The Loss of PETREL
22 APRIL 1864
THE LOSS OF PETREL
To bolster Union naval forces patrolling the Mississippi in the Civil War, our Navy purchased a total of 63 existing sternwheel and sidewheel riverboats. Protection was added to their upper works in the form of thick wooden bulwarks overlain with a metal skin. They mounted heavy guns on the first deck and lighter howitzers on the upper decks. “Tinclads” as they came to be known exercised patrol, reconnaissance, and gunboat missions along the Mississippi. One such “tinclad,” USS PETREL, the former riverboat Duchess, operated from February to April 1864 in the Yazoo River of Mississippi. On April 21st, 1864, PETREL and her sister tinclad PAIRIE BIRD started upriver escorting the Army transport Freestone. They were to retake Yazoo City, which had been abandoned by Union troops in February. PETREL ranged ahead and came abreast of Yazoo City well in advance of the others. Here she engaged a group of rebels firing from the hills. As the river was insufficiently wide to turn, Acting Master Thomas McElroy ran upriver past the battery. The following morning found PETREL against the bank with her crew ashore, collecting rails to stack against the boilers.
Suddenly the gunboat came under fire from a force of enemy infantry with two 12-pounder Parrott rifles. “Minnie” balls and shot screamed through the air, some piercing completely through PETREL. McElroy beat his crew to quarters, but found that the position of his boat against the bank prevented his heavy guns from being brought to bear. The Yankees defended with muskets while McElroy attempted to back down into the stream. But an enemy shot cut the tinclad’s steam lines; followed by another that struck the magazine and cut off the legs of Gunner’s Mate Charles Seitz. Enemy sharpshooters began picking off the Union crewmen through the gun ports. Several of the officers “behaved badly,” falling back out of fear. Disabled and unable to counter-fire, McElroy decided to burn his vessel. But just as Asst. Engineer Arthur M. Phillips was setting the gunboat ablaze, another rebel shot raked the stern and burst the boilers, bathing the ship in steam. The steam doused the fires, and many of McElroy’s officers and crew jumped ashore and ran. Only the pilot, Kimball Ware, and an enlisted sailor, Quartermaster John H. Nibbe, stayed to assist McElroy in defending PETREL’s flag. Nibbe helped get the wounded ashore, then all three re-fired the gunboat by spreading coals from the boiler across the deck.
The Confederates surrounded and captured the three brave sailors. The fires were again extinguished long enough for the rebels to strip every gun and salvageable store. PETREL was then burned to prevent her re-capture.
Watch for more “Today in Naval History” 29 APR 25
CAPT James Bloom, Ret.
Department of the Navy, Naval History Division. Civil War Naval Chronology 1861-1865. Washington, DC: GPO, 1961, p. IV-46.
Department of the Navy, Naval History Division. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 5 “N-Q”. Washington, DC: GPO, 1979, p. 276.
McElroy, Thomas. Report of loss of Petrel. IN: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion. Series I-Volume 26: Naval Forces on Western Waters (March 1, 1864-December 21, 1864). Washington, DC: GPO, 1914, pp. 248-49.
Porter, David D. The Naval History of the Civil War. Mineola, NY: Dover Pub., 1886, pp. 560-61.
Silverstone, Paul H. Warships of the Civil War Navies. Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1989, pp. 165, 176.
United States Congress. United States of America’s Congressional Medal of Honor Recipients and their Official Citations. Columbia Heights, MN: Highland House II, 1994, p. 859.
ADDITIONAL NOTES: PETREL was taken with her flag still flying. Quartermaster John H. Nibbe was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions this day (officers were not eligible at the time). RADM David Dixon Porter berated PETREL’s remaining officers and crew for their apparent cowardice.
Union “tinclads” also had an enclosed pilothouse constructed on the upper-most deck. This feature easily identifies such craft in period photographs that survive today. Our modern system of hull numbering was not adopted until the 1920s, however each of the 63 tinclads had a number painted boldly on the outside of her pilot house. PETREL was tinclad number 5, and PRAIRIE BIRD was number 11.
The rank of “Master” has an interesting history as well. Early in the 1800s our Navy had four commissioned officer ranks–Sailing Master, Lieutenant, Master Commandant and Captain. The Master Commandant rank was changed to “Commander” in 1837, the same year the lowest rank was shortened simply to “Master.” During the Civil War, to accommodate an expanded force structure, on 16 July 1862 the new ranks of RADM and Commodore were created as Flag ranks above Captain; LCDR was inserted below Commander; and Ensign was inserted below Master. In 1883 “Masters” became “Lieutenants Junior Grade,” which they remain today!
