View source for CSS Jamestown

{{Short description|Steamboat}}
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|Ship image=[[Image:CSSJamestown.jpg|300px|CSS Jamestown capturing schooners]]
|Ship caption=CSS ''Jamestown'' moving in to capture merchant [[schooner]]s in [[Hampton Roads]], April 11, 1862. ''(Line engraving originally published in ''[[Harper's Weekly]]'' in 1862.)''
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|Ship country=Confederate States
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|Ship name=''Jamestown''
|Ship namesake=[[Jamestown, Virginia]]
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'''CSS ''Jamestown''''', originally a side-wheel, passenger [[Steamboat|steamer]], was built at [[New York City]] in 1853, and seized at [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]], [[Virginia]] in 1861 for the [[Virginia State Navy|Virginia Navy]] during the early days of the [[American Civil War]]. She was commissioned by the [[Confederate States Navy|Confederate States Navy (CSN)]] the following July (after the Virginia Navy was transferred to the CSN),<ref>[http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=lva/vi00884.xml;query=; Historical Information] Library of Virginia. Retrieved 27 December 2016</ref> and renamed CSS ''Thomas Jefferson'' but was generally referred to as ''Jamestown'', after [[Jamestown, Virginia]].

[[Brigantine]]-rigged ''Jamestown'' was designed and constructed by the well-known shipbuilder [[William Henry Webb|William H. Webb]] for the New York and Old Dominion Line as a sister to ''Yorktown'', which became [[CSS Patrick Henry|CSS ''Patrick Henry'']].

==Career==
With [[Lieutenant|Lt.]] [[Joseph Nicholson Barney]], CSN, in command, she was actively employed until the end of her career in May 1862. Her service was highlighted by the [[Battle of Hampton Roads]] on March 8&ndash;9 1862, during which she assisted [[CSS Virginia|CSS ''Virginia'']] in attacking [[USS Congress (1841)|USS ''Congress'']] and [[USS Cumberland (1842)|USS ''Cumberland'']] and stood by during the battle between [[USS Monitor|USS ''Monitor'']] and ''Virginia''. The [[Confederate Congress]] tendered special thanks to the officers and crew of ''Jamestown'' for their "gallant conduct and bearing" in combat.<ref>[[#Heidler|Heidler, 2004]] p.1250</ref>

Some 4 weeks later, on April 11, 1862, ''Jamestown'', ''Virginia'' and five other Confederate ships sailed from [[Norfolk, Virginia]], into [[Hampton Roads]] in full view of the [[United States|Union]] squadron there. When it became clear that the Federal ships were not going to attack, ''Jamestown'', covered by ''Virginia'' and the others, moved in, captured three merchant ships, and helped by [[CSS Raleigh (1861)|CSS ''Raleigh'']], towed them to Norfolk. The merchant ships were the brigs ''Marcus of Stockton, NJ'' and ''Sabout of Providence, RI'' and the schooner ''Catherine T. Dix'' of Accomac County, VA. Their flags were hoisted "Union-side down" to taunt the Federals into fighting. Later that month ''Jamestown'' was despatched from Norfolk to cooperate with [[Major general (United States)|Major General]] [[John B. Magruder]], [[Confederate States Army|CSA]], in the [[James River (Virginia)|James River]], and early in May she was used to transport army sick and wounded to [[Richmond, Virginia]].
[[Image:WreckofCSSJamestown.jpg|thumb|250px|left|1865 picture of Wreckage of CSS ''Jamestown'' in the [[James River (Virginia)|James River]]. ''(Photograph by [[Mathew Brady]])'']]

On the night of May 5, ''Jamestown'' and ''Patrick Henry'' proceeded to Norfolk and returned the following night with [[CSS Richmond|CSS ''Richmond'']], [[CSS Hampton|CSS ''Hampton'']] and [[Wiktionary:ordnance|ordnance]] store boats, passing the Federal battery at [[Newport News, Virginia]] unobserved on both occasions. A second attempt to return to Norfolk met with failure.
On May 8, ''Jamestown'' was ordered to notify [[Stephen Mallory]], Secretary of the Confederate States Navy, of the continuing engagement of two Federal [[gunboat]]s and [[ironclad]] [[USS Galena (1862)|USS ''Galena'']] with the Confederate batteries at [[Day's Point]]. Unable to carry out her assignment, ''Jamestown'' retired up the James River as far as [[Drewry's Bluff]], where on May 15, 1862, she was sunk to obstruct the channel.

==Commanders==
The commanders of the CSS ''Jamestown'' were:<ref name="coski">[[#Coski|Coski, 1996]]</ref>
* Lt. [[Joseph Nicholson Barney]] (1861–1862)
* Lt. [[George W. Harrison]] (May 1862, temporarily)

==See also==
{{Portal|American Civil War}}
*[[List of ships of the Confederate States Navy]]
*[[Steamships]]
*[[Bibliography of early American naval history#American Civil War|Bibliography of American Civil War naval history]]
*[[James River Squadron]]
*[[Union Navy]]

==Bibliography==
*{{DANFS}}
*{{cite book |last=Coski |first=John M. |ref=Coski |title=Capital Navy: The Men, Ships and Operations of the James River Squadron|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i2gfAQAAMAAJ|year=1996 |publisher=Savas Woodbury Publishers, Campbell, CA |pages=344 |isbn=9781882810031}}
*{{cite book |last=Heidler |first=David Stephen  |title=Encyclopedia of the War of 1812|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_c09EJgek50C|ref=Heidler |publisher=Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Md., 2004  |year=2004 |pages=636|isbn=1-59114-362-4}}

==References==
<references />

{{CSN Steamers}}
{{Battle of Hampton Roads|state=autocollapse}}{{List of Ships Built by William H. Webb}}{{1862 shipwrecks}}
{{coord missing|Virginia}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jamestown}}
[[Category:Ships of the Confederate States Navy]]
[[Category:Virginia in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the James River]]
[[Category:Scuttled vessels]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Ships built in New York City]]
[[Category:1853 ships]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in May 1862]]