Epilogue The Potomac flotilla would go on to be responsible for detecting and destroying the South’s first known use of marine torpedoes in July 1861. After 1863, the Potomac River and the greater part of the Chesapeake Bay became a largely Uniondominated waterway, especially during the day, with blockade running violations largely eliminated, except for the occasional interdiction of a skiff, oyster boat, or canoe with limited contraband. A bigger challenge after 1863 was the occasional threat of armed incursions from Virginia into Maryland by small Confederate raiding parties or the occasional pop-up hit-and-run-attacks by southern guerrillas principally along the creeks and marshes on the Virginia side of the Potomac watershed. Such micro-engagements were typically quickly dispensed with by the flotilla. As an example, in late August 1861 the flotilla landed 200 Marines to thwart a rumored invasion of Maryland near Port Tobacco. The Marines seized supplies and arms but encountered no real resistance. After 1863 the flotilla also launched a
greater number of expeditions along the shoreline, putting ashore well-armed landing parties equipped with small field howitzers in search of salt works, supply depots, or enemy encampments. While an array of different ships would rotate in and out of service during the course of the war, the Potomac fleet would never number more than about two dozen vessels at any given time. The total number of vessels used during the flotilla’s five-year existence included dozens of ships, including several ironclad monitors towards the end of the war. As with any river force, groundings and mechanical problems proved constant challenges, and the latter could prove fatal. USS Tulip was an example of just how deadly mechanical problems could be. Tulip was limping back to the Washington Navy Yard for repairs to her faulty starboard boiler when it exploded on 11 November 1864. Despite advice not to use the starboard boiler, the crew ignored those instructions and the faulty boiler exploded, sinking the vessel and killing all but eight of her fifty-seven-man crew.
The riverine war on the Potomac began operations with the opening shots on Fort Sumter in 1861 and continued on the river throughout the war, only being disbanded after the last shots were fired in anger in 1865. Among the flotilla’s final acts was assisting in the search for John Wilkes Booth and closing off possible escape routes for the other Lincoln conspirators and fleeing Confederate officials trying to escape the country after the fall of Richmond. The Potomac Flotilla was disbanded on 31 July 1865. James H. Bruns is the executive director of the Navy League of the United States (www. navyleague.org) and is the former director of the National Museum of the United States Navy, located in the Washington Navy Yard. To see video footage of the USS Ward wreck site and learn more about Paul Allen’s expeditions aboard RV Petrel, visit www.paulallen.com. Paul Allen’s team was also the crew that located the shipwreck site of USS Indianapolis in August 2017.
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