The USS St. Clair was a wooden stern-wheel river steamer built in 1862 at Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania; she was purchased by the Navy on August 13, 1862, from R. D. Cochran at St. Louis, Missouri, and commissioned on September 24, 1862, at Carondelet, Missouri.

Assigned to the Mississippi Squadron, St. Clair was tasked with supporting the operations of various Army commanders, combating guerrillas along the river banks, and escorting troop and supply ships.

The ship’s initial service was on the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. On April 3, 1863, while in convoy at Palmyra, Tennessee, St. Clair was fired on and disabled by Confederate batteries. After being towed to safety, her sister gunboats returned the next day and burned the town.

After repairs, St. Clair escorted supply convoys to the Federals at Vicksburg and participated in the 1864 Red River Expedition. Decommissioned on July 12, 1865 and dismantled and sold to J. H. Stearn on August 17, 1865, she returned to merchant service until she was abandoned in 1869.

Carte-de-Visite by D.P. Barr, Paducah, Ky.

Image Courtesy Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield; WICR 31991