The USS Pittsburg was a City Class ironclad gunboat constructed in 1861 by James B. Eads. Commissioned in January 1862 and assigned to the Western Gunboat Flotilla, Pittsburg participated in the attack on Fort Donelson on February 14, 1862 and was damaged by fire from the fort’s batteries.

After repairs, she was involved in the attacks on Island No. 10 and Fort Pillow. Pittsburg “ran” the Confederate batteries at Vicksburg on April 16, 1863, and led the attack on the batteries at Grand Gulf, Mississippi on April 29, 1863. Although heavily damaged in that five-and-a-half hour engagement, the actions of Pittsburg and the other ships of the Union fleet allowed Ulysses S. Grant’s forces to safely cross the Mississippi and begin their successful campaign against Vicksburg.

Repaired again, Pittsburg participated in the Red River Expedition from March to May 1864.

Pittsburg was decommissioned and sold on November 29, 1865, at Mound City, Illinois.

Albumen by Unknown Photographer

Image Courtesy Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield; WICR 30815