USS Essex (1856)
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USS Essex was a 1000-ton ironclad river gunboat of the United States Army and later United States Navy during the American Civil War. It was named by her captain, William Porter, for his father's old
Essex at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, July 1862
A contemporary illustration of the 1861 conversion of the steamer New Era into the gunboat USS Essex.
CSS Arkansas running through the Union fleet above Vicksburg, Mississippi, 15 July 1862
Timberclad warship
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A timberclad warship is a kind of mid 19th century river gunboat.
USS Essex (1856)
…named New Era. In September 1861 New Era was purchased by the United States Army for use in its Western Gunboat Flotilla and was modified into a 355-ton timberclad gunboat. In November 1861 USS New Era took part in an expedition up the Cumberland River. Shortly thereafter she was renamed USS Essex and received an…
The timberclad USS Conestoga, photographed during the American Civil War