CSS General Sumter
The River Defense Fleet in the Battle of Plum Point Bend. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| United States | |
| Acquired | January 1862 (by Confederacy) |
| In service | April 17, 1862 |
| Captured | by U.S. Navy ca. 6 June 1862 (First Battle of Memphis) |
| Fate |
|
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage | 400, 524, or 525 tons |
| Length | 182 ft (55 m) |
| Beam | 28 ft 4 in (8.64 m) |
| Draught | depth of hold 10 ft 8 in (3.25 m) |
| Propulsion | Steam engine; sidewheel |
| Armament | 1 32-pounder gun and 1 8-inch smoothbore |
| Armour | Iron plate, cotton bales |
CSS General Sumter was a sidewheel steamer which was operated by both the Confederate States Army and the Union Navy during the American Civil War. A civilian vessel before the war, the ship was acquired by the Confederates in January 1862 for use in the River Defense Fleet. Modified into a cottonclad naval ram, General Sumter served on the Mississippi River. Present at the Battle of Plum Point Bend on May 10, General Sumter applied the final of three ramming blows to the ironclad USS Cincinnati, which sank the Union vessel. On June 6, during the First Battle of Memphis, General Sumter rammed and disabled the Union ram Queen of the West before being damaged and running aground herself. The vessel was repaired and entered Union service as the USS Sumter before running aground near Bayou Sara, Louisiana, in August, after which the wreck was stripped for machinery and then burned.