USS Katahdin, a 691-ton Unadilla class screw steam gunboat, was built at Bath, Maine. She was commissioned in February 1862 and immediately sent to the Gulf of Mexico. During April 1862 Katahdin played an active part in the successful campaign to break through the Confederate defenses on the lower Mississippi River and capture New Orleans. She served along the river below Vicksburg for the rest of the year, taking part in bombardments of Grand Gulf in May and June, the defense of Baton Rouge and action with CSS Arkansas on 5-6 August, and operations around Donaldsonville in September and October.

Katahdin joined U.S. Navy forces off Galveston, Texas, in January 1863 and remained on duty in that area for the rest of the Civil War. During that time she captured or helped capture three schooners that were attempting to run the blockade. With the end of the conflict, Katahdin was sent to New York, where she decommissioned in July 1865. Sold the following November, she later operated as a merchant vessel, under the name Juno.

This page features all the views we have related to USS Katahdin (1862-1865).

Photo #: NH 52241 USS Katahdin (1862-1865) Artwork by Davis, dated 22 November 1862, depicting the gunboat on the Mississippi River. Note identification number painted on her smokestack.
Photo #: NH 52240 USS Katahdin (1862-1865) Halftone reproduction of a lithograph by Shearman & Hart, New York, circa 1861, published in "The Steam Navy of the United States", by Frank M. Bennett, page 219. The original lithograph was issued with different titles to represent many, if not all, of the Civil War "90-day gunboats". See Photo # NH 2016.
Photo #: NH 42244 "Passage of Forts Jackson and St. Philip, April 24, 1862. Order of Attack." Chart showing the positions of U.S. Navy ships during the action (with individual ships identified, with their commanders), and of Confederate defenses ashore and afloat. Online Image: 208KB; 795 x 1225 pixels