Built as a wooden side paddle revenue cutter under yard No 115 by W.H.Webb, New York for the United States Revenue Cutter Service.
19 November 1857 launched as the HARRIET LANE, named after the niece and official hostess of President James Buchanan.
Displacement. 674 tons, dim. 82 x 6.7 x 4.0m. (draught).
Powered by a double-right-angled marine engine, ?hp, speed 12 knots.
Armament 1 – 4 inch, 1 – 9 inch, 2 – 8 inch guns and 2 – 24lb brass howitzers, after she was taken over by the US Navy, as revenue cutter she carried only a few light guns.
Crew 95.
Sheathed with copper.
1858 Completed building cost USA$140,000 and stationed at New York City.
Late 1858 temporarily transferred to the US Navy.
Her new assignment took her to Paraguay with a squadron ordered to support the discussions of U.S. Special Commissioner James B. Bowlin with Dictator Carlos Antonio Lopez concerning reparations for damages incurred during an unprovoked attack on WATERWITCH by the Paraguayan forces 1 February 1855. This display of sea power quickly won the United States a prompt and respectful hearing which 4 years of diplomacy had failed to obtain. Paraguay apologized, paid an indemnity to compensate the family of an American seaman killed during the fight, and signed a new commercial treaty containing provisions highly advantageous to the United States. In his report Flag Officer W. B. Shubrick singled out HARRIET LANE for special commendation on the invaluable service she rendered in extricating his other ships repeatedly running aground in the treacherous waters of the Parana River.
Returning to the United States, HARRIE LANE resumed her former duties as a revenue cutter. In September 1860 she embarked Edward Albert, the Prince of Wales, the first member of the British Royal Family to visit the United States, for passage to Mount Vernon where he planted a tree and placed a wreath on the tomb of George Washington.
HARRIET LANE again transferred to the Navy 30 March 1861 for service in the expedition sent to Charleston Harbor, S.C., to supply the Fort Sumter garrison. She departed New York 8 April and arrived off Charleston 11 April. The next day she fired a shot across the bow of NASHVILLE when that merchantman appeared with no colors flying. NASHVILLE avoided further attack by promptly hoisting the United States ensign, but 2 days later raised the Palmetto flag to begin her career as one of the most elusive Confederate privateers. When Major Anderson surrendered Fort Sumpter 13 April, HARRIET LANE withdrew with her sister ships.
Her next important service came the following summer when a task force was sent against Fort Clark and Fort Hatteras on the outer banks of North Carolina to check blockade running in the area, The ships sortied from Hampton Roads 26 August 1861 for this first important combined amphibious operation of the war. The next morning HARRIET LANE, MONTICELLO, and PAWNEE slipped close inshore to provide direct support to the landings while heavier ships pounded the forts from deeper water. The last resistance was snuffed out the following afternoon, giving a badly needed boost to morale in the North disheartened a month before by defeat in the first battle of Bull Run. Of greater importance was the fact that this combined operation opened the inland waterways to Union ships and gave the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron a base deep in Southern waters.
HARRIET LANE ran aground while attempting to enter Pamlico Sound through Hatteras Inlet 29 August and suffered severe damage while fast on the shoal. She was refloated at the cost of her armament, rigging, stores, provisions, and everything else on board which could be heaved over the side to lighten ship. Temporary repairs completed 5 September, she proceeded to Hampton Roads, arriving 8 September 1801.
HARRIET LANE sailed 10 February 1862 to join Comdr. D. D. Porter's Mortar Flotilla at Key West, where units were assembling for an attack on Confederate forts In the Mississippi River Delta below New Orleans. Comdr. Porter embarked at Washington. During her passage to Hampton Roads, HARRIET LANE was taken under fire by the Confederate battery at Shipping Point, Va., which inflicted such damage to her port wheel that her departure for Key West was delayed another 2 days. On 24 February, she captured the Confederate schooner JOANNA WARD off Florida.
The Mortar Flotilla sailed from Key West 6 March to begin the operation which would deprive the Confederacy of the use of its largest inland waterway. HARRIET LANE , as Porter's flagship, was among the ships which engaged Forts Jackson and St. Philip, which protected New Orleans. She helped provide the intense fire which covered Flag Officer Farragut's daring rush past the forts on 24 April. "You supported us most noble," wrote Farragut in praise of Porter's action. On 29 April HARRIET LANE steamed up river to accept the surrender of upstream forts. The success of this attack opened the way for the movement of waterborne Union forces, now free to steam up river to join those coming south from Illinois to form a pincer which would sever the Confederacy.
Farragut ordered the Mortar Flotilla to Ship Island 1 May, and HARRIET LANE continued to Pensacola where she transported Brigadier General L. G. Arnold's troops from Fort Pickins to the other side of the bay where they occupied Forts Barrancas, and McRee, Barancas Barracks, and the Navy Yard which had been abandoned by the Confederates. Back at Ship Island for repairs 30 May, HARRIET LANE prepared to ascend the Mississippi with Porter's mortar boats to engage enemy batteries on the cliffs of Vicksburg, Mississippi while Farragut ran past this river stronghold to join Flag Officer Davis in an effort to clear the entire Mississippi Valley of obstructions to Union shipping. However, sufficient ground forces to take Vicksburg were not made available, nullifying the value of his operation, and after a frustrating encounter with new Confederate ironclad ram ARKANSAS, Farragut ran back down past Vicksburg while HARRIET LANE and her sister vessels in the Mortar Flotilla again covered the dash by bombarding the Confederate batteries 15 July.
