USS James Adger (1851)
Encyclopedia
USS James Adger was a sidewheel steamer in the Union Navy
Union Navy
The Union Navy is the label applied to the United States Navy during the American Civil War, to contrast it from its direct opponent, the Confederate States Navy...

 during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. She retained her former name.

Before being pressed into service by the United States Navy, the
SS James Adger
was a United States Mail Steamship operating between Charleston, South Carolina and New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, New York. Owned by James Adger II (James Adger & Co) of Charleston, she was seized while in New York City at the outset of the Civil War and converted for military duty by the Union Navy.

James Adger was built at New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 by William H. Webb
William H. Webb
William Henry Webb was a 19th-century New York shipbuilder and philanthropist, who has been called America's first true naval architect....

 in 1851. Her 240 hp side-lever engine was supplied by the Allaire Iron Works
Allaire Iron Works
The Allaire Iron Works was a leading 19th-century American marine engineering company based in New York City. Founded in 1816 by engineer and philanthropist James P...

.

James Adger was purchased at New York for the sum of $85,000 from Spofford, Tileston & Co., on 20 July 1861, and commissioned at New York Navy Yard on 20 September 1861, Commander
Commander (United States)
In the United States, commander is a military rank that is also sometimes used as a military title, depending on the branch of service. It is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the military, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Naval rank:In the United States...

 John B. Marchand in command.

The Trent Affair, 1861

James Adger departed New York on 16 October 1861 in pursuit of the CSS Nashville
CSS Nashville (1861)
Originally a United States Mail Service ship, the USMS Nashville, was a brig-rigged, side-paddle-wheel passenger steamer built at Greenpoint, Brooklyn in 1853. Between 1853 and 1861 she was engaged in running between New York City and Charleston, South Carolina...

, a Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...

 cruiser
Cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...

 reported to have escaped from Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...

 with the South's ministers to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, James M. Mason
James M. Mason
James Murray Mason was a United States Representative and United States Senator from Virginia. He was a grandson of George Mason and represented the Confederate States of America as appointed commissioner of the Confederacy to the United Kingdom and France between 1861 and 1865 during the American...

 and John Slidell
John Slidell
John Slidell was an American politician, lawyer and businessman. A native of New York, Slidell moved to Louisiana as a young man and became a staunch defender of southern rights as a U.S. Representative and Senator...

. She arrived at Queenstown, Ireland after an extremely stormy passage in October and spent November cruising in quest of her elusive quarry. The diplomats were apprehended by on 8 November.

While in port, the captain of James Adger began the legal questions that would be used in the Trent Affair
Trent affair
The Trent Affair, also known as the Mason and Slidell Affair, was an international diplomatic incident that occurred during the American Civil War...

 by loudly speaking of his mission while intoxicated on brandy. Earl Russell
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, KG, GCMG, PC , known as Lord John Russell before 1861, was an English Whig and Liberal politician who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century....

 would hear of his mission and set the Law offices of the Crown to work deciding on the status of diplomats as a form of contraband
Contraband
The word contraband, reported in English since 1529, from Medieval French contrebande "a smuggling," denotes any item which, relating to its nature, is illegal to be possessed or sold....

.

South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, 1861-1863

James Adger arrived Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...

, Va. on 2 December and three days later was ordered to Port Royal, South Carolina
Port Royal, South Carolina
Port Royal is a town in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. Largely because of annexation of surrounding areas , the population of Port Royal rose from 3,950 in 2000 to 10,678 in 2010, a 170% increase. As defined by the U.S...

 for duty in the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. Rear Admiral
Rear admiral (United States)
Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. The uniformed services of the United States are unique in having two grades of rear admirals.- Rear admiral :...

 Samuel Francis Du Pont
Samuel Francis du Pont
Samuel Francis Du Pont was an American naval officer who achieved the rank of Rear Admiral in the United States Navy, and a member of the prominent Du Pont family; he was the only member of his generation to use a capital D...

 ordered Comdr. Marchand to sail in James Adger to Georgetown, S.C., and assume command of the blockade there. She arrived off Georgetown, S.C. on 24 December and served with such efficiency that on 7 March 1862, Comdr. Marchand was ordered to Charleston to command the blockade at that critical port.

At Charleston, smooth teamwork was the key to success, and James Adger was unusually adept in cooperating with other ships in the area to assure the effectiveness of the blockade. As senior ship, she usually remained on station while others chased blockade runner
Blockade runner
A blockade runner is usually a lighter weight ship used for evading a naval blockade of a port or strait, as opposed to confronting the blockaders to break the blockade. Very often blockade running is done in order to transport cargo, for example to bring food or arms to a blockaded city...

s; from time to time, she took part in a capture herself. On 18 March, she joined four other Union ships in capturing Emily St. Pierre attempting to slip into Charleston with a cargo of 2,173 bales of gunny cloth sorely needed for baling cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....

