Henry Dodge, 1855
General Henry Dodge (1782-1867), served in the War of 1812, and in numerous engagements with Native Americans. After he retired from military service, he served as the governor of Wisconsin, both while it was a territory and then after it was admitted to statehood. He later served as a congressman and then a senator of Wisconsin.
Builder: Page & Allen, Portsmouth, Virginia
Length: 80'
Beam: 23'
Draft: 5'
Displacement: 93 tons
Rig: Topsail schooner
Cost: $
Commissioned: 1856
Decommissioned: N/A
Disposition: Seized
Machinery: None
Performance & Endurance:
Max:
Cruising:
Complement: 13, plus officers
Armament: 1 x 9-pounder
Cutter History:
The revenue cutter Henry Dodge was constructed by Page and Allen of Portsmouth, Virginia. Her construction was superintended by Revenue First Lieutenant Robert K. Hudgins. She was launched in mid-1856 and was assigned to Galveston, Texas. Her arrival at Galveston was reported on 6 September 1856.
While under the command of Revenue Captain W. F. Rogers, USRM, she was seized by the State of Texas on 2 March 1861 and subsequently turned over to the Confederate Navy. Remaining in Roger's command, she assisted the Confederate Army in defending the Texas coast until December 1862 when she was officially transferred to the control of the Confederate Army's Quartermaster Department at Houston.
In 1864 Dodge passed into private hands and under the name Mary Sorley operated as a blockade runner. She was captured by USS Sciota off Galveston on 4 April 1864 en route to Havana with a cargo of cotton.
Sources:
Cutter History File. USCG Historian's Office, USCG HQ, Washington, D.C.
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Vessels. Washington: USGPO.
Donald Canney. U.S. Coast Guard and Revenue Cutters, 1790-1935. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1995.
U.S. Coast Guard. Record of Movements: Vessels of the United States Coast Guard: 1790 - December 31, 1933. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1934; 1989 (reprint).
U. S. Navy, Naval History Division. Civil War Naval Chronology, 1861-1865. Washington: USGPO, 1971.