As his ships required extensive repairs and most of his men were ill, Farragut ordered his ships to rendezvous at Pensacola. Following blockade duty in Mobile Bay, HARRIET LANE sailed for Galveston, Tex., which she bombarded and captured with the aid of WESTFIELD, OSASCO, CLIFTON, and HENRY JANES, 3 October 1862.
In September, she was sent to Galveston, Texas as part of a blockade fleet under the command of Commodore Eagle, whose flagship was too large to enter the river and was subsequently relieved of command on October 1. On October 4, HARRIET LANE advanced into Galveston Harbor and participated in a small exchange with a the rebel Fort Point and shore batteries, known as the First Battle of Galveston Harbor. On October 9 Union marines landed to raise the United States flag, and the key to the city was given to the captain of HARRIET LANE, which was Captain Wainright. Union forces from the ships occupied the town, but fell back to the docks every night as Confederate cavalry entered the town every evening. The ships bombarded the town at regular intervals.
On the early morning of January 1, 1863, with almost all ships, including HARRIET LANE, anchored in the channel, an alarm was raised reporting Confederate forces approaching. With only the WESTFIELD ready to manoeuvre, she sailed up river in an attempt to engage the approaching Confederate vessels. The WESTFIELD grounded, but the attack was reckoned to be merely a retreat by Confederate ships, and the alarm was cancelled. There was, however, a Confederate land force under the command of General John B. Magruder that was approaching Galveston. At four o'clock of that morning, in what would come to be known as the Battle of Galveston, the reoccupied Confederate forts opened fire on the Union fleet while ground troops attempted to board the anchored ships. The late arrival of a Confederate fleet enabled the troops to board the HARRIET LANE, which was raked by gunfire and rammed, finding Wainright dead and Lea mortally wounded. In one of the war's most poignant incidents, when Lea was mortally wounded, his father Conferderate Major Albert M. Lea was serving ashore in Galveston. He came on board the Harriet to only realize his son was near death.
During the Battle of Galveston, HARRIET LANE sank the Rebel tugboat Neptune, and one-half of the two-vessel Confederate fleet was lying on the bottom of the harbor However, the Confederate gunboat BAYOU CITY circled around and made a second run on HARRIET LANE. At daybreak, HARRIET LANE was listing steeply, and a boat was dispatched from her side to the remaining Union ships to negotiate a surrender. During the negotiations, HARRIET LANE was further damaged by fire from the Union OWASCO under a flag of truce in an attempt to explode her magazine. The flagship WESTFIELD was later exploded, and the remaining Union ships fled to New Orleans, leaving HARRIET LANE, along with a copy of the United States signal service code book in her cabin, in Confederate hands.
The capture of HARRIET LANE was an interesting episode of the Civil War, as it possibly involved the youngest combatant of the American Civil War. According to an account by a captured member of the Confederate boarding party:
Amongst the first men struck down were the gallant Captain Wainwright and Lieutenant Lee, who both fought with desperation and valor. One young son of Captain Wainwright, just ten years old, stood at the cabin door with a revolver in each hand and never ceased firing until he had expended every shot.
The capture of the HARRIET LANE also involved possibly the oldest active combatant of the American Civil War. Captain Levi C. Harby of the Texas Maritime Service, 69 years old, was in command of the NEPTUNE, and was the last to leave that vessel after ramming the HARRIET LANE portside. The NEPTUNE was hit by Federal gunners and sank, but the water was shallow enough that Harby and his men could continue firing their guns from her deck. This distraction enabled the BAYOU CITY to carry out the successful starboard attack that captured the HARRIET LANE.
After a week of repairs, HARRIET LANE was placed under the command of Captain Thos. C. Saunders and dispatched to fight the Union vessels at sea, despite lengthy legal discussions regarding the capture of the prize which had not yet drawn to a close. As a result, the ship was taken further upriver and stripped of weapons to lighten her load. March 10 saw HARRIET LANE legally under the ownership of the Confederacy, and she was given to Captain Barney of the Confederate States Navy,.After serving the Confederate Army's Marine Department of Texas, she was sold to T. W. House of Galveston, who converted her into a blockade runner named LAVINIA She was managed by King & Comp. She finally escaped Galveston 30 April 1864 and sailed to Havana, where she was interned, loaded with a cargo of cotton.
18 January 1865 she got on fire at Havana and was sunk. She was salvaged later. In 1867, following the war, she was handed to the United States authorities by the Spanish Government and was taken to Philadelphia. Sold there and brought to Boston where a upper deck was fitted and converted to a bark rig ; and renamed ELLIOT RICHIE, owned by Captain Hutchins & Nehemiah Gibso, Boston. The next years used in the cotton and lumber trade between USA ports and foreign ports. Tonnage then given as 650 tons.
With a fire breaking out in one of her cargo holds, on a voyage to Buenos Aires, she was abandoned at sea off Pernambuco, Brazil, 13 May 1884.
Liberia 2011 $80 sg?, scott?
From: Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol.III, p 250 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USRC_Harriet_Lane_(1857) Lifeline of the Confederacy by Stephen R. Wise.