# CSS Curlew

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Ship of the Confederate Navy in the American Civil War

Burning of the Confederate gunboat Curlew, off Fort Forrest, Feb. 7, 1862 History Confederate States Name Curlew Namesake Curlew Launched 1856 Commissioned 1861 Fate Run aground and burned on February 7, 1862 General characteristics Displacement 236 tons Length 135 ft (41 m) Beam 23 ft 6 in (7.16 m) Depth of hold 8 ft (2.4 m) Propulsion 1 walking beam steam engine powering side paddlewheels Speed 12 mph (19 km/h) Complement 22 (1861), 30 (1862) Armament 1 × rifled 32 pounder (bow), 1 × 12 pounder (stern)

**CSS *Curlew*** was an iron-hull North Carolina Sounds [paddlewheel](/source/Paddlewheel) [steamboat](/source/Steamboat) that was taken into the [Confederate Navy](/source/Confederate_Navy) in 1861. It was run aground at Fort Forrest () and burned in the battle for [Roanoke Island](/source/Roanoke_Island) on February 8, 1862. Its wreck was discovered in 1988 and archaeologically investigated in 1994.

## The steamboat

The *Curlew* was built in 1856 by the [Harlan & Hollingsworth](/source/Harlan_%26_Hollingsworth) Iron Shipbuilding Company of [Wilmington, Delaware](/source/Wilmington%2C_Delaware). It was 135 feet (41 m) long, 23 feet (7.0 m) wide, 8-foot (2.4 m) depth of hold, and listed at 236 tons. Its average draft was 5 feet (1.5 m), which suited the shallow waters of the North Carolina sounds. The steamboat had side paddle wheels that were 18 feet (5.5 m) in diameter by 8 feet (2.4 m) wide. The *Curlew* had no figurehead, a round stern, and no mast. A [walking beam engine](/source/Walking_beam_engine) with a 29-inch (740 mm) diameter cylinder and a 9-foot (2.7 m) stroke powered the new steamer. This type of engine had a distinctive trapezoid-shaped rocker arm mounted between the paddle wheels, which transmitted power from the piston rod to the crank on the paddle wheel shaft. For improved efficiency, the *Curlew's* engine was equipped with Sickle's patented cutoff valve. Steam was provided by a two furnace return-flue boiler 18 feet (5.5 m) long, 7 feet (2.1 m) high, and 8 feet (2.4 m) wide, and rated at 30 [lbf/in2](/source/Pound-force_per_square_inch) (210 [kPa](/source/Kilopascal)) of pressure. It started operating in North Carolina in July 1856.[1]

## History

The *Curlew* was built for Thomas D. Warren, a doctor and plantation owner from [Edenton, North Carolina](/source/Edenton%2C_North_Carolina). It was operated for passenger and cargo transportation in the [Albemarle Sound](/source/Albemarle_Sound) region, running between Edenton, Hertford, [Elizabeth City](/source/Elizabeth_City%2C_North_Carolina) and [Nag's Head](/source/Nag's_Head%2C_North_Carolina). The *Curlew* also made trips up the [Chowan River](/source/Chowan_River) to [Franklin, Virginia](/source/Franklin%2C_Virginia). Its first captain was Richard Halsey, who was later replaced by Thomas Burbage in 1858.[2]

The *Curlew* made many trips to the Nag's Head Hotel, which in those days was a popular tourist destination. In 1859 Edward Bruce, an artist and reporter, rode the ship on a trip to Nag's Head and afterwards wrote about it for *[Harper's New Monthly Magazine](/source/Harper's_New_Monthly_Magazine)*. He singled out the *Curlew* and its crew for special praise:

We never saw him (Captain Burbage) rave. Always at his post, and always quiet, everything went on like clockwork. No traveler accustomed to the privileged usage on many similar craft would have imagined that one of them could be so well managed with so little damage to the [Third Commandment](/source/Thou_shalt_not_take_the_name_of_the_Lord_thy_God_in_vain).[3]

CSS *Curlew* captures [*Fanny*](/source/CSS_Fanny).

After the Civil War broke out, the *Curlew* was initially used as a troop transport, ferrying troops and supplies to various defensive works along the North Carolina coast. The *Curlew* was acquired by the Confederate Navy after [Hatteras Inlet](/source/Hatteras_Inlet) fell to Union forces in August 1861. It was outfitted with one rifled 32-pounder cannon in the bow and one 12-pounder smoothbore cannon in the stern. Under the command of Thomas T. Hunter (also known as "Tornado" Hunter) it was involved in the capture of the U.S. Army supply boat [*Fanny*](/source/CSS_Fanny) at Chicamacomico on October 1, 1861.

