LSNS Governor Moore was a schooner

Schooner

A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....

-rigged steamer in the Confederate States Navy

Confederate States Navy

The Confederate States Navy was the naval branch of the Confederate States armed forces established by an act of the Confederate Congress on February 21, 1861. It was responsible for Confederate naval operations during the American Civil War...

.

Governor Moore had been Southern S. S. Company's Charles Morgan, named for the firm's founder and built at New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 in 1854 as a schooner-rigged, low pressure, walking beam-engined, seagoing steamer. She was seized at New Orleans, Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

 by Brigadier General

Brigadier general (United States)

A brigadier general in the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, is a one-star general officer, with the pay grade of O-7. Brigadier general ranks above a colonel and below major general. Brigadier general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral in the other uniformed...

 Mansfield Lovell

Mansfield Lovell

Mansfield Lovell was a major general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He was roundly criticized in Southern newspapers for allowing Union forces to capture the city of New Orleans....

, CSA

Confederate States Army

The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...

, in mid-January 1862 "for the public service." As a gunboat

Gunboat

A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...

, renamed for Louisiana's Governor

Governor

A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...

 Thomas Overton Moore

Thomas Overton Moore

Thomas Overton Moore was an attorney and politician who was the 16th Governor of Louisiana from 1860 until 1864 during the American Civil War.-Early years:...

, her stem was reinforced for ramming by two strips of flat railroad iron at the waterline, strapped and bolted in place, with pine lumber and cotton-bale barricades to protect her boilers, but the Governor Moore was never commissioned as a ship in the Confederate States Navy.

The larger of two similar cotton-clads owned and operated by the State of Louisiana, Governor Moore was commanded for some time by Lieutenant

Lieutenant

A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...

 Beverley Kennon, CSN

Confederate States Navy

The Confederate States Navy was the naval branch of the Confederate States armed forces established by an act of the Confederate Congress on February 21, 1861. It was responsible for Confederate naval operations during the American Civil War...

, then serving as 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...

 in the Louisiana Provisional Navy without pay. She distinguished herself in the battle of April 24, 1862, when Admiral

Admiral

Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...

 David Farragut

David Farragut

David Glasgow Farragut was a flag officer of the United States Navy during the American Civil War. He was the first rear admiral, vice admiral, and admiral in the United States Navy. He is remembered in popular culture for his order at the Battle of Mobile Bay, usually paraphrased: "Damn the...

, USN

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...

, passed Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip

Fort St. Philip

Fort St. Philip is a decommissioned masonry fort located on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, about up river from its mouth in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana...

 before dawn en route to capture New Orleans. After a furious exchange of raking fire, Governor Moore twice rammed USS Varuna

USS Varuna (1861)

USS Varuna was a heavy steam-powered ship acquired by the Union Navy during the early days of the American Civil War. She was outfitted with powerful 8-inch guns and assigned, as a gunboat, to the Union blockade of the waterways of the Confederate States of America.- Built in Connecticut :Varuna,...

, and a third thrust from another cottonclad forced Varuna aground. Next attacking USS Cayuga

USS Cayuga (1861)

The first USS Cayuga was a in the United States Navy.Cayuga was launched 21 October 1861 by Gildersleeve and Son, East Haddam, Connecticut; outfitted at New York Navy Yard; commissioned 21 February 1862, Lieutenant N. B...

, Governor Moore exposed herself to fire from most of the Union flotilla. With practically her whole upper hamper shot away and 64 men dead or dying, she went out of command, drifting helplessly to shore, where her captain, pilot, and a seaman set her afire. Governor Moore blew up while they and three other survivors were being captured by USS Oneida

USS Oneida (1861)

The second USS Oneida was a screw sloop-of-war in the United States Navy. During the Civil War, she destroyed the CSS Governor Moore and served in blockade operations. She was attached to the Asiatic Squadron from 1867–1870. She sank in 1870 outside Yokohama, Japan after the British steamer City...

's boats to be imprisoned on board USS Colorado

USS Colorado (1856)

The first USS Colorado — a -class, three-masted steam screw frigate — was launched on 19 June 1856 by the Norfolk Navy Yard. It was sponsored by Ms. N. S. Dornin, and commissioned on 13 March 1858, Captain W. H...

; two-thirds of the two dozen or more crew members escaped into the marshes, the rest being captured by other ships' launches; no one drowned.

"The pennant and remains of the ensign were never hauled down

Striking the colors

Striking the colors is the universally recognized indication of surrender, particularly for ships at sea. Surrender is dated from the time the ensign is struck.-In international law:# "Colors. A national flag . The colors . ....

," wrote Kennon from Colorado. "The flames that lit our decks stood faithful sentinels over their halyards until they, like the ship, were entirely consumed. I burned the bodies of the slain. Our colors were shot away three times. I hoisted them myself twice; finally every stripe was taken out of the flag, leaving a small constellation of four little stars only, which showed to our enemy how bravely we had defended them." The ship sank with the Louisiana's colors flying.(It is unclear if the flag referred to was the Confederate Stars and Bars or Louisiana State banner of January 1861

Flag of Louisiana

The flag of Louisiana consists of a heraldic charge called a "pelican in her piety," representing a mother pelican wounding her breast to feed her young from the blood. This symbol, emblematic of Christian charity, is also found on the state seal. On the flag it is depicted above a ribbon with the...

; the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships

The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships is the official reference work for the basic facts about ships used by the United States Navy...

claims the latter.)