The Union's Defense

The Union's Defense. . , Potomac Flotilla Created to Protect Chesapeake Tidelands , Maryland, especially Southern Maryland, was not "neutral" in the Civil War. The U.S. Navy realized early in the conflict that the Potomac River was both a conduit for attacks to the north, and a gateway for supplies to the Confederacy. The Union needed control of the Potomac River to protect Washington DC, thus a fleet of steam-powered ships was commissioned. , The Potomac Flotilla was created in 1861 to server as: "a flying flotilla...with a view to service in the Chesapeake and its tributaries; to interrupt the enemy's communications; assured keep open our own; drive from those waters every hostile bottom; threaten all points of a shore line accessible to such force exceeding 1,000 miles in extent; protect loyal citizens; convoy, tow, transport troops or intelligence with dispatch; be generally useful; threaten all points , and attack at any important one." Commander James H. Ward, creator of the Potomac Flotilla April 1861 , The Potomac Flotilla's USS Tulip , Originally built in 1862 for the Chinese Ever-Victorious Army, the Chi Kiang's hull was laid by Master ship builder James C. Jewett of New York. Daniel McLeod supplied a single horizontal direct-acting (compound) engine and two horizontal return tubular boilers without steam drums. This lack of steam drums would ultimately lead to the vessel's destruction. , On June 22,1863, the Chi Kiang was purchased by the US Navy, classed as a screw steamer, fourth rate gunboat, and commissioned the USS Tulip. Her profile was altered to help evade detection by the enemy, and she was fitted with two 24-pound howitzers, two 12-pound smooth bore cannon and one 20-pound parrot rifle. The Tulip was assigned blockading duty with the Potomac Flotilla's First Division. , The Coaling Station at Cross Manor , By Early 1864 the Potomac flotilla established a new coaling station and operational base here at Cross Manor in St. Inigoes on the St. Mary's river.