| Unit Name: | Potomac Flotilla |
| Dates: | 1861 - 1865 |
| Country: |  United States |
| Branch: | United States Navy |
| Type: | naval squadron |
The Potomac Flotilla, also called 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 there.
On April 22, 1861 Commander James H. Ward, who was the commanding officer of the receiving ship at the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn New York, wrote to United States Secretary of the Navy Gideon Wells to put forth a plan for the protection of the Chesapeake Bay area. Ward suggested a "Flying Flotilla" of light-draft vessels to operate in the Chesapeake Bay, the Potomac River, and their tributaries. His commander, Captain Samuel L. Breese, commandant of the New York Navy Yard, endorsed his plan. Wells accepted this proposal and wrote back to Ward and Breese on 27 April 1861 authorizing them to begin carrying out Ward's plan. On 1 May 1861 the first vessels for the new flotilla were acquired. On 16 May 1861 Ward set out from the New York Navy Yard with three vessels,,, and . He arrived at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., on 20 May 1861 on board his flagship,Thomas Freeborn.[1]
On 27 June 1861 Ward's flotilla engaged the Confederates at Mathias Point, Virginia. While he was sighting the bow gun of Thomas Freeborn, Ward was shot through the abdomen and died within an hour due to internal hemorrhaging. He was the first United States Navy officer to be killed during the American Civil War.[2]
After the death of Ward the flotilla was led by a succession of short-term commanders until the fall of 1862 when Commodore Andrew A. Harwood took command. He was in turn succeeded by Commander Foxhall A. Parker on 31 December 1864.[3]
The Civil War ended in April 1865, and on 18 July 1865 the United States Department of the Navy ordered Parker to disband the flotilla, effective 31 July 1865. Most of the flotilla's remaining vessels were sent to the Washington Navy Yard to be decommissioned.[4]
It was not until August 1861 that the flotilla became known as the Potomac Flotilla. The designation of "Flying Flotilla" was dropped when Ward's force arrived in the theater of operations. The flotilla was then referred to by a variety of names, including: Flotilla, Potomac River; Potomac Blockade; Flotilla in the Chesapeake; etc. In early August 1861 the flotilla commander and the Department of the Navy began to consistently refer to the command as the Potomac Flotilla.[5]
1861
Engagement with the Confederate batteries at Aquia Creek, Virginia, 29 May – 1 June 1861
Affair at Mathias Point, Virginia, 27 June 1861
Engagement with the Confederate batteries at Potomac Creek, Virginia, 23 August 1861
Engagement with the Confederate battery at Freestone Point, Virginia, 25 September 1861
1862
Engagement at Cockpit Point, Virginia, 3 January 1862
Expedition up the Rappahannock River to Tappahannock, Virginia, 13–15 April 1862
Expedition up the Rappahannock River to Fredericksburg, Virginia, 20 April 1862
Expeditions to Gwynn's Island and Nomini Creek, Virginia, 3–4 Nov, 1862
Engagement at Port Royal, Virginia, 4 December 1862
Engagement at Brandywine Hill, Rappahannock River, Virginia, 10–11 December 1862
1863
Destruction of salt works on Dividing Creek, Virginia, 12 January 1863
Destruction of Confederate stores at Tappahannock, Virginia, 30 May 1863
Capture of U. S. steamers and USRC Reliance, 16 August 1863
1864