Between October 1861 and February 1862 the *Curlew* alternately patrolled [Pamlico Sound](/source/Pamlico_Sound) and harassed Union shipping at Hatteras Inlet. On February 7 the *Curlew* and eight other Confederate gunboats attempted to repel the Union [invasion of Roanoke Island](/source/Battle_of_Roanoke_Island). During this battle the *Curlew* was holed by a shell and was run aground to keep from sinking. Unfortunately, it did so directly in front of Fort Forrest, a set of anchored barges equipped with seven guns, blocking the guns from service. The next day the ship was set on fire when the Confederate forces on Roanoke Island surrendered. The remaining Confederate gunboats withdrew to [Elizabeth City](/source/Elizabeth_City), where all but two were destroyed or captured on February 10 in the [Battle of Elizabeth City](/source/Battle_of_Elizabeth_City).[4][5]

Ensign of the CSS *Curlew*

Afterwards, Captain Hunter commented to another gunboat captain that during the battle he suddenly realized that his pants were gone, even though he knew he put on a pair that morning.[6]

The *Curlew's* engine was salvaged in 1863, after which the wreck was allowed to decay. It was located in 1988 by a group of international divers working for the state of North Carolina's Underwater Archaeological Unit. Its identity was confirmed when one of the divers, Takafumi Yamaguchi, recovered the builders plate. In 1994 the wreck was documented by state divers and students from [East Carolina University](/source/East_Carolina_University).[7]

### Eli Williamson, pilot

When the *Curlew* was impressed into service for the Confederate Navy, its long-term pilot, a black [Freedman](/source/Freedman) named Eli Williamson, was also taken on. Williamson – who named one of his daughters Curlew – had his right arm broken by the shattered wheel of the ship in the Battle of Roanoke Island. On the basis of his service on the *Curlew*, Williamson applied for and received a Civil War pension from the state of North Carolina in 1905, becoming probably the first African American to successfully do so. Although the [North Carolina General Assembly](/source/North_Carolina_General_Assembly) would later award pensions to a small number of blacks by private bills, and, in 1927, allowed them to apply for a newly established "Class B" pension, Williamson's pension was awarded under the original authorizing act.[5]

When Williamson died in 1915, obituaries in Southern newspapers described him as "a follower of the Confederacy", and an article a year before he died said that "he still remained loyal to the South till the end of the war." However, in 1874, Williamson applied to the [Southern Claims Commission](/source/Southern_Claims_Commission) for reimbursement for a horse and cart taken by Union raiders in July 1863. One of the necessary criteria for having such a claim succeed was that the claimant must have remained loyal to the Union throughout the course of the war. Benjamin Weston, who testified for Williamson, confirmed that "like all his race", Williamson was always a loyal Unionist. Williamson's daughter also stated that "although working for the Confederacy, he helped many Union soldiers..."[5]

When Williamson left North Carolina to live in [Washington, D.C.](/source/Washington%2C_D.C.), and therefore lost his state pension, an appeal was published in 1914 in the *Albemarle Observer* by a white ship captain, George Withy, asking for donations from white Southerners to help this "faithful old darkey". Withy wrote that "[A]fter the Battle of Roanoke Island this old darkey could have gone over to the Federals in the capacity of a Pilot ... [but] prefer[red] to stay loyal to his friends and the South." The appeal did not mention that when he had recovered from his broken arm, Williamson avoided returning to service in the Confederate Navy. Southern newspapers which reprinted the obituary from a Washington, D.C. paper omitted a sentence which detailed that "The Confederates kept a strict guard over Williamson until the close of the war", and one paper even claimed that Williamson had received an honorable discharge from the navy, which, as an impressed sailor and not a volunteer, he would not have needed. These falsehoods and overlooked facts helped to contribute to the myth of the loyal "Black Confederate" which is part of the overriding myth of the [Lost Cause of the Confederacy](/source/Lost_Cause_of_the_Confederacy).[5]

## References

**Notes**

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Olson 1997:30ff

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Olson 1997:34ff

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Bruce 1859:726f

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Olson 1997:118ff

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-domby_5-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-domby_5-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-domby_5-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-domby_5-3) Domby 2020:104-108

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Parker 1985:248f

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Olson 1997:150ff

**Bibliography**

- Bruce, Edward (1860) *Loungings in the Footprints of the Pioneers*. *[Harper's New Monthly Magazine](/source/Harper's_New_Monthly_Magazine)* v.18, pp. 726–727

