Saturday Mac

By tk
Saturday, November 16, 2002

TK, Early on in the Civil War piece, I made mention of CSS Stonewall, and said I would cover its story later, but then I never did. It will only run to just over a page, here is the first page, it should please go in in front of Shenandoah, under the Heading: CSS Stonewall. Captain T.J.Page.1865.

I will send two pictures for this ship.

Civil War P99.

CSS Stonewall.
In 1862, Mr. Slidell, the Confederate representative in France had got the nod from friends, that the Emperor, Napoleon III would close his eyes to French ship builders if they produced cruisers for the Confederate Navy.

Captain Bulloch and Slidell, negotiated with M. Arman, who owned a large shipyard at Bordeaux. to build four steam corvettes, as his own yard was very busy he arranged for two of these vessels to be constructed by M. J. Voruz of Nantes.

On the 30th. of June, Bulloch was told that the Confederate Congress had appropriated $2 Million for building iron-clad-ships-of-war, and Mallory instructed him to contract with Arman for a ship, 172 feet long, 33 feet in her beam, to steam at 13 knots, and have 4.5 inches iron plate amidships, tapering to 3.5 inches at her extremities, and carry a 300 pounder Armstrong rifle in a forward turret, and two 70 pounder Armstrongs in an after turret. The ship had a ram, and was designed so that she might enter the Mississipi River, then a second ship with the same specifications was also ordered.

By November, the corvettes and the iron clads were more than half completed, now the United States Minister at Paris, one William L. Dayton, heard about these ships, and naturally took his concern to the Emperor, providing proof these ships were intended for his enemy.

At this stage France was at war with Mexico, and the US were having the better of the Civil War, the persuasive Dayton induced Napoleon III to revoke the assurance he had imparted to both Bulloch and Slidell.

The ship builders were told, the Iron clads could not sail, and the corvettes could not be armed in France but might be sold to a foreign merchant as ordinary trading vessels. All of course, a complete and bitter blow to the Confederacy, and her Navy.

By the 9th. of July 1864, Arman indicated all six ships had been sold, only one came into the hands of the Confederacy, the iron-ram Sphynx, was sold to Denmark.

At the time of this sale, Denmark was at war with Prussia, by the time this ship was delivered, the war was over, and the Danes wanted to be rid of her.

The Confederates did a deal, and on the 6th. of January 1865 she sailed out of Copenhagen with Captain T.J.Page in command, and met up with a steamer, City of Richmond off the French coast, she carried the remainder of the officers and crew, plus necessary supplies, up went the Confederate flag, and she was named CSS Stonewall.

The ship was forced into Ferrol, Spain to repair a leak, now Union warships were The end of the text thanks, it did not want to paste into E-Mail, so have copied it. Mac.