Built on a civilian shipyard, St. Louis, Missouri (as ALECK SCOTT), Keel laid 1848, Launched 1849, U.S. Army acquired: by purchase, 18 May 1862; Commissioned May 18, 1862 (as FORT HENRY). February 27, 1863 (as LAFAYETTE), U.S. Navy,
General characteristics: Type: Ironclad ram, Displacement: 1,193 long tons (1,215 t), Length: 280 ft (85.34 m), Beam: 45 ft (13.72 m), Draught: 8 ft (2.44 m), Propulsion: Two steam engines, six boilers. Speed: 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph),
Armament: 2 × 11 in (280 mm) Dahlgren smoothbore guns, 4 × 9 in (230 mm) Dahlgren smoothbore guns, 2 × 100-pounder Parrott rifle guns.
Crew: 250,
Ship Class: City-class, Number-in-Class: 8, Ships-in-Class: USS CAIRO; USS CARONDELET; USS CINCINNATI; USS LAFAYETTE; USS LOUISVILLE; USS MOUND CITY; USS PITTSBURGH; USS ST LOUIS (later the BARON DE KALB)
The first USS LAFAYETTE was a side wheel steamer, converted to an ironclad ram, in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. LAFAYETTE was built at St. Louis, Missouri, in 1848 as ALECK SCOTT (often spelled Alick Scott). She was purchased by the War Department as FORT HENRY on 18 May 1862 for use in the western flotilla. She was converted to an ironclad ram at St. Louis. Renamed LAFAYETTE on 8 September 1862, she was transferred to the Navy with the entire western flotilla by executive order on 1 October 1862. She was commissioned at Cairo, Illinois, 27 February 1863, with Captain Henry A. Walke in command.
Battle of Vicksburg, April–July 1863
The new ram joined Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter's Mississippi Squadron above Vicksburg in time for the famous dash on 16 April 1863 past the deadly batteries which protected the vital Confederate fortress. The gunboats engaged the southern guns as they shepherded Army transports through the gauntlet to New Carthage. Ram GENERAL STERLING PRICE was lashed to the starboard side of LAFAYETTE for the passage. The ships were covered with heavy logs and bales of wet hay, which proved to be an excellent defense. Each ship, except BENTON, also towed a coal barge. LAFAYETTE, hampered by the ship lashed to her side, received nine "effective" shots through her casemate and had her coal barge sunk. Although under fire for 2½ hours, all ships of the squadron were ready for service within half an hour after the passage. The successful steaming of the squadron past the heavy batteries contributed to the early seizure of Grand Gulf, the eventual fall of Vicksburg itself, and ultimately the conquest of the entire Mississippi River. Five days later Porter, in LAFAYETTE, reconnoitered the Confederate works at Grand Gulf. He found a "strong fort" under construction and shelled the workers out. When Confederate steamer CHARM attempted to land supplies for the fort the Union gunboats drove her back up the Big Black River. By the 24th, Porter had stationed his gunboats so that they commanded the upper battery at Grand Gulf and closed off the mouth of the Big Black River. On the 29th Porter's ships engaged the heavy Confederate works at Grand Gulf, which, the admiral acknowledged, "were very formidable." In the 5½-hour battle, the gunboats silenced the lower batteries but could succeed in stopping the fire from the upper forts only "for a short time." Meanwhile Army transports passed safely below the batteries. Though BENTON, TUSCUMBIA, and PITTSBURGH were "pretty much cut up" in the engagement, the expedition was successful, and the net result was summed up by Porter, "We are now in a position to make a landing where the general [Grant] pleases." The following night Ulysses S. Grant took advantage of this mobility and ferried his troops across the Mississippi and landed them at Bruinsburg for lightning operations to isolate Vicksburg from reinforcements. On 3 May Porter once again moved his gunboats against the Confederate batteries, but the southerners, finding their position totally untenable after Grant had taken his army into the country back of Grand Gulf, had evacuated. The great land-sea pincer could now close on Vicksburg. As Porter reported to Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, "...the Navy holds the door to Vicksburg." Porter departed Grand Gulf with his gunboat squadron and rendezvoused that evening with the Farragut fleet at the mouth of the Red River. He preceded up the river the next day with BENTON, LAFAYETTE, PITTSBURGH, GENERAL STERLING PRICE, rams SWITZERLAND, and IVY. ESTRELLA and ARIZONA joined en-route. The evening of 5 May the ships arrived at Fort DeRussy, "a powerful casemated work" which the Confederates had recently evacuated in the face of the naval threat. Porter pushed past a heavy obstruction in the river and proceeded to Alexandria, Louisiana, which he occupied on the morning of the 7th. Subsequently turning the town over to Army troops and unable to continue upriver because of the low water, Porter's force returned to Fort DeRussy and partially destroyed it. As the Union noose around Vicksburg tightened, LAFAYETTE steamed up and down the river gathering information and dispersing Confederate defensive works. With PITTSBURGH she shelled Simmesport, Louisiana, 4 June, forcing the defenders to abandon strong riverside positions. The gunboats then returned to the mouth of the Red River to resume blockade duty. Exactly a month later, on Independence Day, Vicksburg surrendered, ending a long and valiant siege. After the war, LAFAYETTE decommissioned on 23 July 1865 and was laid up at New Orleans until sold there on 28 March 1866 for USA$10,770. Fate unknown.
USA Forever stamp sg?, scott”, (she is the second vessel in the squadron, the vessel alongside her is the GENERAL STERLING PRICE.)
Erhard Jung
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Lafayette_(1848, http://www.militaryfactory.com/ships/de ... yette-1863, http://civilwarwiki.net/wiki/USS_Lafayette, http://www.navalhistory.org/2010/04/18/1045