Acquired By The Confederacy in 1861
Sumter was a side wheel steamer built as Junius Beebe, in 1853 at Algiers, Louisiana. She operated on the Mississippi River and its tributaries as a towboat until early 1861 when she was purchased by the State of Louisiana from Charles H. Morgan's Southern Steamship Company.
In January 1862, she was acquired by Capt. James E. Montgomery, CSN, for the Confederate War Department's River Defense Fleet. The steamer was refitted at Algiers as a cottonclad ram by the James Martin yard. Her bow was strengthened by 4-inch oak sheathing covered by 1-inch iron plates. In addition, cotton bales were compressed between double pine bulkheads for added strength.
Read more about this topic: USS Sumter (1863)
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