She was built original as a steam powered ferry in 1856 in New Albany, Indiana. under the name NEW ERA.
20 September 1861 bought by the United States War Department for use in its Western Gunboat Flotilla.
She was modified into a 355 ton timber-clad gunboat by James B. Eads & Co. at Carondelit near St Louis.
The Western Flotilla was operated by the Army but commanded by Naval Officers.
In November of 1861under command of Commander W.D. Porter the NEW ERA took part in an expedition up the Cumberland River.
She was shortly thereafter renamed in USS ESSEX, named after a town and country in Massachusetts.
Was she refitted in an iron-clad gunboat,
Displacement 640 tons, dim. 76 x 18 x 1.8m.
Speed 5.5 knots.
Armament 1 – 32 pdr., 3 – 11 inch Dahlgren smooth bores. 1 – 10 inch Dahlgren smoothbore. 1 – 12 pdr. howitzer.
Crew 134.
On 11 January 1862, ESSEX and ST. LOUIS engaged Confederate gunboats in the Tennessee River near Lucas Bend, Mo. In company with six other gunboats commanded by Flag Officer A. H. Foote, she cooperated with the Army in capturing Fort Henry, Tenn., on 6 February. In this action ESSEX suffered serious damage to her boiler and resulting injury to her crew, forcing her to retire from a battle in which she had participated effectively.
After extensive repairs she returned to duty to participate in the assault on Vicksburg on 13 July 1862. Nine days later she ran past the hammering batteries of Vicksburg and attacked the Confederate ram, ARKANSAS, inflicting considerable damage. On 5 August she joined with the Army in repelling a Confederate attack on Baton Rouge, La., and the next day attacked ARKANSAS again; during the engagement, ARKANSAS broke down and drifted ashore where she was destroyed by her crew.
The entire Western Flotilla, including ESSEX, was turned over to the Navy on 1 October 1862 in compliance with congressional enactment and thereafter was named the Mississippi Squadron.
ESSEX acted in the capture of Port Hudson, La., from 8 May to 8 July 1863. The daily bombardment of the area by ESSEX and MORTILLA brought about eventual surrender of that city. On 9 July she engaged the enemy at Donaldsonville and although damaged in the battle, carried out her patrol duty at this point through 6 March 1864 when she sailed with the fleet into the mouth of the Red River and assisted in the capture of Fort de Russy on 15 and 16 March.
On 17 April ESSEX got underway from Vicksburg where she arrived 6 days later. On 4 May she proceeded to Memphis, Tenn., where she remained for the duration of the war. ESSEX was decommissioned at Mound City, Ill., on 20 July 1865, and sold on 29 November 1865.
The ESSEX was renamed again NEW ERA, and she was scrapped in 1870.
Grenada 2001 $1.50 sg?, scott?
Mozambique 2018 116Mt sg?, scott? and in margin of miniature sheet 300MT sgMS?, scott?
From: Dictionary of American Fighting Ships http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Essex_(1856)