Potomac Flotilla

Potomac Flotilla
Attack on the Confederate Batteries at Aquia Creek by the Potomac Flotilla.
Active	1861 - 1865
Country	United States
Branch	United States Navy
Type	naval squadron

The Potomac Flotilla, or the Potomac Squadron was a unit of the United States Navy created in the early days of the American Civil War to secure Union communications in the Chesapeake Bay, the Potomac River and their tributaries, and to disrupt Confederate communications and shipping in the same.

History

American Civil War

On April 22, 1861 Commander James H. Ward, who was the commander of the receiving ship USS North Carolina at the New York Navy Yard, wrote to Secretary of the Navy Gideon Wells to put forth a plan for the protection of the Chesapeake Bay area. Ward suggested a “Flying Flotilla” of light draft vessels to operate in the Chesapeake and its tributaries. His commander Captain Samuel L. Breese, commandant of the New York Navy Yard, endorsed his plan. Wells accepted this proposal and wrote back to Wells and Breese on April 27, 1861 authorizing them to begin carrying out Ward’s plan. On May 1, 1861 the first vessels for the new flotilla were acquired. On May 16, 1861 Ward set out from the New York Navy Yard with three vessels, the Thomas Freeborn, Reliance and Resolute. He arrived at the Washington Navy Yard on May 20, 1861 on board his flagship, the Thomas Freeborn.^[1]

On June 27, 1861 Ward’s flotilla engaged the Confederates at Mathias Point, Virginia. While he was sighting the bow gun of the Thomas Freeborn, Ward was shot through the abdomen and died within an hour due to internal hemorrhaging. He was the first United States Naval officer to be killed during the war.^[2]

After the death of Ward the flotilla was led by a succession of short-term commanders until the fall of 1862 when Commodore Andrew A. Harwood took command. He was in turn succeeded by Commander Foxhall A. Parker on December 31, 1864.^[3]

On July 18, 1865 the Navy Department ordered Parker to disband the flotilla on July 31, 1865. Most of the flotilla’s remaining vessels were sent to the Washington Navy Yard to be decommissioned.^[4]

Name of the Flotilla

It wasn’t until August 1861 that the flotilla became known as the Potomac Flotilla. The designation of Flying Flotilla was dropped when Ward’s force arrived in the theatre of operations. The flotilla was then referred to by a variety of names, including: Flotilla, Potomac River; Potomac Blockade; Flotilla in the Chesapeake; etc. In early August 1861 the flotilla commander and the Navy Department began to consistently refer to the command as the Potomac Flotilla.^[5]

Operations

1861
Engagement with the Confederate batteries at Aquia Creek, Virginia, 29 May – 1 June 1861
Affair at Mathias Point, Virginia, 27 June 1861
Engagement with the Confederate batteries at Potomac Creek, Virginia, 23 August 1861
Engagement with the Confederate battery at Freestone Point, Virginia, 25 September 1861

1862
Engagement at Cockpit Point, Virginia, 3 January 1862
Expedition up the Rappahannock River to Tappahannock, Virginia, 13–15 April 1862
Expedition up the Rappahannock River to Fredericksburg, Virginia, 20 April 1862
Expeditions to Gwynn’s Island and Nomini Creek, Virginia, 3–4 Nov, 1862
Engagement at Port Royal, Virginia, 4 December 1862
Engagement at Brandywine Hill, Rappahannock River, Virginia, 10–11 December 1862

1863
Destruction of salt works on Dividing Creek, Virginia, 12 January 1863
Destruction of Confederate stores at Tappahannock, Virginia, 30 May 1863
Capture of U. S. steamers Satellite and Reliance, 16 August 1863

1864
Expedition to the Northern Neck of Virginia, 12 January 1864
Expedition up the Rappahannock River, Virginia, 18–21 April 1864
Expedition to Carter’s Creek, Virginia, 29 April 1864
Expedition to Mill Creek, Virginia, 12–13 May 1864
Expedition up the Rappahannock River, Virginia, 16–19 May 1864
Expedition to the Northern Neck of Virginia, 11–21 June 1864
Expedition to Milford Haven and Stutt’s Creek, Virginia, 24 September 1864

1865
Expedition to Fredericksburg, Virginia, 6–8 March 1865
Expedition up the Rappahannock River, 12–14 March 1865
Operations in Mattox Creek, Virginia, 16–18 March 1865

Ships of the Squadron

When Commander James H. Ward departed from New York Navy Yard on May 16, 1861 his flotilla consisted of three vessels. The strength of the flotilla would be steadily increased until it reached a strength that hovered between fifteen and twenty-five vessels.^[6]

Commanders

References

• In these notes the abbreviation ORN is used for the work Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion.

Notes

Bibliography

• Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume 4. (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1896).
  Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume 5. (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1897).
• Silverstone, Paul H. Warships of the Civil War Navies. (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1989). ISBN 0-87021-783-6
•  This article incorporates public domain material from the Naval History & Heritage Command document "Commander James H. Ward".