American Historical Ephemera & Photography

Outdoor photograph of the shallow-draft sternwheeler USS St. Clair (No. 19). N.p.: N.p., n.d. 5 x 7 in. albumen photograph on 7 x 9 in. mount (albumen undamaged with strong clarity and tones, both upper corners of albumen lifting from mount with evident calendar graphics bleeding through, overall very good). The shallow-draft sternwheeler USS St. Clair (No. 19) is depicted riding at anchor under steam probably at Cairo, IL, following repairs to battle damages sustained at Palmyra, TN on April 3, 1863. Note the number "19" painted on the side of her deckhouse surrounded by a protective canvas awning along with sundry crew lining the upper deck. St. Clair had been officially designated Gunboat No. 19 on 19 June 1863, and proceeded from Cairo to Vicksburg on convoy escort duty. Following the fall of Vicksburg, she operated in support of army operations between Donaldsonville, LA, and New Orleans. During the Red River Campaign St. Clair reinforced the defenses at Alexandria and engaged the enemy below the city on 21 April 1864, later in the month "silencing rebel gun positions at Dunn's Bayou and Wilson's Bend." With the successful extraction of Porter's fleet from the shallow Red River, St. Clair escorted fleet transports back to the safety of the Mississippi before returning to station off Baton Rouge. By January 1865, St. Clair was acting as a dispatch boat and convoy escort on the Tennessee River before ending the war at New Orleans. USS St. Clair was decommissioned at Mound City on 12 July 1865 and subsequently sold out of service. The albumen is mounted on a castoff 1863 calendar having colorful graphics advertising "John C. Beale/Stationer/19 Nassau Street/New York."

Second deck view of a vessel. 5 x 8 in. albumen photograph, on 8 x 10 in. mount (strong clarity to mid-range and pleasant sepia tones, four-corner pencil lines denote where a picture framer had measured, upper corners of the mount show damage with pieces torn away, several penciled words upper right are incomplete and unreadable). Appears to be a smaller unidentified sailing vessel having a large bore carriage gun and two smaller brass cannonades amidship with a heavy pivot gun on the forecastle.  Details of the furled sails and complex rigging and ropes are apparent. Just in front of the mast, there appears to be the stubby barrel of a medium-sized mortar. An officer with rank insignia denoting Master (star over three stripes, 1864 Regulations) is leaning against the base of the mast. Posed for the camera a second (more) junior officer and twelve ratings share the deck space. Six additional sailors are visible on the forecastle, likely the gun crew of the pivot. On the starboard side foreground, a ship's boat is secured to (metal) davits highlighting the complicated block and tackle arrangement. Spread across the hazy horizon are what appear to be other vessels too washed out to identity.