USS John P. Jackson

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USS John P. Jackson was a sidewheel steamship built in 1860 in Brooklyn for the New Jersey Rail Road and Transportation Company, where it served as a ferry. It carried President-elect Abraham Lincoln across the Hudson in February 1861 on his way to inauguration. The Union Navy bought the ship on November 6, 1861, and she was commissioned on February 14, 1862, under Lt. Selim Woodworth.

In the Civil War, John P. Jackson served mainly in the Gulf and Mississippi areas. She fought near Pass Christian, Mississippi, on April 4, 1862, helped capture the blockade runner P. C. Wallis, and bombarded Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip. She scouted Lake Pontchartrain and, after taking damage from Confederate fire, continued blockade duty in the Mississippi Sound. The ship captured several prizes, including Young Gustave, Le Caddie, Union, and Syrena, and took part in operations around Mobile Bay.

During the Mobile Bay campaign, she helped bombard Fort Powell and supported Farragut’s fleet in the 1864 battle there. In July 1864 her armament was upgraded from a Sawyer rifle to a 100-pounder Parrott rifle. A fire aboard on October 8, 1864 caused damage, but she remained on blockade duty for the rest of the war.

John P. Jackson was decommissioned in New Orleans on September 5, 1865, and sold on September 27, 1865, for $13,500 to Marcy, Maury & Co. She returned to civilian service as the merchant vessel J. P. Jackson, but she disappears from shipping records after 1871.

Specifications: 192 feet long, beam 36 feet 6 inches, depth of hold 12 feet; 750 tons burthen; top speed about 8 knots. Propelled by a steam engine and side wheels, with a crew of about 99. Armament in service included four 32-pounder guns, a 9-inch Dahlgren gun, and a 6-inch Sawyer rifle (later replaced by a 100-pounder Parrott rifle).