The Atlantic Blockading Squadron was a unit of the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 created in the early days of the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 to enforce a blockade of the ports of the Confederate States

Confederate States of America

The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...

. It was formed in 1861 and split up the same year for the creation of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron.

American Civil War

Following President

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 Abraham Lincoln’s

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...

 proclamation of a blockade

Union blockade

The Union Blockade, or the Blockade of the South, took place between 1861 and 1865, during the American Civil War, when the Union Navy maintained a strenuous effort on the Atlantic and Gulf Coast of the Confederate States of America designed to prevent the passage of trade goods, supplies, and arms...

 of Southern ports on April 19, 1861 the Navy Department found it necessary to subdivide the territory assigned to the Home Squadron

Home Squadron

The Home Squadron was part of the United States Navy in the mid-19th century. Organized as early as 1838, ships were assigned to protect coastal commerce, aid ships in distress, suppress piracy and the slave trade, make coastal surveys, and train ships to relieve others on distant stations...

. This resulted in the creation of the Coast Blockading Squadron and the Gulf Blockading Squadron in early May 1861.
In orders sent on May 1, 1861 Secretary of the Navy

United States Secretary of the Navy

The Secretary of the Navy of the United States of America is the head of the Department of the Navy, a component organization of the Department of Defense...

 Gideon Wells appointed Flag Officer

Flag Officer

A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark where the officer exercises command. The term usually refers to the senior officers in an English-speaking nation's navy, specifically those who hold any of the admiral ranks; in...

 Silas H. Stringham to command the Coast Blockading Squadron. Stringham received this order and took command on May 4, 1861. His new command was to be headquartered at Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...

, Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

 and was given responsibility for the blockading of the coast from the capes of the Chesapeake

Chesapeake Bay

The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...

 to the southern extremity of Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

 and Key West

Key West

Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida on the North American continent at the southernmost tip of the Florida Keys. Key West is home to the southernmost point in the Continental United States; the island is about from Cuba....

. On May 17, 1861 the Coast Blockading Squadron was re-designated the Atlantic Blockading Squadron.

On September 16, 1861 Stringham tendered his resignation as commander of the squadron following his receipt of a letter from Acting Secretary of the Navy Gustavus V. Fox that he felt indicated disapproval of his measures to enforce the blockade. Stringham’s resignation was accepted on September 18, 1861 and the same day Flag Officer Louis M. Goldsborough was appointed as his replacement. The transfer of command took place on September 23, 1861 when Goldsborough arrived at Hampton Roads. In communicating to Goldsborough about his appointment Gideon Wells stated that “more vigorous and energetic action must be taken” to enforce the blockade.
During the summer of 1861 a four-person board

Blockade Strategy Board

The Blockade Strategy Board of the American Civil War, also known variously as the Commission of Conference or as the Du Pont Board, was a group of four men, meeting in the summer of 1861 at the request of the Navy Department, who laid out a preliminary strategy for enforcing the blockade of...

, chaired by Captain Samuel F. Du Pont

Samuel Francis du Pont

Samuel Francis Du Pont was an American naval officer who achieved the rank of Rear Admiral in the United States Navy, and a member of the prominent Du Pont family; he was the only member of his generation to use a capital D...

, was formed to study the implementation of the blockade and make recommendations to improve its efficiency. In the board’s report of July 16, 1861 it was recommended that the Atlantic region be divided into northern and southern sectors. On September 18, 1861 the Navy Department reached the decision to implement this division with the dividing line being the border between North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

 and South Carolina

South Carolina

South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

. The implementation of this was delayed for a time and on October 12, 1861 the Navy Department informed Flag Officer Goldsborough that the division of his command would be effective as of the date Flag Officer Samuel F. Du Pont, who was appointed commander of the southern squadron, departed from Hampton Roads with the expedition to capture

Battle of Port Royal

The Battle of Port Royal was one of the earliest amphibious operations of the American Civil War, in which a United States Navy fleet and United States Army expeditionary force captured Port Royal Sound, South Carolina, between Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina, on November 7, 1861...

 Port Royal, South Carolina

Port Royal, South Carolina

Port Royal is a town in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. Largely because of annexation of surrounding areas , the population of Port Royal rose from 3,950 in 2000 to 10,678 in 2010, a 170% increase. As defined by the U.S...

. Du Pont departed on October 29, 1861 upon which date the squadron was divided to form the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron.

