USS Samson

Not to be confused with USS Sampson.

USS Samson was a steamer acquired by the Union Army at the start of the American Civil War for usage in the United States Ram Fleet in the Mississippi River and its tributaries.

Ships in the foreground are: Monarch (letter "M" between stacks), Queen of the West (with letter "Q"), and Lioness (letter "L"). In the left background are: Switzerland (with letter "S" on paddlebox), Samson and Lancaster are in the background.
History
United States
Launched	1860, at California, Pennsylvania
In service	1862
Out of service	1865
Fate	sold, 9 August 1865
General characteristics
Displacement	230 tons
Propulsion	steam engine side wheel-propelled
Armament	ram

She was transferred to the Union Navy in 1862 who continued her service on the Mississippi River. She was used as a tugboat and as a ship’s tender which provided machine shop services to the ships in the fleet.

Service history

Samson, a wooden side wheel steamer built in 1860 at California, Pennsylvania, was purchased by the Union Army on 14 July 186 by Charles Ellet, Jr. for service in his ram fleet. After the Western flotilla was placed under Navy command in the early autumn of 1862, Samson was transferred to the Union Navy on 27 November 1862. She served the Mississippi Squadron as a tugboat and a floating machine shop throughout the remainder of the Civil War. As such, she was one of the early predecessors of modern repair ships. After the end of hostilities, she was sold at public auction at Mound City, Illinois, to J. W. Clark and J. Nixon, et, al., on 9 August 1865. She was redocumented on 27 December 1865 and remained in merchant service until 1869.

References

 This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

• Crandall, Warren Daniel (1907). History of the Ram Fleet and the Mississippi Marine Brigade in the War for the Union on the Mississippi and its tributaries: the story of the Ellets and their men. Press of the Buschart Brothers.
• Joiner, Gary D. (2007). Mr. Lincoln's Brown Water Navy - The Mississippi Squadron. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7425-5097-1.