- Domby, Adam H. (2020) *The False Cause: Fraud, Fabrication, and White Supremacy in Confederate Memory*. Charlottesville, Virginia: University of Virginia Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780813943763](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780813943763)

- Olson, Christopher (1997) *An Historical and Archaeological Investigation of the CSS Curlew* (Masters Thesis). Greenville, North Carolina: East Carolina University

- Parker, William Harwar (1985) [1883] *Recollections of a Naval Officer, 1841-1865*. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780870215339](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780870215339)

## External links

- [North Carolina Squadron](https://web.archive.org/web/20110708171622/http://ncsquadron.home.coastalnet.com/Curlew.htm) - *Curlew*

v t e Gunboats of the Confederate States Navy A. B. Seger Anglo-Norman Appomattox Beaufort Black Warrior Bienville Carondelet Chattahoochee Clifton Curlew Drewry Ellis Fanny Forrest Gaines George Page Governor Moore Grand Duke Hampton Isondiga Ivy Jackson Jamestown Lady Davis McRae Macon Maurepas Morgan Oregon Pamlico Patrick Henry Peedee Pontchartrain Queen of the West Sampson Savannah Sea Bird Selma Teaser Tuscarora Water Witch List of ships of the Confederate States Navy

v t e Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1862 Shipwrecks 2 Jan: Northern Light 4 Jan: Santi-Pietri 9 Jan: USS Meteor, USS Potomac 20 Jan: USS Margaret Scott 23 Jan: Ocean Chief 24 Jan: USS Peri 25 Jan: USS New England, USS Stephen Young 26 Jan: USS India, USS Timor 7 Feb: CSS Curlew 8 Feb: CSS Sea Bird 10 Feb: CSS Appomattox, CSS Black Warrior, CSS Fanny, CSS Forrest 20 Feb: USS Isaac N. Seymour 25 Feb: USS R. B. Forbes 8 Mar: USS Congress, USS Cumberland 9 Mar: CSS George Page 10 Mar: USS Whitehall March (unknown date): Camilla (or Memphis) 4 Apr: CSS Red Rover 7 Apr: CSS Grampus 8 Apr: CSS New Orleans 14 Apr: Erebus 19 Apr: USS Maria J. Carlton 24 Apr: CSS General Lovell, CSS Governor Moore, CSS Manassas, CSS Stonewall Jackson, Sweepstakes, USS Varuna 25 Apr: CSS Mississippi, CSRC Pickens, Pioneer, Washington, CSS Pamlico 28 Apr: CSS Louisiana, CSS McRae April (unknown date): CSS Jackson, CSS Oregon, CSS Carondelet 10 May: USS Cincinnati, CSS Germantown, USS Mound City, CSS Fulton 11 May: CSS Virginia 15 May: CSS Jamestown May (unknown date): CSS United States 6 Jun: CSS Colonel Lovell, CSS General Beauregard, CSS General Bragg, CSS General M. Jeff Thompson, CSS General Sterling Price, CSS General Sumter, CSS Little Rebel 16 Jun: CSS Maurepas 26 Jun: CSS General Earl Van Dorn, CSS Livingston, CSS General Polk 28 Jun: USS Island Belle 15 Jul: Johanna Wagner, USS Sidney C. Jones 21 Jul: USS Sallie Wood 24 Jul: Lord of the Isles 6 Aug: CSS Arkansas 14-15 Aug: USS Sumter 23 Aug: USS Adirondack 24 Aug: USS Henry Andrew, USS Isaac N. Seymour 10 Sep: USS Tigress 2 Oct: Iona 15 Oct: G. L. Brockenborough 25 Nov: USS Ellis November (unknown date): USS Mingo 12 Dec: USS Cairo 31 Dec: USS Monitor Unknown date: USS Noble Other incidents 11 Jan: HMS St Vincent January (unknown date): Mona's Queen 22 Feb: HMS Defence February: USS Vermont 8 Mar: USS Minnesota 8 May: USS Galena 13 May: Planter 23 Jun: Memphis 7 Aug: USS Oneida 17 Aug: Great Eastern 15 Nov: Admiral Moorsom 22 Nov: USS Bainbridge Unknown date: Young America 1861 1863

[35°53′08″N 75°45′41″W / 35.88565°N 75.76131°W / 35.88565; -75.76131](https://geohack.toolforge.org/geohack.php?pagename=CSS_Curlew&params=35.88565_N_75.76131_W_type:landmark_region:US-NC)

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