USS Conemaugh, one of a pair of two 1105-ton "double-ender" side wheel steam gunboats built at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine, was commissioned in July 1862. Assigned to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, she operated in the South Carolina coastal area during 1862 and most of 1863, helping to enforce the blockade and exchanging fire with Confederate forces on several occasions.

After an overhaul, Conemaugh joined the West Gulf Blockading Squadron in February 1864. During nine months in the Gulf of Mexico, she carried supplies, captured a blockade running schooner and took part in operations to seize the entrances to Mobile Bay. Again overhauled beginning in November 1864, Conemaugh operated along the Carolina coasts from May into November 1865 and again in 1866 and 1867. She decommissioned in July 1867 and was sold in October of that year.

This page features all our views of USS Conemaugh (1862-1867).

Photo #: NH 49989 USS Conemaugh (1862-1867) Photographed during the Civil War. Note 100-pounder Parrott rifled gun pivot-mounted just forward of her smokestack. The dark band painted around the smokestack may be an identification feature.
Photo #: NH 55319 USS Conemaugh (1862-1867) Photographed during the Civil War, circa 1862-65.
Photo #: NH 55320 USS Conemaugh (1862-1867) Photographed during the Civil War, circa 1862-65. The pivot gun port, just forward of the smokestack, is closed in this view. The original photograph is the left side of a stereograph pair. A stereo pair version of this image is available as Photo # NH 55320-A Online Image of stereo pair: 61KB; 675 x 435 pixels
Photo #: NH 2740 USS Conemaugh (1862-1867) Contemporary photograph of a Civil War era artwork.