View source for USS Brockenborough

{{Short description|US ship in its Civil War}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2013}}
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|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Confederate States of America|naval}} {{shipboxflag|United States|1865}}
|Ship name=USS ''Brockenborough''
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|Ship ordered=as ''G. L. Brockenborough''
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|Ship acquired=November 15, 1862
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|Ship in service=1862
|Ship out of service=May 27, 1863
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|Ship captured=by [[Union Navy]] forces October 16, 1862
|Ship fate=Sunk, May 27, 1863
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|Ship type=[[Ship's tender]] / [[gunboat]]
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'''USS ''Brockenborough''''' was a [[sloop]] captured by the [[Union Navy]] during the [[American Civil War]].

She was used by the Union Navy primarily as a [[ship's tender]] and also as a [[gunboat]] stationed off [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] ports to enforce the [[Union blockade]] which prevented trade with foreign countries.

''Brockenborough'' was wrecked in a storm and her crew burned her to prevent capture.

==Capture of ''Brockenborough''==
On October 16, 1862, the [[commanding officer]] of the Union steamer {{USS|Fort Henry|1862|2}} — [[Brevet (military)|Acting]] [[Lieutenant]] [[Edward Y. McCauley]] — ordered Acting [[Master (naval)|Master]] Robert B. Smith to lead a reconnaissance expedition up the [[Apalachicola River]]. During the ensuing operation, Smith's boats exchanged fire with Southerners ashore and signaled {{USS|Sagamore|1861|2}} for help. That gunboat's launch brought a [[howitzer]] into the fray, "…cleared the banks of the [[guerrillas]]," and enabled the Union boats to continue on upstream. A short distance past the town of [[Apalachicola, Florida]], Smith found a sailing ship which had grounded inside the mouth of a creek. She proved to be ''G. L. Brockenborough'', a [[sloop]] carrying 64 bales of cotton. Her master and a single passenger were still on board. The Union sailors refloated the vessel and took her to [[Key West, Florida]], where she was condemned by the [[prize court]] and purchased by the Navy on November 15.

==Civil War service==
Sent back to waters off the Apalachicola, ''Brockenborough'' — also spelled ''Brockenboro'' — served the East Gulf Blockading Squadron as a tender to the double-ended sidewheeler {{USS|Port Royal|1862|2}} and the former ferryboat {{USS|Somerset|1862|2}}.

On February 18, 1863, while anchored off New Inlet, St. George's Sound, ''Somerset'' sighted a [[schooner]] sailing westward along the southern coast of St. George's Island; and her captain — [[Lieutenant Commander (United States)|Lieutenant Commander]] A. F. Crosman — sent ''Brockenborough'' in pursuit. She overtook and captured ''Hortense'', a schooner bound from [[Havana, Cuba]], for [[Mobile, Alabama]], with an escorted cargo. Crosman manned the prize from ''Somerset'' and sent her to Key West, for adjudication, and she was condemned by the prize court there.

On March 20, Acting Volunteer Lieutenant George E. Welch — who commanded the Union [[Barque|bark]] {{USS|Amanda|1858|2}} — sent his executive officer, Acting Master Richard J. Hoffner, in ''Brockenborough'' to the mouth of the [[Ocklocknee River]] to investigate a report that a schooner was loading cotton at that place.

The sloop, accompanied by ''Amanda''{{'}}s launch, struggled across the marshy waters of St. George's Sound for three days before reaching the Ocklocknee where Hoffner found "…a dismasted vessel lying close to [the river's] starboard bank…." While the Union party approached the partially sunken ship, the Southerners who had been on board escaped to shore in boats. Hoffner tried to tow his quarry back toward the [[Sound (geography)|sound]], but the prize — the schooner ''Onward'' — was stranded by the ebbing tide some two hours later.

The next morning, when ''Onward'' was again afloat, the expedition once more headed for deep water, but took the wrong channel and again struck the bottom. After strenuously, although futilely, striving to pull free, the Union sailors decided to wait for help from the rising tide. However, a short while later, a Confederate force of about 40 mounted soldiers and 150 infantrymen arrived and attacked the expedition.

Some of the [[Naval rating|sailors]] fought back with a [[howitzer]] and muskets while their companions set fire to the prize before the whole Union party withdrew in ''Brockenborough'' and the launch. Both scraped on the bottom but were kept in motion by wading sailors who dragged the boats for about half a mile over mud flats before they floated free. Confederate riflemen kept the party under fire throughout the retreat, killing one man outright and wounding eight others, including Acting Master Hoffner.

Once the boats were free of the mud, they proceeded to waters off [[St. Mark's, Florida]], where the wounded were embarked in the Union steamer {{USS|Hendrick Hudson|1859|2}}.

''Brockenborough'' soon returned to St. Georges Sound and, some two months later, was within signal distance of USS ''Port Royal'', when boats from that ship captured the cotton-laden sloop ''Fashion'' on 23 May.

That night a stiff breeze from the northeast arose and the next day it began to increase steadily in intensity. By 27 May, the wind had reached [[hurricane]] intensity and had created a shoreward, {{convert|8|kn|mph km/h|lk=in|abbr=on}} current through the West Pass in St. George's Sound, threatening to drive ''Brockenborough'' ashore on the mainland where she and her crew would be at the mercy of Confederate forces.

On 28 May the sloop was driven ashore by the wind and wrecked on St. George's Island where she was set afire to prevent her being recaptured by the South.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.apalachtimes.com/news/20200206/chasing-shadows-early-hurricane-doomed-uss-amanda |title=Chasing Shadows: Early hurricane doomed USS Amanda |publisher=The Times, Apalachicola and Carrabelle |accessdate=26 May 2020 |archive-date=February 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200214104219/https://www.apalachtimes.com/news/20200206/chasing-shadows-early-hurricane-doomed-uss-amanda |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==References== 
{{portal|American Civil War}}
{{reflist}}
{{DANFS|https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/b/brockenborough-i.html}}

{{1862 shipwrecks}}
{{1863 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brockenborough}}
[[Category:Ships of the Union Navy]]
[[Category:Gunboats of the United States Navy]]
[[Category:Sloops of the United States Navy]]
[[Category:Tenders of the United States Navy]]
[[Category:American Civil War patrol vessels of the United States]]
[[Category:American Civil War auxiliary ships of the United States]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the Florida coast]]
[[Category:Scuttled vessels]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1862]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in May 1863]]