USS Anacostia was a steamer, constructed as a tugboat, that was first chartered by the United States Navy for service during the Paraguay crisis of the 1850s and then commissioned as a U.S. Navy ship. She later served prominently in the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
Under charter to the Navy as M. W. Chapin
Anacostia—a screw steamer built at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1856 as M. W. Chapin—originally operated out of Middletown, Connecticut, as a merchant tug. During subsequent service as a canal boat, the vessel caught the eye of the Federal Government which chartered her sometime in September 1858—quite possibly on the 13th of that month—for its forthcoming expedition to South American waters.
Problems with Paraguay
The historically cordial relations between Paraguay and the United States had soured in the summer and autumn of 1854 when the American consul, Edward A. Hopkins, fell out of the favor of Paraguay's Permanent President, Carlos Antonio López. Their growing animosity prompted the dictator to turn against the continuation of surveying operations—which he had previously heartily endorsed—then being conducted in the tributaries of the Rio de la Plata by the American Navy's side-wheel steamer, .
The hostility reached a climax on 1 February 1855 when Paraguayan batteries at Itapiru—a brick fortress on the northern bank of the Upper Paraná River—opened fire upon that small American warship, hitting her 10 times and killing her helmsman. Prolonged, but fruitless, efforts seeking redress through diplomatic measures ensued. Finally, on 9 September 1858, President James Buchanan turned the matter over to James B. Bowlin, a former congressman from Missouri, and sent him to Paraguay to obtain satisfaction.
To lend credibility and force to Bowlin's demands, the President ordered the Navy to establish a force which could compel compliance. However, only a couple of sailing ships were then assigned to the Brazil station; and few light-draft, naval steamers were available elsewhere. To fill this need, the Navy chartered seven steam-propelled merchant ships for the expedition. Among these vessels was M. W. Chapin which, like her sisters, had been chosen because of her ability to negotiate shallow, tortuous, and rapidly flowing, waters far from the sea.
The expedition – commanded by Flag Officer William B. Shubrick – departed New York on 17 October; but, for the most part, its 19 ships proceeded southward independently. Under the command of Lt. William Ronckendorff, M. W. Chapin – the smallest of the vessels and the last to reach the mouth of the Rio de la Plata – arrived at Montevideo, Uruguay, on 29 December. The next day, all but two of the shallow-draft ships began their ascent of the river toward Paraguay. Steam launches manned by volunteers from the deep-draft ships joined them for the voyage upriver. Upon reaching Rosario, Water Witch and left their companions behind and continued on to Asunción, Paraguay, with Bowlin and Shubrick. They reached the Paraguayan capital on 25 January 1859. A fortnight's negotiations—aided by the knowledge that the balance of Shubrick's force was nearby ready to launch offensive operations should such measures be needed—resolved the disputes to Bowlin's satisfaction, and the two American steamers headed downriver on 10 February. Meanwhile, M. W. Chapin and had acted as dispatch boats maintaining communications between the large ships at Montevideo, Uruguay, and the smaller ones upstream.
Upon the successful completion of their mission to South America, the ships not assigned to the Brazil Squadron returned home where the Navy exercised its purchase option by buying all seven of the chartered steamers. No document giving the exact date of M. W. Chapin's transfer of title has been found; but the sale probably took place on, or sometime soon after, 27 May 1859, the day of the ship's last log entry under her original name.
M. W. Chapin becomes the USS Anacostia
The first volumes of the steamer's logs under the name Anacostia—which she received upon becoming Navy property or soon thereafter—have been lost. In any case, we know that the vessel was assigned to the Washington Navy Yard—located on the north bank of the river which gave the ship her Navy name. She was still serving there as a tender when the election of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency on 6 November 1860 precipitated the secession crisis and set the United States on an inexorable course toward civil war.
Fears for the defense of Washington, D.C.
A strong air of expectancy in the National Capital is normal during the months between a President's election and his ensuing inauguration. But, in this instance, the withdrawal of cotton-belt states from the Union greatly intensified the customary disquiet and transmuted into it a deep and widespread anxiety concerning the safety of the city.
Washington's location on the river separating the Southern states of Maryland and Virginia prompted fears that Confederate sympathizers might attempt to prevent Lincoln's inauguration and try to take possession of the city. Thus, as early as 8 January 1861, the commandant of the Washington Navy Yard, Capt. Franklin Buchanan, warned Comdr. John A. Dahlgren, the head of the Bureau of Ordnance, that a mob might ". . . attempt to possess themselves of this yard between now and the 4th of March next for the purpose of securing the arms and ammunition now in the armory and magazine, to be used in preventing the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln . . . ."To prepare to deal with that extremity, or with other similar emergencies which might arise, Anacostia -- commanded by Lt. Thomas Scott Fillebrown -- was ". . . kept in readiness ... to receive on board the powder from the main magazine . . . ." Buchanan also stated that he would ". . . require all . . . under my command to defend it [the yard] to the last extremity." The apprehension of an impending attack continued to grow. On 1 February Buchanan issued a general order assigning the officers under his command various parts of the yard to defend. Lt. Fillebrown of Anacostia was given responsibility for fighting off anyone threatening ". . . the lower part of the yard."
