CSSPeedee
| History | |
|---|---|
 Confederate States | |
| Name | Peedee |
| Namesake | Pee Dee River |
| Builder | Peedee Naval Shipyard,South Carolina |
| Commissioned | 20 April 1864 |
| Fate | Destroyed to prevent her capture, 18 February 1865 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Macon-classgunboat |
| Length | 170 ft (51.8 m) |
| Beam | 26 ft (7.9 m) |
| Draught | 10 ft (3.0 m) |
| Propulsion | Steam engine and sails |
| Speed | 10knots(19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement | 91 |
| Armament |
|
| Armor | None |
TheCSSPeedee,also known as theCSSPee Deewas a Confederategunboatlaunched in January 1865 and scuttled the following month during theAmerican Civil War.
ThePee Deewas a Macon-class gunboat that was armed with two Brooke rifled cannons and a captured UnionDahlgren cannon.She was built at the Mars Bluff Navy Yard on theGreat Pee Dee RiverinMarion County, South Carolina.[1]
On December 21, 2010, South Carolina's state archaeologist announced that a team of researchers believed had discovered the remains of thePeedee.[2]
It is believed that in mid-February 1865, after an inconclusive upriver skirmish with a larger Union warship, thePee Dee's crew scuttled their ship to prevent her being captured by the enemy.
The CSS PeeDee Research and Recovery Team's dive master Bob Butler found the first of the three missing cannons of the Confederate warship PeeDee, the 9 "Dahlgren, on September 17, 1995. He and the team located the second of the missing guns, a Brooke Rifled cannon, on September 23, 2006. These were the first two cannons found from the wreck of the CSSPee Dee.[3] “They started dismantling the vessel and burning it,”The Associated PressquotedSouth Carolinastate archaeologist Jonathan Leader as saying "It’s a debris field."[4]
The CSSPee Dee's guns were located by the CSS Peedee Research and Recovery Team, directed by Bob Butler of Florence, S.C., and Ted L. Gragg of Conway, S.C.[note 1]
On September 29, 2015, a team of underwater archaeologists from theUniversity of South Carolinaraised all three cannons, which had been thrown overboard before the Peedee was scuttled. These are two Confederate-made Brooke rifled cannon and a larger capturedDahlgren cannon.The historic guns were taken to theWarren Lasch Conservation Centerin North Charleston, South Carolina. In June 2019, after four years of restoration, the guns were leased by the federal government to Florence County and installed in a display at the Florence CountyDepartment of Veterans AffairsCenter.[5][6]
Notes
[edit]- ^The entire record of their search, as well as more of the ship's history and that of the Mars Bluff Shipyard can be found inGuns of the Pee Dee: The Search for The Warship CSS Pee Dee's Cannons,written by Ted L. Gragg and published by Flat River Rock Publishing,ISBN978-0-9794572-3-4.
References
[edit]- ^Artifacts from CSS Pee Dee are on Display in Conway,Florence Morning News,June 18, 2009
- ^University of South Carolina Scholar Common, 5-1-2013. Update on Mars Bluff Navy Yard/CSS Pee Dee Cannons Investigation. James D. Spirek.
- ^Guns of the Pee Dee The Cannon Recoveryby Ted L. Gragg,ISBN978-0979457241(pp 59,50,63)
- ^Archaeologists Say Wreck of Confederate Gunboat Found in Pee Dee,The Associated Press,December 23, 2010
- ^Civil War cannons raised from Pee Dee River,The State,September 30, 2015
- ^"Historic cannons from Civil War ship returned to the Pee Dee".WMBF News.June 12, 2019.RetrievedMarch 20,2021.