View source for USS Sumpter

{{short description|Gunboat of the United States Navy}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=
|Ship caption=
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag=[[Image:US Naval Jack 36 stars.svg|48px|Union Navy Jack]]  {{USN flag|1861}}
|Ship name=USS ''Sumpter''
|Ship namesake=
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder=*[[Hillman and Streaker]]
*[[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]]
|Ship laid down=
|Ship launched=1853
|Ship acquired=by purchase, 26 May 1859
|Ship commissioned=
|Ship decommissioned=
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship struck=
|Ship renamed=
|Ship reclassified=
|Ship homeport=
|Ship motto=
|Ship nickname=
|Ship honours=
|Ship fate=Sank following collision, 24 June 1863
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship type= [[Steamship]]
|Ship displacement={{convert|464|LT|t|0|lk=in|abbr=on}} 
|Ship length={{convert|163|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|24|ft|4|in|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship draft={{convert|11|ft|9|in|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship propulsion= [[Steam engine]]
|Ship speed= 
|Ship range= 
|Ship complement=64 officers and enlisted
|Ship armament=*4 × 32-pounder guns
*1 × 12-pounder smoothbore gun
*1 × 20-pounder [[Parrott rifle]]
|Ship armor=
|Ship notes=
}}
|}
'''USS ''Sumpter''''' was a [[steamship]] in the [[United States Navy]] during the [[American Civil War]].

''Sumpter'' or ''Sumter'', ex-''Atlanta'', ex-''Parker Vein'', was built in 1853 by [[Hillman and Streaker]], [[Philadelphia]]. The merchant steamer ''Atlanta'' was chartered by the Navy on 13 September 1858, to take part in the [[Paraguay expedition|expedition against Paraguay]]; purchased outright on 26 May 1859, and renamed ''Sumpter''.

==Service history==
Under the command of Commander [[Daniel R. Ridgely]], ''Atlanta'' and 18 other warships arrived at [[Asunción]], on 25 January 1859, to take action against that country for firing on {{USS|Water Witch|1851|6}} in 1855. However, the government of Paraguay offered an apology and paid an indemnity which settled the affair without resorting to violence.

When the squadron returned to the United States, the ship was purchased outright and renamed ''Sumpter''.  ''Sumpter'' and four other screw steamers were assigned to cruise the coasts of Cuba and Africa to suppress the [[History of slavery|slave trade]]. ''Sumpter'' sailed from the west coast of Africa, on 10 August 1861, and returned to the United States on 15 September.

On 6 January 1862, ''Sumpter'' was ordered to report to [[Port Royal, South Carolina]], and join the [[South Atlantic Blockading Squadron]] and on 2 February was reported to have joined the squadron, and the next day sailed to Charleston. On 18 March, she participated in the capture of the British blockade runner ''Emil St. Pierre'' off that port. The ship returned to Port Royal, on 23 April, for repairs and departed on the 29th to take station off [[Wassaw Inlet, Georgia]].

''Sumpter'' rejoined the blockade off Charleston in early May and remained there until August. In mid-May, she sent a boat to [[Port Pulaski]] to gain information regarding [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] gunboats; but the boat wandered into [[St. Augustine Creek]], near [[Fort Jackson (Louisiana)|Fort Jackson]], and was captured. She was then ordered to [[Fernandina, Florida]], to join the blockade there. The steamer sailed from there on 6 October en route to New York City for repairs, via Port Royal. After her repairs were completed, ''Sumpter'' was assigned to the [[North Atlantic Blockading Squadron]] at [[Hampton Roads]]. Her duty was to search for Confederate [[cruiser]]s and blockade runners. She was stationed off Hampton Bar in May 1863 but, the following month, was sent to the [[Yorktown, Virginia]] area to search for the Confederate [[privateer]], ''Clarence''. On the morning of 24 June, she collided with the Union transport, {{USS|General Meigs}} eight or nine miles from the [[Smith Island (Virginia)|Smith Island]] lighthouse and sank in seven fathoms ({{convert|42|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}} of water. The officers and crew were rescued by {{USS|Jamestown|1844|2}} and taken to [[Newport News, Virginia]].

As of 2005, no other ship in the United States Navy has borne the name ''Sumpter'', although there was a {{USS|Sumter|APA-52}}, an [[attack transport]] which served with the U.S. Navy during [[World War II]], and a {{USS|Sumter|LST-1181}}, a [[tank landing ship]] decommissioned in 1993.

==See also==
{{Portal|American Civil War}}
*[[Union Navy]]
*[[Union blockade]]

==References==
{{DANFS|https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/s/sumpter.html}}
{{1863 shipwrecks}}
{{coord|37.0968|-75.7040|type:event_globe:earth_region:US-PA|display=title}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sumpter, USS}}
[[Category:Ships of the Union Navy]]
[[Category:Ships built in Philadelphia]]
[[Category:Steamships of the United States Navy]]
[[Category:Gunboats of the United States Navy]]
[[Category:American Civil War patrol vessels of the United States]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the Virginia coast]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the American Civil War]]
[[Category:1853 ships]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in June 1863]]
[[Category:Ships sunk in collisions]]