CSS Capitol, a 499-ton side-wheel river steamer, was built in 1855 at Jeffersonville, Indiana, for civilian employment. Taken over by the Confederacy, she assisted in outfitting the ironclad ram CSS Arkansas in the Spring of 1862 at Yazoo City, Mississippi. Capitol burned on 28 June 1862 at Liverpool, Miss., and her hull was sunk the following month as an obstruction in the Yazoo River. Her machinery was removed and subsequently sent to Selma, Alabama, for further use in the defenses of the Mobile Bay area.

This page features our only view of CSS Capitol.

Photo #: NH 73376 CSS Arkansas (1862-1862) Line engraving after a drawing by J.O. Davidson, published in "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War", Volume III, page 573, depicting the ship fitting out off Yazoo City, Mississippi, in June-July 1862. Assisting in the work is the CSS Capitol.