The only major operation conducted by the Atlantic Blockading Squadron was the expedition that led to the capture

Battle of Hatteras Inlet Batteries

The Battle of Hatteras Inlet Batteries, sometimes known as the Battle of Forts Hatteras and Clark, was a small but significant engagement in the early days of the American Civil War. Two Confederate forts on the North Carolina Outer Banks were subjected to an amphibious assault by Union forces that...

 of Hatteras Inlet, North Carolina August 26–29, 1861. This goal of the operation was to deny use of the inlet to Confederate shipping and this was accomplished with few casualties. The operation was also significant for giving the Union a badly needed victory following the Battle of Bull Run

First Battle of Bull Run

First Battle of Bull Run, also known as First Manassas , was fought on July 21, 1861, in Prince William County, Virginia, near the City of Manassas...

, being the first amphibious landing and the first large scale combined Army-Navy operation of the war.

Ships of the Squadron

On May 17, 1861 there were only fourteen ships assigned to the squadron, along with the Flying Flotilla (later the Potomac Flotilla

Potomac Flotilla

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...

) which was being formed by Commander

Commander

Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...

 James H. Ward

James H. Ward

Commander James Harmon Ward was the first officer of the United States Navy killed during the American Civil War.-Biography:...

 who had departed for the Chesapeake from the New York Navy Yard on May 16, 1861. In effect Ward's flotilla acted independently under the direct orders of the Navy Department, though there was some transfer of vessels between the commands. With the acquisition and arming of civilian vessels the Atlantic Blockading Squadron grew to about three times its original allocated strength.

