CSS Columbus
Screw Steamer · Lost 1864; exact date not established · The Georgia & South Carolina Coast
The Confederate tender CSS Columbus burned and sank in Georgia’s Ogeechee River in 1864.
The Vessel and Her Loss
CSS Columbus was a screw steamer built at Wilmington, Delaware, in 1855. Armed with two guns, she served as a Confederate tender to CSS Nashville. Gaines records that she burned and sank in the Ogeechee River in 1864, about five miles above Nashville’s wreck. Machinery and part of the wreck were removed in 1888, and further clearance was undertaken in 1890. The precise loss day and individual wreck position are not established.
Vessel
- 1855
- Not established
- Wilmington, Delaware
- Not established
- 82 ft
- 19 ft
- 106 tons
- Steam, screw
- Not established
Loss
- 1864; exact date not established
- Fire
- Ogeechee River, Georgia, about five miles above the wreck of CSS Nashville
- Ogeechee River
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
The Wreck Today
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
Position
- Not established
- Position not established
- Ogeechee River, Georgia
Evidence
Overall confidence: Documented (80/100)
Exact position, present depth and surviving condition are not established in the reviewed sources.
W. Craig Gaines — Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks (LSU Press, 2008)
Individual CSS Columbus entry: 1855 construction, screw propulsion, dimensions, armed tender service, completed 1864 burning and sinking, Ogeechee River location and 1888/1890 removals.
