Timberclads, tinclads, and cottonclads in the US Civil War
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Timberclads, tinclads, and cottonclads in the US Civil War Tim Palucka
T
he United States Civil War (1861– 1865) is known primarily for its land battles. But a substantial amount of naval warfare also occurred, for two primary reasons: (1) the Union attempted to blockade over 3500 miles of Southern coastline to prevent the shipping of valuable cotton from the Confederate States to England, as well as the importation of much needed supplies; and (2) the rivers—especially the Mississippi—were the great highways of the time. Though railroads were growing quickly, the rivers were still the quickest ways to transport troops, equipment, and food. Both sides purchased riverboats, with shallow drafts (water displacement) to navigate rivers that, at that time, dropped to depths of a couple of feet in the hot summer months. Steam-powered paddle wheel boats had to be outfitted for protection from enemy cannon and rifle fire. In the desperation of the times, and amid limited resources, different and sometimes unlikely materials were used as “armor” for these boats—timber, thin sheets of iron (called “tin” to distinguish them from the bulky iron armor of the “ironclads,” such as the famous Monitor and Merrimack vessels), and even cotton.
Through experimentation, in 1861 Union Commander John Rodgers II determined that 5 inches of oak timber was sufficient to protect sailors from the penetration of a rifle bullet shot from guerilla snipers on the riverbank. In June 1861, he purchased three riverboats—the Lexington, Tyler, and Conestoga—and sent them for refitting at the Marine Railway and Drydock Company in Cincinnati, Ohio. In addition to reinforcing the bulwarks with five inches of oak armor, which earned them the nickname “timberclads,” the decks were reinforced with thick wooden beams to support the weight of cannons, and the boilers were moved from the deck to the hold underneath to make them less easy targets. Placed into active duty in the fall of 1861, the Lexington, Tyler, and Conestoga performed admirably in all the major campaigns of the western theater of the war, supporting troops with covering cannon fire. The ever-increasing guerilla fighting of Confederate snipers soon called for a more formidable response. Rear Admiral Charles H. Davis, commander of the Western Flotilla, pushed for the development of lighter riverboats clad in one-half to one-inch layers of iron for protection. When the Confederate steamer Alfred Robb was captured on April 21, 1862, it was retrofitted as the first of 72 “tinclads,” which journalists soon began calling the “mosquito flotilla.” Tasked with producing the lightest boats with the lowest draft possible, Commander Alexander M. Pennock ordered iron sheet metal Engraving, published in History of the Confederate States to be installed around the Navy, depicting Confederate troops boarding Harriet Lane from forecastle, the pilot house, C.S. gunboats Neptune and Bayou City.
and the boiler, among other modifications, to resist fire from rifles and light artillery. In three years
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