Ship	Rate	Type	Notes
Minnesota USS Minnesota (1855) USS Minnesota was a wooden steam frigate in the United States Navy. Launched in 1855 and commissioned eighteen months later, the ship served in east Asia for two years before being decommissioned...	1st	Screw Frigate	Squadron Flagship
Roanoke USS Roanoke (1855) |- External links :**...	1st	Screw Frigate
Wabash USS Wabash (1855) USS Wabash was a steam screw frigate of the United States Navy that served during the American Civil War. She was based on the same plans as . Post-war she continued to serve her country in European operations and eventually served as a barracks ship in Boston, Massachusetts, and was sold in...	1st	Screw Frigate
Susquehanna	1st	Sidewheel Frigate
Brandywine USS Brandywine (1825) USS Brandywine was a wooden-hulled, three-masted Frigate of the United States Navy bearing 44 guns which had the initial task of conveying the Marquis de Lafayette back to France...	2nd	Sailing Frigate	Storeship, Hampton Roads
Congress USS Congress (1841) USS Congress — the fourth United States Navy ship to carry that name — was a sailing frigate, like her predecessor, .Congress served with distinction in the Mediterranean, South Atlantic Ocean, and in the Pacific Ocean...	2nd	Sailing Frigate
Cumberland USS Cumberland (1842) The first USS Cumberland was a 50-gun sailing frigate of the United States Navy. She was the first ship sunk by the ironclad CSS Virginia....	2nd	Sailing Frigate
St. Lawrence USS St. Lawrence (1848) USS St. Lawrence was a frigate in the United States Navy. She was based on the same plans as .Although St. Lawrence was laid down in 1826 by the Norfolk Navy Yard, she remained uncompleted on the ways until work on her, interrupted by a shortage of funds, was resumed during the Mexican-American War...	2nd	Sailing Frigate
Sabine USS Sabine (1855) The first USS Sabine was a sailing frigate built by the United States Navy in 1855. The ship was among the first ships to see action in the American Civil War. In 1862, a large portion of the crew were volunteers from the Sabine....	2nd	Sailing Frigate
Savannah USS Savannah (1842) The second USS Savannah was a frigate in the United States Navy. She was named after the city of Savannah, Georgia.Savannah was begun in 1820 at the New York Navy Yard, but she remained on the stocks until 5 May 1842, when she was launched...	2nd	Sailing Frigate
Pawnee USS Pawnee (1859) The first USS Pawnee was a sloop-of-war in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She was named for the Pawnee Indian tribe....	2nd	Screw Sloop
Iroquois	3rd	Screw Sloop
Seminole USS Seminole (1859) The first USS Seminole was a steam sloop in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.Seminole was launched by the Pensacola Navy Yard on 25 June 1859; sponsored by Ms. Mary Dallas; and was commissioned there on 25 April 1860, Commander Edward R...	3rd	Screw Sloop
Dale	4th	Sailing Sloop
Jamestown USS Jamestown (1844) The first USS Jamestown was a sloop in the United States Navy during the Mexican-American War and the American Civil War.Jamestown was launched in 1844 by the Gosport Navy Yard, Virginia; and commissioned there on 12 December, with Commander Robert B...	3rd	Sailing Sloop
Vandalia USS Vandalia (1828) The first Vandalia was an 18-gun sloop-of-war in the United States Navy during the Second Seminole War and the American Civil War. She was named for the city of Vandalia, Illinois.-Service history:...	4th	Sailing Sloop
Quaker City USS Quaker City (1854) USS Quaker City was a heavy, sidewheel steamship leased by the Union Navy at the start of the American Civil War. She was subsequently purchased by the Navy, outfitted with a powerful 20-pounder long rifle, and assigned to help enforce the Union blockade of the ports of the Confederate States of...	2nd	Sidewheel Gunboat
Cambridge USS Cambridge (1860) USS Cambridge was a heavy steamship purchased by the Union Navy at the start of the American Civil War.She was outfitted as a gunboat, with two powerful rifled guns, and assigned to the blockade of ports and waterways of the Confederate States of America.-Built in Massachusetts in 1861:Cambridge...	3rd	Screw Gunboat
Flag USS Flag (1861) USS Flag was a screw steamship in the Union Navy during the American Civil War.Flag was purchased on 26 April 1861 as Phineas Sprague, and renamed and commissioned on 28 May 1861, Lieutenant Commander L. C. Sartori in command....	3rd	Screw Gunboat
Harriet Lane	3rd	Sidewheel Gunboat	from United States Revenue Cutter Service United States Revenue Cutter Service The United States Revenue Cutter Service was established by Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton in 1790 as an armed maritime law enforcement service. Throughout its entire existence the Revenue Cutter Service operated under the authority of the United States Department of the Treasury...
Albatross	4th	Screw Gunboat
Dawn USS Dawn (1857) The first USS Dawn was a steam-operated vessel acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Navy to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries....	4th	Screw Gunboat
Daylight USS Daylight (1859) The USS Daylight was a steam operated vessel acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Navy to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries....	4th	Screw Gunboat
Louisiana USS Louisiana (1861) The second USS Louisiana was a propeller-driven iron hull steamer in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.-Steamboat Origins:...	4th	Screw Gunboat
Monticello USS Monticello (1859) The first USS Monticello was a wooden screw-steamer in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She was named for the home of Thomas Jefferson. She was briefly named Star in May 1861....	4th	Screw Gunboat
Mount Vernon USS Mount Vernon (1859) The first USS Mount Vernon was a wooden-screw steamer in the United States Navy.Mount Vernon was built at Brooklyn, New York, in 1859; chartered by the Navy in May 1861 for three months; purchased by the Navy at New York on 12 September 1861; and commissioned at New York, Commander Oliver S...	4th	Screw Gunboat
Penguin USS Penguin (1861) USS Penguin was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.She was used by the Navy to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries....	4th	Screw Gunboat
Pocahontas USS Pocahontas (1852) The first USS Pocahontas, a screw steamer built at Medford, Massachusetts in 1852 as City of Boston, and purchased by the Navy at Boston, Massachusetts on 20 March 1855, was the first United States Navy ship to be named for Pocahontas, the Algonquian wife of Virginia colonist John Rolfe. She was...	4th	Screw Gunboat
