Era No. 5

Era No. 5 — a shallow-draft steamer built in 1860 at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania — was chartered by the Confederates early in 1863 to transport corn from the Red River to Camden, Arkansas.

History
Confederate States
Launched: 1860
Chartered: 1863
United States
Captured: 14 February 1863
General characteristics
Displacement: 115 long tons (117 t)
Propulsion: Stern wheel steamer

As the steamer — laden with 4,500 bushels of corn — proceeded to her destination on 14 February 1863, she rounded a sharp bend 15 mi (24 km) above the mouth of the Black River, came upon and was captured by the USS Queen of the West.[1] After a loss of the Queen of the West the same day, her crew fled to Union positions in the Era No.5.[2] Era No. 5 was then assigned to Colonel Charles R. Ellet's river fleet, fitted out with protective cotton baling and used by the Union as a dispatch boat and transport in the Mississippi River.

Notes
  1. Queen of the West in DANFS.
  2. Spencer Tucker, Blue and Gray Navies: the Civil War Afloat, Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2006. ISBN 1-59114-882-0, p.223

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

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