On both sides 



of the 



Civil War 



The side-wheeler Harriet Lane, built in 

 1857 at a cost of $140,000, was the first 

 successful steam cutter and one of the 

 famous ships of the Civil War. In this 

 period of divided loyalties a number of 

 officers and men resigned to join the Con- 

 federacy, and five cutters in southern 

 waters were seized for the South. But the 

 Harriet Lane fought under both Stars and 

 Stripes and Stars and Bars. 



She is also credited with having fired 

 the first shot of the war in April 1861, 

 on the eve of the bombardment of Fort 

 Sumter. As part of a force sent to relieve 

 the beleaguered fort, sHe came upon the 

 southern steamer Nashville trying to run 

 into Charleston harbor without showing 



her colors. The cutter fired a shot across 

 the steamer's bow, and according to the 

 cutter's captain, "it had the desired effect." 



Later, the Harriet Liine participated in 

 the first Union victory, the capture of Fort 

 Clark and Fort Hatteras, which were bases 

 for blockade runners in Hatteras Inlet. 

 Then, transferred to the Navy, she served 

 as the flagship of Admiral David Porter, 

 whose grandfather had been a master of 

 one of Hamilton's original ten cutters. At 

 Galveston she was captured and finished 

 the war as a Confederate ship. 



By November 1864, the cutter fleet con- 

 sisted of 11 screw propeller steamers, 3 

 side-wheelers, and 14 sailing vessels. They 

 helped enforce the blockade and lent sup- 

 port to the Army and Navy striking into 

 the- South. 



The cutter Kangatuck escorted the Mon- 

 itor when she sailed out into Hampton 

 Roads, March 9, 1862, to do battle with 

 the Confederate iron-clad Merriniac. The 

 cutter Aiianii saw action at Willoughby's 

 Point, where she landed President Lincoln 

 on Confederate-held soil the day before 

 the fall of Norfolk. 



The Harrief Lane at sea. 



