Greyhound
Sidewheel Steamer · United States · Lost 1864 · The Potomac & the Virginia Chesapeake
Union Gen. Benjamin Butler's fast headquarters steamer burned to the waterline on the James River after a hidden Confederate incendiary device ignited aboard her.
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The Vessel and Her Loss
Greyhound was a swift civilian sidewheel steamer chartered by the U.S. Army as the headquarters boat of Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler during the 1864 Richmond-Petersburg campaign. On November 27, 1864, while carrying Butler, Rear Adm. David Dixon Porter, and Gen. Robert C. Schenck down the James River, a fire broke out that investigators later attributed to a concealed incendiary device, a so-called coal torpedo. All aboard escaped, but the vessel drifted onto the flats near Hog Island and burned to the waterline. The loss was widely reported at the time as a near-miss assassination attempt on senior Union officers.
Vessel
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- Wood
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- Steam, side wheel
- George H. Powers of Hudson, New York; chartered to the U.S. Army
Loss
- November 27, 1864
- Enemy action
- James River near Hog Island, Virginia
- James River
- Dutch Gap, James River → Fort Monroe, Hampton Roads
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- 0
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The Wreck Today
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Position
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- Position not established
- Hog Island, James River, Virginia
Evidence
Overall confidence: Partially documented (70/100)
The vessel's builder, year built, and precise wreck location are not established in the sources reviewed.
Circumstances of the fire, persons aboard, date and location
Philadelphia Inquirer, November 30, 1864 (reproduced by Beyond the Crater)
Contemporary account of the fire and loss of horses