Civil War
Fort Sumter surrenders and Virginia secedes
Although the feared attacks did not occur when Lincoln took office, tension continued to grow in the weeks that followed; and the tempo of ominous events accelerated after the surrender of Fort Sumter. On 15 April, Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring that an insurrection existed and calling forth ". . . the militia of the several states of the Union . . ."to restore Federal authority. His action aroused bitter resentment along the border between the North and the South. Two days later, the Virginia State Convention voted to secede. On the 19th, the President declared a blockade of the Confederate States. That same day, Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles -- fearing that Virginians would capture the Norfolk Navy Yard -- ordered Anacostia to receive on board incendiary material and explosives and to take them to Norfolk, Virginia, so that, if necessary, the commandant of the navy yard there might destroy all public property within his command to prevent ". . . its falling into the hands of lawless persons."
However, before Anacostia had finished taking on her highly combustible cargo, returned from her futile relief expedition to Charleston Harbor. Since she was larger, that screw sloop was capable of carrying more cargo than Anacostia; and, since her engines were far more powerful, she was better able to tow warships then under repair out of the threatened, and soon-to-be-abandoned, Norfolk Navy Yard. Pawnee's advantages prompted Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, to order her to go to Norfolk in place of Anacostia. The latter steamer quickly transferred her inflammable cargo and her pilot to the larger vessel which then sped to Hampton Roads.
Potomac River
Fear of losing Baltimore underscores need to keep Potomac open Meanwhile, another crisis threatened immediate harm to the Union. In Baltimore, Maryland, on that same day, 19 April, a violently pro-Southern mob attacked the 6th Massachusetts Regiment as it was moving between railroad stations during its trip to Washington to defend the Federal Capital. This serious threat to lines of communications and supply linking Washington with the North by rail underscored the importance of keeping the Potomac open to Federal shipping.
Anacostia positions herself on the Potomac
As a result, Anacostia headed down the Potomac River to learn of any obstruction which Confederates might have placed in the channel; to look for signs of any Southern efforts to erect batteries along the banks of the river; and, if possible, to destroy any fortifications discovered. To assist her in carrying out the latter mission, she embarked a guard of 20 United States Marines before getting underway.
Since Fillebrown needed a pilot to descend the river below Cedar Point safely, he reversed course upon reaching that place, lest his ship run aground and fall into enemy hands. During her homeward passage, Anacostia escorted two vessels: the steamer Jerome; carrying 144 barrels of gunpowder along with". . . other stores for the Government . . ."and". . . a large schooner laden with cement and other matter for the United States Capitol" which was then being enlarged. Upon reaching Washington, Fillebrown reported that he had found neither channel obstructions nor evidence of shore batteries. He went on to ask that ". . . at least one other responsible officer be ordered to this vessel as the constant and unremitting attention that is necessary to the proper execution of my orders is more than nature will stand. I have not laid myself down since Thursday [five days before] night." No records tell us whether or not Fillebrown received the needed help. In any case, Anacostia soon resumed her patrolling of the Potomac and stuck to the task through the early weeks of the war.
Anacostia discovers batteries being built on the Virginia shore
Anacostia would typically depart the Washington Navy Yard and carefully observe both banks as she proceeded downstream. Occasionally, she ventured all the way to Point Lookout, Maryland; but usually reversed course before reaching the mouth of the Potomac and steamed back to the navy yard where she replenished her bunkers with coal and quickly began another cycle.
During one of his ship's reconnaissance runs downriver in mid-May, Fillebrown learned from the side-wheeler Mount Vernon that Confederate forces had emplaced cannon at the mouth of Aquia Creek. Disturbed at this intelligence, he immediately headed Anacostia back to Washington to report the discovery.
The news presented Lincoln—already overburdened by many other highly dangerous problems—with an extremely exasperating dilemma. If he ordered Federal forces to attack the fortifications which were going up on the southern bank of the Potomac, he would assuredly offend many still loyal, but wavering, Virginians and would influence them to vote to withdraw from the Union in the forthcoming plebiscite on their state convention's ordinance of secession. On the other hand, if he did not move against the new batteries before they had been completed and strengthened, he would place Union use of the Potomac—and thus the National Capital and the whole Union cause—in grave jeopardy. Temporizing, the President decided to leave all Virginia territory—riverside guns notwithstanding—inviolate until the people of that state had spoken. For the time being, no action would be taken against the ordnance threatening Washington's waterborne communication with the rest of the world.
Navigational aids on the Potomac appear sabotaged