Property

Location Information
(for the U.S.S. Cairo)

Name:

U.S.S. Cairo

Address:

Vicksburg National Military Park

City/County:

Vicksburg, Warren County

Registration Information

NR Listing Date:

03 Sep 1971

NR District Name:

Vicksburg National Military Park (1966)

NR Status:

Contributing

Element No.:

View National Register Nomination Form

Context/Comments

This Civil War gunboat was commissioned in 1862 and participated in U.S. Navy operations on the Mississippi River. It was sunk in December 1862, the first victim of an electrically activated torpedo in naval history.

It was recovered in 1864 but was extensively damaged in the process. The vessel was taken to Ingalls Shipyard at Pascagoula, Mississippi, where it underwent a partial restoration. It was later moved to Vicksburg where it was placed on display at the Vicksburg National Military Park.

The USS Cairo was originally listed on the National Register on 3 September 1971, while it was located at Ingalls Shipyard in Jackson County, from a nomination prepared by MDAH historian Clinton Bagley. After the vessel was relocated to the Vicksburg National Military Park, the National Register documentation was amended, as of 29 December 1989, to indicate its new location.

Brief Description

Type and class: ironclad river gunboat, city class. Length: 175 ft.: breadth: 51 ft. 2" Tonnage: 512. Armament: three 4-pounder Army rifles, three 64-pounder Navy smoothbores, six 32-pounder Navy smoothbores, and one 30 pounder Parrott. Paint colors: black exterior, whitewashed interior, colored bands for identification on chimneys. Thickness of plate armor: 2 1/2 inches.

Historic Information

Commissioned January 16, 1862. Role in Civil War: Cairo fired a few shells at the riverbank at Eastport, took her share of guard duty at Fort Pillow, and played a rather inconspicuous part in the battle at Plum Point and later that at Memphis. In December 1862, the Cairo became the first warship in history to be sunk by an electrically detonated mine.

The Cairo was raised in 1964, suffering extensive damage in the process: cables being used to lift the vessel cut deeply into the wooden hull. It was finally decided to cut the Cairo into three sections after all hope of raising the ship intact was lost.