USS Lancaster (1855) - The Sinking of The Lancaster

The Sinking of The Lancaster

After she was back in fighting shape, the ram resumed operations on the Mississippi towing other ships against the swift current, performing reconnaissance work, and escorting Union supply ships and transports up and down the river. This vital task of protecting General Ulysses S. Grant’s logistic lines was necessitated by stepped-up southern guerrilla activity and cavalry raids along the river banks.

In mid-March 1863, Farragut returned to the river and managed to run two of his ships upstream past southern batteries at Port Hudson to blockade the mouth of the Red River which the Confederacy had used to funnel supplies and men from the West to Jefferson Davis’ armies east of the Mississippi. He then requested Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter to send him reinforcements from the Western Flotilla to help with the task.

In the wee hours of 25 March, two of Ellet’s rams, Switzerland and Lancaster, prepared to answer the call. They came within range of the hostile hillside guns just as the still hidden sun began to lighten the sky’s midnight blue. Bright flashes burst along the hilltops as Confederate cannon lashed out at the rams. A shell exploded in Lancaster’s steam drum and then a solid shot plunged into her stern and tore a great hole in her bottom. As the muddy Mississippi poured into her hull, Lancaster’s commander, Lt. Col. John A. Ellet, ordered her crew to abandon the ship, and the ram sank hard by the bow.