, the South's main export
Export
The term export is derived from the conceptual meaning as to ship the goods and services out of the port of a country. The seller of such goods and services is referred to as an "exporter" who is based in the country of export whereas the overseas based buyer is referred to as an "importer"...

 and source of foreign credit
Credit (finance)
Credit is the trust which allows one party to provide resources to another party where that second party does not reimburse the first party immediately , but instead arranges either to repay or return those resources at a later date. The resources provided may be financial Credit is the trust...

. She helped on 29 May in capturing Elizabeth, a 250 LT (254 t) steamer trying to enter Charleston with a cargo of munitions. She assisted Keystone State and in driving off and pursuing her old adversary Nashville — now a blockade runner named Thomas L. Wragg — trying to slip into Charleston.

James Adger sailed for Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...

 on 19 September for repairs and departed for the South on 31 December touching at Hampton Roads on 2 January 1863 to take monitor in tow before proceeding to Beaufort and Port Royal in preparation for an attack on Charleston. Arriving Port Royal on 19 January, the ships learned that Nashville, now a privateer
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...

 called Rattlesnake, was in the Ogeechee River
Ogeechee River
Ogeechee River is a river in the U.S. state of Georgia. It heads at the confluence of its North and South Forks, about south-southwest of Crawfordville and flowing generally southeast to Ossabaw Sound about south of Savannah. Its largest tributary is the Canoochee River...

. James Adger stood out of Port Royal, monitor Montauk in tow on 22 January and steamed to Ossabaw Sound, where she arrived two days later. Montauk ascended the Ogeechee independently to begin operations which resulted in the destruction of Rattlesnake on 28 February. Meanwhile, James Adger — her vital towing service completed — returned to Port Royal on 29 January.

On 2 April, the veteran ship became flagship
Flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...

 for Rear Admiral Du Pont while he supervised final preparations for his powerful monitor attack upon Charleston. After the tough ironclads were driven back by incredibly intense fire from Confederate batteries, James Adger towed crippled monitors to Port Royal and on 29 April sailed from Port Royal towing north for repairs, arriving New York on 4 May.

Back in Port Royal on 16 May, James Adger was assigned blockade duty off Charleston. A month later, she was recalled to Port Royal to embark prisoners captured with Atlanta for passage to Fort Monroe
Fort Monroe
Fort Monroe was a military installation in Hampton, Virginia—at Old Point Comfort, the southern tip of the Virginia Peninsula...

, whence she steamed to Philadelphia for repairs. She arrived Philadelphia 25 June but immediately after coaling sailed in pursuit of Confederate commerce railer CSS Tacony
CSS Tacony
CSS Tacony was originally a bark captured by the Confederate cruiser CSS Clarence during the American Civil War and converted into a Confederate cruiser for commerce raiding.The CSS Clarence, commanded by Lt. Charles W...

, then operating against Union merchantmen far up the East Coast. She arrived New York on 3 July.

North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, 1863

Four days later, James Adger — not yet repaired — received orders to Wilmington
Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington is a port city in and is the county seat of New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. The population is 106,476 according to the 2010 Census, making it the eighth most populous city in the state of North Carolina...

 for duty with the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. Arriving Wilmington on 27 July, she was stationed off New Inlet, where five days later she assisted and in taking Confederate steamer Kate. On 8 November, with the assistance of she captured Cornubia, an iron side wheeler bringing in a valuable cargo of arms, ammunition, and chemicals. Moreover, a package of documents thrown overboard before the capture, when plucked out of the sea, divulged information so important to the South that Cornubias captain lamented, "though the Cornubia is a small vessel the Confederate Government could better have afforded to lose almost any other..." The next morning, James Adger took Confederate steamer Robert E. Lee coming into Wilmington from Bermuda with a cargo of arms and Army clothing sorely needed by Lee's soldiers. Schooner Ella, approaching Wilmington with a cargo of salt and yard goods from Nassau, Bahamas
Nassau, Bahamas
Nassau is the capital, largest city, and commercial centre of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The city has a population of 248,948 , 70 percent of the entire population of The Bahamas...

, was James Adgers next victim, surrendering on 26 November.

Without the normal overhaul periods due ships and men, service was taking a daily toll in wear and tear. When the ship's long postponed repairs could be delayed no longer, James Adger sailed north and decommissioned at Philadelphia on 28 December for the necessary yard work.

South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, Caribbean, 1864-1865

After recommissioning on 17 June 1864, James Adger served in the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron until the end of the war. On 21 April 1865, Secretary Gideon Welles
Gideon Welles
Gideon Welles was the United States Secretary of the Navy from 1861 to 1869. His buildup of the Navy to successfully execute blockades of Southern ports was a key component of Northern victory of the Civil War...

ordered her to Mariguana Passage (now Mayaguana Passage) in the Bahamas to escort a convoy of California-bound ships. Following a visit to New York, she cruised in the Caribbean off Panama and Colombia from August 1865-February 1866.

James Adger decommissioned at New York Navy Yard on 2 May and was sold at New York to James B. Campbell on 9 October.

As of 2005, no other ship in the United States Navy has been named James Adger.

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