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In the history of the U.S. presidency, there have been numerous
presidential yachts, but the list of presidential command ships is
far shorter. It includes USS Northampton (CLC-1) a Cold War-era
cruiser that steamed off the East Coast serving as a floating White
House in case of attack on the nation's capital. Fortunately, she
never fulfilled her intended purpose.
The first and only one
of these unique vessels to sail in harm's way under the
commander-in-chief was the U.S. Revenue Cutter Miami. Purchased
early in 1862 and commissioned on Jan. 28, Miami was one of the
first propeller-driven vessels in the Revenue Cutter Service. Built
in Scotland in 1853 as the Lady Le Marchant, the federal government
bought the commercial steamer for $25,000. She measured 115-feet in
length with a schooner sail rig and a two-cylinder oscillating steam
engine.
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Painting of Revenue Cutter Miami covering troop landings at
Ocean View Beach near Norfolk, Virginia, by Charles Mazoujian. (U.S.
Coast Guard Collection)
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Records indicate that Treasury officials had a unique
mission in mind for Miami. After acquiring her, the Service
sent the cutter to the New York Navy Yard, where she
received a 24-pound pivot gun aft and a 20-pound pivot gun
mounted forward, as well as a gig, launch and two small
boats to transfer crew and passengers. Treasury assigned
distinguished cutter Capt. Douglas Ottinger to command Miami
with a crew of three junior officers, two engineers and 34
enlisted men. Treasury Secretary Salmon Chase ordered New
York's customs collector to purchase “every particular
necessary for comfort,” including spare beds, crockery,
champagne glasses, silverware, and silver teapots and coffee
urns.
By Friday, April 4, after completing fitting
out and provisioning of Miami, Ottinger set sail for
Washington, D.C. The cutter arrived at the Washington Navy
Yard on April 7 and, within days, Secretary Chase assigned
her to sail federal officials on tours along the Potomac
River. First, Chase hosted Secretary of State William Seward
and his family aboard the cutter, as well as Secretary of
War Edwin Stanton, Rhode Island governor William Sprague,
and Rear Adm. John Dahlgren. Chase also extended an
invitation to the president to sail aboard Miami. Within
days, President Lincoln, the first lady and their two sons
boarded the cutter for a cruise from the Washington
waterfront, downriver to Alexandria and up the Anacostia
River to the Navy Yard.
Technically, Miami sailed
under U.S. Army orders; however, the president decided to
use the cutter for official business. On Saturday, April 19,
he boarded Miami with secretaries Chase and Stanton,
Dahlgren and other military officials, for a meeting with
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Irvin McDowell. The cutter sailed down
the Potomac River to McDowell's headquarters at Aquia Creek,
where the president and his entourage anchored for the
night. The next morning, Lincoln conferred with McDowell,
before sailing Miami back up the Potomac to Washington.
In early May, Lincoln chose to use Miami for another
official trip; however, this time he intended to take the
cutter in harm's way. The war effort had bogged down on the
front lines in Hampton Roads, Virginia. Fortress Monroe and
Union forces commanded the peninsula on the north side of
the James River and Confederate forces supported by ironclad
CSS Virginia held Norfolk, the Norfolk Navy Yard and the
south side of the James. Lincoln wanted to see first-hand
why Union military leaders failed to move on the
Confederates occupying Norfolk and the ironclad's homeport
at the Navy Yard in Portsmouth, Virginia.
Lincoln
soon became the first and only sitting president to direct
troops and assets in the field. After meeting with his flag
officers at Fortress Monroe, he reconnoitered possible troop
landing beaches near Norfolk and ordered the shelling of
Confederate fortifications at Sewell's Point, near the
landing area. He boarded a shallow-draft tugboat to sound
water depth along the intended landing beaches and he sent
Miami in advance of troop transports to cover the landings.
Before dawn on Saturday, May 11, Union troop transports
bearing 6,000 men and 100 cavalry horses appeared at
present-day Ocean View Beach, where Miami waited at anchor.
The Union troops landed and marched on Norfolk with little
opposition. Confederate troops had evacuated the area, but
before they abandoned the Navy Yard, they off-loaded
Virginia's guns to arm shore batteries up the James River.
Virginia's crew steamed the disarmed ironclad into the river
where they destroyed her with fire and explosives. When
Union forces arrived at the outskirts of Norfolk, the mayor
and city council surrendered the city.
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Destruction of CSS Virginia, also known as the Merrimac, whose
homeport at the navy yard in Portsmouth, Virginia, fell into Union
hands after the capture of Norfolk. (Library of Congress)
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Miami would not return to Washington with the commander-in-chief,
nor enjoy fame and acclaim as Lincoln's command ship. After seeing
the troops off to the landings at Ocean View, the cutter suffered
boiler damage and returned to Washington after undergoing repairs.
Before Miami departed Hampton Roads, a Norfolk admirer of Lincoln
located CSS Virginia's steam safety valve and gave it to the cutter
crew, which delivered it to the president upon her return to the
nation's capital.
Despite the hesitancy of his generals,
Lincoln's campaign had worked, breaking the stalemate between Union
and Confederate forces in southeastern Virginia. Lincoln's
amphibious operation had allowed Union forces to capture all of
Hampton Roads, so CSS Virginia no longer threatened the Chesapeake
Bay area. Lincoln's command ship did not enjoy similar success.
Miami served out the war at homeports of New York and Newport, Rhode
Island, and spent her final days at Wilmington, Delaware. In 1871,
the Service decommissioned the cutter and sold her for $2,149.00.
Lincoln went on to greater glory as the
Union won the war, and Lincoln succeeded in his effort to re-unify
the nation. Considered one of the most important leaders in American
history, Abraham Lincoln served for a time as a cutterman and an
honorary member of the long blue line.
By William H. Thiesen, Atlantic Area Historian, USCG
Provided
through
Coast
Guard
Copyright 2016
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