Expedition to the Northern Neck of Virginia, 12 January 1864
Expedition up the Rappahannock River, Virginia, 18–21 April 1864
Expedition to Carter's Creek, Virginia, 29 April 1864
Expedition to Mill Creek, Virginia, 12–13 May 1864
Expedition up the Rappahannock River, Virginia, 16–19 May 1864
Expedition to the Northern Neck of Virginia, 11–21 June 1864
Expedition to Milford Haven and Stutt's Creek, Virginia, 24 September 1864
1865
Expedition to Fredericksburg, Virginia, 6–8 March 1865
Expedition up the Rappahannock River, 12–14 March 1865
Operations in Mattox Creek, Virginia, 16–18 March 1865
When Commander James H. Ward departed the New York Navy Yard on 16 May 1861 his flotilla consisted of three vessels. The size of the flotilla steadily increased until it reached a strength that hovered between 15 and 25 vessels.[6]
| Ship | Rate | Type | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4th | Casco class | |||
| 4th | Ironclad monitor | Casco class | ||
| 4th | Ironclad monitor | Canonicus class | ||
| 4th | Ironclad monitor | Canonicus class | ||
| 2nd | ||||
| 3rd | Screw sloop | |||
| 3rd | Screw sloop | Commander Wilkes' Flagship | ||
| 4th | Screw sloop | Receiving Ship at Baltimore | ||
| 3rd | Revenue cutter from United States Revenue-Marine | |||
| 3rd | Sidewheel gunboat | |||
| 3rd | Sidewheel gunboat | |||
| 4th | Screw gunboat | |||
| 4th | Screw gunboat | |||
| 4th | Screw gunboat | |||
| 4th | Screw gunboat | |||
| 4th | Screw gunboat | |||
| 4th | Screw gunboat | Blockade runner captured by 4 March 1864 off Beaufort, North Carolina. | ||
| 4th | Screw gunboat | |||
| 4th | Screw gunboat | |||
| 4th | Screw gunboat | Steamer captured by 20 April 1862 on the Rappahannock River, Virginia. | ||
| 4th | Screw gunboat | |||
| 4th | Screw gunboat | Blockade runner captured by 9 July 1864 in South Santee River, South Carolina. | ||
| 4th | Screw gunboat | |||
| 4th | Screw gunboat | |||
| 4th | Screw gunboat | |||
| 4th | Screw gunboat | ex-Confederate captured by 4 July 1862 on the James River, Virginia | ||
| 4th | Screw gunboat | Sunk by boiler explosion off Ragged Point, Virginia, 11 November 1864 | ||
| 4th | Screw gunboat | |||
| 4th | Screw gunboat | |||
| 4th | Screw gunboat | |||
| 4th | Sidewheel gunboat | Blockade runner captured by 7 July 1862 off New Providence in the Bahamas | ||
| 4th | Sidewheel gunboat | Blockade runner captured by USAT Fulton and on 21 November 1863 off Wilmington, North Carolina | ||
| 4th | Sidewheel gunboat | |||
| 4th | Sidewheel gunboat | |||
| 4th | Sidewheel gunboat | ex-ferryboat | ||
| 4th | Sidewheel gunboat | ex-ferryboat | ||
| 4th | Sidewheel gunboat | |||
| 4th | Sidewheel gunboat | |||
| 4th | Sidewheel gunboat | |||
| 4th | Sidewheel gunboat | |||
| 4th | Sidewheel gunboat | |||
| 4th | Sidewheel gunboat | ex-ferryboat | ||
| 4th | Sidewheel gunboat | Known as USS Mount Vernon until 4 November 1861 | ||
| 4th | Sidewheel gunboat | |||
| 4th | Sidewheel gunboat | Captured by Confederate boarding party 23 August 1863 in Rappahannock River, scuttled at Port Royal, Virginia, 28 August 1863 | ||
| 4th | Sidewheel gunboat | ex-ferryboat | ||
| 4th | Sidewheel gunboat | Commander Ward's Flagship | ||
| 4th | Sidewheel gunboat | |||
| 4th | ||||
| 4th | Sidewheel auxiliary | Ordnance vessel, Washington Navy Yard | ||
| 4th | Sidewheel auxiliary | Supply ship | ||
| 4th | Sidewheel auxiliary | Picket and dispatch vessel | ||