R. B. Forbes USS R. B. Forbes (1845) USS R. B. Forbes was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. Her primary task was to prevent blockade runners from entering, or departing from, the South....	4th	Screw Gunboat
Stars and Stripes USS Stars and Stripes (1861) USS Stars and Stripes was a 407-ton steamer acquired by the U.S. Navy and put to use by the Union during the American Civil War....	4th	Screw Gunboat
Valley City USS Valley City (1859) USS Valley City was a 190-ton steamer acquired by the Union Navy for service in the American Civil War.Valley City was outfitted as a gunship and served blockade duty as well as performing surveillance duty....	4th	Screw Gunboat
Ceres USS Ceres (1856) USS Ceres was a small steamboat acquired by the Union Navy during the beginning of the American Civil War. She was outfitted as a gunboat and used in the Union blockade of the waterways of the Confederate States of America.-Construction:...	4th	Sidewheel Gunboat
John L. Lockwood USS John L. Lockwood (1854) USS John L. Lockwood was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was needed by the Navy to be part of the fleet of ships to prevent blockade runners from entering ports in the Confederacy.John L...	4th	Sidewheel Gunboat
Thomas Freeborn USS Thomas Freeborn (1861) USS Thomas Freeborn was a steam tug acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.Thomas Freeborn was used by the Navy as a gunboat to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries....	4th	Sidewheel Gunboat
Underwriter USS Underwriter (1852) USS Underwriter was a 341-ton steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.Underwriter was outfitted as a gunboat, whose primary task was to prevent ships from penetrating the Union blockade of Southern ports....	4th	Sidewheel Gunboat
Union USS Union (1861) USS Union was a heavy steamer with a powerful 12-inch rifled gun purchased by the Union Navy during the American Civil War....	4th	Screw Auxiliary
Young Rover USS Young Rover (1861) USS Young Rover was a bark with auxiliary steam motor acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways....	4th	Screw Auxiliary
Adelaide USS Adelaide (1854) USS Adelaide was a steamer chartered by the Union Navy during the beginning of the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a transport in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways....	4th	Sidewheel Auxiliary	Transport
Cohasset USS Cohasset (1860) USS Cohasset was a tugboat acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy for various purposes: as a tugboat, dispatch vessel, escort vessel, and even as a gunboat....	4th	Screw Tug
Reliance USS Reliance (1860) USS Reliance was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy for use during the American Civil War. Her duties included river patrols and bombarding with her howitzers....	4th	Screw Tug
Rescue USS Rescue (1861) USS Rescue was a small steamer commissioned by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.She served the navy during the blockade of ports and waterways of the Confederate States of America as an gunship and dispatch boat...	4th	Screw Tug
Resolute USS Resolute (1860) The first USS Resolute was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.She was purchased by the Union Navy to be part of the fleet of ships stationed in coastal waterways to prevent blockade runners from entering or departing ports of the Confederacy...	4th	Screw Tug
Young America USS Young America (1855) USS Young America was a Confederate steamer captured by the Union Navy’s blockade vessels, and subsequently placed in-service in the Union Navy during the American Civil War.- Capture and conversion :...	4th	Screw Tug	ex-Confederate captured by USS Cumberland USS Cumberland (1842) The first USS Cumberland was a 50-gun sailing frigate of the United States Navy. She was the first ship sunk by the ironclad CSS Virginia....  24 Apr 1861 in Hampton Roads Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...
General Putnam USS General Putnam (1857) USS General Putnam -– also known as the USS William G. Putnam -- was acquired by the Union Navy during the first year of the American Civil War and outfitted as a gunship and assigned to the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America. She also served as a tugboat and as a ship's tender...	4th	Sidewheel Tug	Also known as USS William G. Putnam
Yankee USS Yankee (1861) USS Yankee was a steam powered side-wheel tugboat acquired by the Union Navy just prior to the outbreak of the American Civil War.- Provisioning Fort Sumter, evacuating Norfolk :...	4th	Sidewheel Tug
Ben Morgan USS Ben Morgan (1826) USS Ben Morgan was a schooner acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a hospital ship in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways....	4th	Sailing Ship	Hospital Ship
Charles Phelps USS Charles Phelps (1848) USS Charles Phelps was a ship acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Navy as an auxiliary support vessel, delivering coal to Union steamers blockading Confederate ports....	4th	Sailing Ship	Coal Ship
Perry USS Perry (1843) USS Perry was a brig commissioned by the Union Navy prior to the American Civil War. She was tasked by the Navy for various missions, including those related to diplomatic tensions with Paraguay, the Mexican-American War, the slave trade, and the American Civil War.Perry was launched in May 1843...	4th	Sailing Brig
Gemsbok USS Gemsbok (1861) USS Gemsbok was a bark acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Navy as a gunboat, but, later in the war, she was also used as a collier and as a storeship....	4th	Sailing Bark
Release USS Release (1855) USS Release was a bark-rigged sailing vessel in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.Release, formerly Eringol, was purchased 3 April 1855 at Boston, Massachusetts, and commissioned on that date for use as a storeship. In June 1855, she sailed as part of an Arctic expedition to...	4th	Sailing Bark	Storeship

Commanders

Squadron Commander	From	To
Flag Officer Flag Officer A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark where the officer exercises command. The term usually refers to the senior officers in an English-speaking nation's navy, specifically those who hold any of the admiral ranks; in...  Silas Horton Stringham	4 May 1861	23 Sep 1861
Flag Officer Flag Officer A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark where the officer exercises command. The term usually refers to the senior officers in an English-speaking nation's navy, specifically those who hold any of the admiral ranks; in...  Louis Malesherbes Goldsborough	23 Sep 1861	29 Oct 1861