USS Shokokon

Editor’s Note: Do you have information on this ship’s role at the Siege of Petersburg?  Please contact us using the Contact button in the menu at the top of the screen.  We are happy to exchange information with other researchers.

Ship Information (from DANFS)¹,²:

Name: USS Shokokon	Type: Double-Ender Sidewheel Steamer	Tonnage: 709
Length: 181’	Beam: 32’	Draught: Loaded: 8’6”, Light: 7’
Speed: Max: 10 knots, Avg.: 6 knots	Complement: 112 men	Class: Not Listed.
Armament: March 31, June 30, and Sept. 30, 1864: 2 30-pdr. Parrott rifles, 3 24-pdrs. March 29, 1865: 2 9” Broadside, 2 30-pdr. Parrott rifles, 4 24-pdrs.
Namesake: Not Listed.

Images:

Image Needed (does one exist?)

 

Captain(s):
Acting Master William B. Sheldon
Captain Image

Captain 2
Captain Image

Captain 3
Captain Image

 

First Offensive Order of Battle (June 13-18, 1864): York and Pamunkey Rivers and Chesapeake Bay | North Atlantic Blockading Squadron | Union Navy (at least May 28-June 18, 1864)³,⁴,⁵,⁶,⁷

• Captain: Acting Master William B. Sheldon (at least May 28 and 31 & June 6, 1864)⁸
• Crew Strength:
• Armament:

Second Offensive Order of Battle (June 19-30, 1864):

York and Pamunkey Rivers and Chesapeake Bay | North Atlantic Blockading Squadron | Union Navy (June 19-25)⁹,¹⁰,¹¹

Ordered to Hampton Roads to report for further duty, and appears to have gone to the James. (June 25, 1864)¹²

• Captain: Acting Master William B. Sheldon (June 19-24, 1864)¹³
• Crew Strength:
• Armament: 2 x 30-pdr. Parrott rifles, 3 x 24-pdrs. (June 30, 1864)¹⁴,¹⁵

Third Offensive Order of Battle (July 1-31, 1864): Fourth Division (James River) | North Atlantic Blockading Squadron | Union Navy (July 31, 1864)¹⁶

• Captain:
• Crew Strength:
• Armament:
• Note: On July 31, 1864, this ship is noted as “ordered to Beaufort.”¹⁷

Fourth Offensive Order of Battle (August 1-31, 1864):

• Not Present (away in NC)¹⁸

Fifth Offensive Order of Battle (September 1-October 13, 1864):

• Not Present (away in NC)¹⁹,²⁰,²¹
• Armament: 2 x 30-pdr. Parrott rifles, 3 x 24-pdrs. (September 30, 1864)²²

Sixth Offensive Order of Battle (October 14-31, 1864):

• Not Present (source needed)

Seventh Offensive Order of Battle (November 1-December 31, 1864):

• Not Present (away in NC)²³,²⁴,²⁵

Eighth Offensive Order of Battle (January 1-February 28, 1865):

• Not Present (away in NC)²⁶,²⁷,²⁸,²⁹,³⁰

Ninth Offensive Order of Battle (March 1-April 2, 1865):

• Not Present (away in NC)³¹,³²,³³
• Armament: 2 x 9” Broadside, 2 x 30-pdr. Parrott rifles, 4 x 24-pdrs. (March 29, 1865)³⁴

 

Siege of Petersburg Battles:

• Cooperative Engagements in Pamunkey River (White House) (June 20-21, 1864)³⁵

 

Siege of Petersburg Involvement:³⁶

Shokokon, a wooden-hulled ferry built as Clifton in 1862 at Greenpoint, N.Y., was purchased by the Navy at New York City on 3 April 1863; altered for naval service there by J. Simonson; and commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 18 May 1863, Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Samuel Huse in command.

The double-ender was assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and arrived at Newport News, Va., on the morning of 24 May 1863…

Late in August 1863, the ship was damaged in a hurricane and sent north for repairs which lasted through the end of the year. She returned to Newport News on the morning of 16 January 1864 and, for the remainder of the war, was active in supporting Union ground forces in the rivers of Virginia and North Carolina. On 9 March [1864], she joined Morse and General Putnam in escorting an Army expedition up the York and Mattapony rivers; covered the debarkation of troops at Sheppard’s Landing; and returned to Yorktown three days later.

On 5 May [1864], she was one of the warships which swept the river to clear away Confederate torpedoes and then supported the crossing of the landings at Bermuda Hundred and City Point which established a Union bridgehead on the southern shore of the James. During the ensuing months, she continued to shuttle between the York and James rivers to assist ground operations in General Grant’s ever tightening stranglehold on Richmond.

In the autumn [of 1864], Shokokon returned to North Carolina waters and spent the remainder of the war supporting Army efforts in that theatre.

When peace finally was restored, the double-ender returned north and was decommissioned at the New York Navy Yard. She was sold at public auction at New York City on 25 October 1865 and redocumented as Lone Star on 15 December 1865. She served for more than two decades before being abandoned in 1886.

 

Bibliography:

Siege of Petersburg Documents Which Mention This Unit:

• ORN Series 1, Vol. X: Report of Acting Rear-Admiral S. P. Lee giving Stations of Vessels in the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, June 17, 1864
• ORN Series 1, Vol. X: Report of Acting Rear-Admiral Samuel P. Lee, June 20-21, 1864
• ORN Series 1, Vol. X: Report of Lieutenant-Commander Charles A. Babcock, U. S. S. Morse, June 20-24, 1864
• ORN Series 1, Vol. X: Report of Acting Master Newell Graham, commanding U. S. S. Cactus, June 20, 1864
• ORN Series 1, Vol. X: Report of Acting Master William B. Sheldon, U. S. S. Shokokon, May 28-June 23, 1864

Sources: