyed all nearby buildings.
On 14 February, QUEEN OF THE WEST captured steamer ERA No. 5 some 15 miles above the mouth of the Black River and continued on upstream seeking three vessels reported at Barbin’s Landing. Taken under heavy fire by the shore batteries of Fort DeRussy, she ran aground directly under Confederate guns, which pounded her until Ellet ordered "abandon ship," and the formidable vessel fell into Confederate hands. The Queen was not burned out of concern for the Captain of the ship who was wounded and could not be moved. In his official report, Ellet alleged the grounding was done purposely by the replacement pilot whom he accused in his report of being a rebel sympathizer. During their escape downstream, the pilot also grounded the captured ERA running the paddles long after contact, whereupon the pilot was placed under arrest.
She was refloated by the Confederated and placed is service as CSS QUEEN OF THE WEST. Armament as given 1 – 30pdr, 1 – 20 pdr. guns and 3 – 12 pdr. howitzers.
She operated thereafter under the Confederate Army. In conjunction with
another Confederate ram, WEBB, she forced the surrender of USS INDIANOLA off the Red River on 24 February 1863. On 14 April 1863 she was attacked on the Atchafalaya River, La., by the Union vessels ESTRELLA, CALHOUN, and ARIZONA. A shell from CALHOUN set fire to QUEEN OF THE WEST's cotton and her burning wreck drifted down the river for several hours before she grounded and exploded.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Queen_ ... est_(1854)


The MORNING STAR also a paddlesteamer was built in 1864 by the Howard yard at Jeffersonville, Indiana for the Louisville-Henderson Packet line.
Dim. 265.3 x 35.6 x 6.2ft.
1879 Taken out of service.

St Thomas & Prince 1984 15d sg?, scott760.

Source:Watercraft Philately.
Attachments
3a06232r.jpg
tmp119.jpg

Post Reply