CSS Georgia, a 1150-ton iron screw steam cruiser, was built Dumbarton, Scotland, in 1862 as the merchant ship Japan. Purchased secretly by the Confederate Government in March 1863, she was converted to a warship at sea in April. Placed in formal commission under the command of Lieutenant William L. Maury, CSN, Georgia cruised in the North and South Atlantic, capturing 9 United States' merchant vessels. She put into Cherbourg, France, in late October 1863 with her iron hull badly fouled by marine growth and was decommissioned as being unsuited for further use as a warship. Plans to transfer her armament to the Confederate cruiser Rappahannock fell through, and Georgia was sold to commercial interests.

In August 1864, while at sea off Portugal, the ship was seized at sea by the USS Niagara and condemned as a lawful prize. She became the U.S. flag merchant steamer Georgia in August 1865, was reregistered in Canada in 1870 and was wrecked on the Maine coast in January 1875.

This page features our only views of the Confederate cruiser Georgia.

Photo #: NH 51091 CSS Georgia (1863-1864) Photograph of an artwork, mounted on a carte de visite. It was produced by Rideau, Cherbourg, France, circa 1863-64. Courtesy of Colonel Morgan, C.S.N., 1927.
Photo #: NH 57831 CSS Georgia (1863-1864) Sepia wash drawing by Clary Ray, February 1895. Courtesy of the Navy Art Collection, Washington, DC.