Kittatinny Sch

Kittatinny

( Sch: t. 450; 1. 129'; b. 29'; dph. 11'6"; cpl. 66; a. 4
32-pdrs. )

Kittatinny was a three-masted schooner purchased by the Navy at Philadelphia as Stars and Stripes from Simpson and Neile 21 September 1861; and commissioned at Philadelphia Navy Yard 9 December 1861, Lt. George E. Welch in command.

Assigned to the Gulf Blockading Squadron, she departed the Delaware 20 December and reached Rey West 10 days later. An active blockader in the Gulf of Mexico, she shared in the capture of Major Barbour attempting to slip through the blockade with a cargo of gunpowder, niter, sulphur, percussion caps, and lead for the Confederate Army. She took schooner Julio near Barataria 11 May and captured schooner P]mma 27 September. Schooner Matilda fell prey to the vigilant Union blockader off Matagarda Bay, Texas, 25 November; and schooner Diana was taken the next day. Rittatinng took sloop D. Sargent off Galveston 12 March 1863 shortly before sailing to New York for repairs.

Kittatinny recommissioned at New York 10 June 1863, Acting Master Isaac D. Seyburn in command. On the 15th she sailed on a cruise in the North Atlantic seeking Confederate raider Tacon1y, a ship taking a heavy toll on Northern shipping. She returned to New York on the 29th and sailed 11 August to return to the West Gulf Blockading Squadron for duty off the Texas coast. She arrived on station 2 September; and on the 22d she chased an unidentified schooner ashore where the blockade runner was burned by her crew. She captured schooner Reserve 25 October.

Early in 1968 Kittatinny sailed via New Orleans to Pensacola, where she was based for over a year. On 25 March 1865 she sailed for Mobile Bay, where she served until after the end of the Civil War. She stood out from Mobile Bay 8 August; touched Pensacola; and arrived New York 1 September where she decommissioned on the 14th. Kittatinny was sold at public auction 27 September 1865 to D. McCarty & Son.