| 4th | Sidewheel auxiliary | Icebreaker | ||
| 4th | Sidewheel auxiliary | Dispatch vessel, known as USS Powhatan until 4 November 1861 | ||
| 4th | Sidewheel auxiliary | Transport ferry | ||
| 4th | Sidewheel auxiliary | Storeship | ||
| 4th | ||||
| 4th | Screw tug | |||
| 4th | Screw tug | |||
| 4th | Screw tug | |||
| 4th | Screw tug | |||
| 4th | Screw tug | Captured by Confederate boarding party 23 August 1863 in Rappahannock River, scuttled at Port Royal, Virginia, 28 August 1863 | ||
| 4th | Screw tug | |||
| 4th | Screw tug | |||
| 4th | Screw tug | Sunk 10 September 1861 in collision with merchant ship State of Maine off Indian Head, Maryland | ||
| 4th | Screw tug | |||
| 4th | Screw tug | Known as USS A. C. Powell until August 1862, known as USS Alert from August 1862 to 2 February 1865 | ||
| 4th | Screw tug | ex-Confederate, captured 24 April 1861 by at Hampton Roads, Virginia | ||
| 4th | Sidewheel tug | Also known as USS William G. Putnam | ||
| 4th | Sidewheel tug | |||
| 4th | Sidewheel tug | Tug and dispatch boat | ||
| 4th | Sidewheel tug | |||
| E. H. Herbert | - | Tug | Chartered vessel | |
| Edwin Forrest | - | Tug | Chartered vessel | |
| James Murray | - | Tug | Chartered vessel | |
| - | Sidewheel steamer | from United States Coast Survey | ||
| - | Sidewheel Steamer | from United States Coast Survey | ||
| 4th | mortar schooner | |||
| 4th | Sailing schooner | Mortar schooner | ||
| 4th | Sailing schooner | Mortar schooner | ||
| 4th | Sailing schooner | Mortar schooner | ||
| 4th | Sailing schooner | Mortar schooner | ||
| 4th | Sailing schooner | Mortar schooner | ||
| 4th | Sailing schooner | Mortar schooner | ||
| 4th | Sailing schooner | Mortar schooner | ||
| 4th | Sailing schooner | Mortar schooner | ||
| - | Sailing schooner | from United States Coast Survey | ||
| Chaplin | 4th | Sailing schooner | ||
| - | Sailing schooner | from United States Coast Survey | ||
| - | Sailing schooner | from United States Coast Survey | ||
| USS Alpha | 4th | Screw picket boat | Known as Picket Boat No. 1 until sometime between 1 November and 5 December 1864. | |
| USS Beta | 4th | Screw picket boat | Known as both USS Bazely and as Picket Boat No. 2 until sometime between 1 November and 5 December 1864. Hit a torpedo (mine) and was destroyed 25 December 1864 by retreating Union troops to prevent Confederate capture. | |
| USS Gamma | 4th | Screw picket boat | Known as Picket Boat No. 3 until sometime between 1 November and 5 December 1864. | |
| USS Delta | 4th | Screw picket boat | Known as Picket Boat No. 4 until sometime between 1 November and 5 December 1864. | |
| USS Epsilon | 4th | Screw picket boat | Known as Picket Boat No. 5 until sometime between 1 November and 5 December 1864. | |
| USS Zeta | 4th | Screw picket boat | Known as Picket Boat No. 6 until sometime between 1 November and 5 December 1864. |
| Flotilla commander | From | To | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| late April 1861 | 27 June 1861 | Killed in action 27 June 1861 | |
| 27 June 1861 | 10 July 1861 | Commander pro tem | |
| 10 July 1861 | 2 December 1861 | ||
| 2 December 1861 | 6 December 1861 | Commander pro tem | |
| 6 December 1861 | early July 1862 | ||
| Lieutenant Commander Samuel Magaw | early July 1862 | 1 September 1862 | Commander pro tem |
| 1 September 1862 | 10 September 1862 | ||
| 10 September 1862 | 31 December 1863 | ||
| 31 December 1863 | 31 July 1865 |