USS Morning Light
gunboat of the United States Navy
USS Morning Light was a sailing ship acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Navy to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries.
Service history
Morning Light, an eight-gun ship, was built in 1853 by William Cramp & Sons in the Kensington section of Philadelphia; launched 15 August 1853; purchased by the Navy 2 September 1861 at New York City; and commissioned 21 November 1861 at New York Navy Yard, Acting Volunteer Lt. Henry T. Moore in command. After fitting out for combat, Morning Light sailed from New York to cruise the lower U.S. East Coast in search of Confederate privateers and blockade runners. Morning Light returned to New York, arriving 28 February 1862.
Assigned to Flag Officer David G. Farragut's West Gulf Blockading Squadron, Morning Light departed New York in March with provisions for ships in the Mississippi Sound area. On 15 April Farragut ordered her to remain with bark USS J. C. Kuhn off Ship Island, Mississippi, as protection for the Army command of Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler which provided occupation troops for New Orleans, Louisiana, after Farragut's fleet captured the city 25 April.
The public source identifies “USS Morning Light” as gunboat of the United States Navy. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Morning, Light and gunboat.
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This entry incorporates text from “USS Morning Light” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.