The following is a guest post by Gay Colyer, Digital Library Specialist, Prints & Photographs Division.
While reviewing Civil War photographs of the Union’s Mississippi River Fleet (LOT 4183), I came across a type of ship that I hadn’t seen before. I’ve long admired the efficient design of the single or double turreted ironclads. In striking contrast, this vessel looked like a clumsy barge—a wood crate, too heavy for river travel.
![U.S. Gunboat Lexington [i.e. Tyler] - Mississippi River Fleet. Photographed between 1861 and 1865. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.34027](https://blogs.loc.gov/picturethis/files/2013/06/34027u-timberclad.jpg "U.S. Gunboat Lexington [i.e. Tyler] - Mississippi River Fleet. Photographed between 1861 and 1865. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.34027")
From the blog, “The Civil War Navy Sesquicentennial” (entry posted Sept. 22, 2010 by Craig Swain), I learned that early in the war riverboats transporting troops and supplies to the western front needed armed escorts as river travel and trade was becoming treacherous. With no gunboats available in the region, and very little time to construct something suitable, the Union Navy, under the direction of Commander John Rodgers II, decided to buy three side-wheel steamships and convert them into what became known informally as “timberclads.” Gone were the white paint, glass pilot-house, and decorative railing. Now, five-inch thick bulwarks provided protection against small arms fire, and oak planking covered the paddle wheel.
One of the three timberclads, the USS Tyler (1861-1865), measured 178 feet long with a 45 foot beam. Armament included six 8-inch guns and one 32 pounder. Along with the USS Lexington, the USS Tyler protected Grant’s river flank at Pittsburg Landing in the Battle of Shiloh in 1862, as depicted in an image from our Popular & Applied Graphic Arts collection:
Learn More:
- View more pictures of the Mississippi River Fleet in the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog.
- See Civil War era drawings of sidewheel steamers, some very similar to those converted to timberclads.
- Explore other pictures of the timberclads at the Naval History and Heritage Command: USS Tyler, USS Conestoga and USS Lexington
- Read about the USS Tyler: A Rather Useful Timberclad in the blog “The Civil War Navy Sesquicentennial”.
- Learn about the three timberclad gunboats in Wikipedia: USS Tyler, USS Conestoga and USS Lexington.
- Visit your local library to read more about the timberclads: Smith, Myron J., Jr., The Timberclad in the Civil War: The Lexington, Conestoga and Tyler on the Western Waters. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2008.
Comments
The timberclads were not an “alternative to ironclads” but rather were the predecessors to the ironclads. Also, the ships were converted not by the Union Navy, but by the Union Army, with Commander Barry acting as the naval advisor to General McClellan, the commander of the department where the project began. Later, the Army would transfer the ships to the Navy. Only four true timberclads were ever converted; the Tyler and Lexington mentioned here, plus the Conestoga and the Esses (which was later converted into an ironclad).