Of the some 60 monitor-type Union vessels complete or under construction by the end of the Civil War, two Canonicus-class vessels, the USS Tecumseh and USS Manhattan, participated in Rear Admiral David G. Farragut’s attack on Mobile Bay 130 years ago on 5 August 1864- The Tecumseh was sunk by a torpedo (mine) while passing Fort Morgan. The Manhattan participated in the capture of the Confederate ram CSS Tennessee during the battle. Until two years ago, these ships were among many that historians thought were never photographed during the war.
The Naval Historical Center in Washington, D.C., convened meetings from 23 to 24 September 1993 at the USS Alabama Battleship Park to discuss concepts of a management plan for the wreck site of the Union ironclad Tecumseh. Several of the attendees—including John H. Friend, long-time researcher of the ship; W. Wilson West, U.S. House of Representatives staffer and author of a master’s degree thesis on the subject; Dr. Harold D. Langley, the Smithsonian Institution’s curator of naval history; and this reporter—visited the City Museum of Mobile following the meetings. Among the exhibits devoted to military activity in Mobile Bay was an 11 1/2-inch by 15 1/2- inch photographic print of two monitor-type vessels under construction in a shipyard. The title is: “U.S. Monitor TECUMSEH, Built by Secor & Co., Jersey City.” The photograph is mounted on a paper board 15 3/4 inches by 23 inches and inscribed in pencil under the lower left corner: “Brady &. Company,” denoting the handiwork of the famed photographer Matthew Brady and/or his talented stable of assistants.
The vessel painted white in the left portion of the photograph is on the ways prepared to launch, as the shoring under the armor shelf and the cradles at the bow and stern indicate. The deck is devoid of the turret, usually erected after launching, and she is manned with workmen and dignitaries in winter clothing. A large sign hanging over her port side reads: TECUMSEH.
The ship was named for a Shawnee Indian chief born near the present site of Springfield, Ohio, in about 1768. He devoted his life to opposing the advance of white settlers and was commissioned a brigadier general in the British Army. He was killed opposing U.S. troops at the Battle of the Thames at Moraviantown on 5 October 1813.
In the right side of the photograph a second hull appears on the stocks. The vessel was apparently unpainted and still under construction. A sign under her bow reads: MANNAHATA.
The name “Mannahata” appeared on drawings prepared by the Office of the Inspector General of Ironclads for the Canonicus class until at least 25 November 1862. Subsequent to 28 July 1863, the name appearing on some drawings for this class had been changed to Manhattan, the name of an Indian tribe of the Wappinger Confederacy that occupied what is now New York City.
In fall 1862 the Navy Department issued contracts for nine monitors of the Canonicus class. It incorporated and modified features resulting from battle and operational experience with the original USS Monitor and the ten previous Passaic-class monitors. A ship of this class displaced 2,000 tons, was 225 feet long, and carried two, 15-inch, muzzleloading, smoothbore guns capable of firing 400-pound cored-shot projectiles 2,000 yards at 7 degrees elevation.
On 15 September 1862, Secor & Co. of New York City received contracts to construct the Tecumseh and the Manhattan. The assembly of the hulls—including those of the monitors Weehawken, Mahopac, and Ca- manche—was subcontracted to the Monitor Ship Yard of Joseph Colwell; engine construction was awarded to the Fulton Foundry, both of Jersey City, New Jersey. The Tecumseh was launched on 12 September 1863, and the Manhattan on 14 October 1863. Both ships were commissioned at the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn— the Tecumseh on 19 April 1864 under Commander Tunis A. M. Craven and the Manhattan on 6 June 1864 under Commander J. W. A. Nicholson.
The Manhattan sailed for the Gulf of Mexico in July and followed the Tecumseh in the line of monitors leading the attack on Mobile Bay. The Tecumseh was diverted to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and the James River Flotilla, where she participated in the blockade of Confederate vessels in Richmond and the successful bombardment of forces threatening General Ulysses S. Grant’s riverine supply line. Leaving Virginia on 5 July and stopping at Pensacola enroute, she arrived off Mobile Bay on 4 August 1864. Next morning she led the vanguard past Fort Morgan, struck an underwater torpedo and sank quickly, entrapping 92 members of the crew and her captain. It was during the confusion that followed that Farragut supposedly uttered his famous remark, “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!”
The Manhattan operated in the Mississippi River until 1865 and was laid up in ordinary in New Orleans until 1869, when she was renamed the Neptune for a few months. In 1870 the ship was sent from Key West to Philadelphia and refitted in 1873. After several years of coastal operations, she was anchored in the James River until 1888, taken to League Island in Philadelphia, refitted once more in preparation for the Spanish- American War, struck from the Navy list in 1901 and sold in 1902.
This photograph of the two famous vessels provides details of hull features and could assist in planning the future of the Tecumseh. Certainly the existence of the photograph is of interest to those concerned with naval history and perhaps may lead to the discovery and preservation of other photographs of this ship class that began a revolution in naval warfare.
