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USS Marblehead, a 691-ton Unadilla class screw
steam gunboat, was built at Newburyport, Massachusetts. Commissioned
in March 1862, she initially served on Virginia's York and Pamunkey
Rivers in support of the Army's Peninsular campaign. In mid-1862,
Marblehead was transferred to the blockade of the Georgia
and South Carolina coasts, where she participated in engagements
with the Confederates on the Stono River, S.C., in July and December
1863 and the bombardment of Fort Wagner in Charleston harbor in
August 1863.
Damaged by enemy gunfire during an intense 25 December 1863
battle on the Stono River, Marblehead went north for repairs.
From June 1864 until September 1866 she was a practice ship at
the Naval Academy, taking time off from that employment to conduct
coastal patrols during the last part of 1864. As a unit of the
North Atlantic Squadron, the gunboat operated in the Caribbean
from late 1866 until mid-1868. USS Marblehead decommissioned
and was sold in September 1868. She was subsequently converted
to a sailing bark for civilian use.
This page features all the views we have related to USS Marblehead
(1862-1865).
For an image of a Marblehead crewman who was awarded
the Medal of Honor for
courageous conduct, see:
James Miller,
Quartermaster, USN.
Photo #: NH 46630
USS Marblehead (1862-1868)
Photographed by Byron, New York, probably in 1864-68 after she
was rearmed with all guns mounted on the broadside.
Note rowing launch amidships, with a flag flying from its stern.
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Photo #: NH 79920
USS Marblehead engages a Confederate Battery on John's
Island, Stono River, South Carolina, 25 December 1863
Halftone image, copied from "Deeds of Valor", Volume
II, page 51, published by the Perrien-Keydel Company, Detroit,
1907.
It shows one of Marblehead's gun crews returning the Confederate
fire. The man at left, wearing a nightshirt and holding a sword,
is the ship's Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Commander Richard
W. Meade, Jr., who had been suddenly awakened when the enemy
opened fire.
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For an image of a Marblehead crewman who was awarded
the Medal of Honor for
courageous conduct, see:
James Miller,
Quartermaster, USN.
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Ships 
