Battle of Backbone Mountain

USS G. L. Brockenborough was a sloop captured by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.

She was placed in service by the Navy as a gunboat to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries. She also served as a ship's tender, providing help to other ships on blockade duty.

Service history

G. L. Brockenborough (also spelled Brockenboro or G. L. Brockenboro) was a small sloop captured 15 October 1862 by Fort McHenry, Lt. E. Y. McCauley. G. L. Brockenborough had apparently been used as a blockade runner and was discovered after being scuttled in the Apalachicola River, Florida. She was subsequently raised and purchased at the Prize Court in Key West, Florida, by Rear Admiral James L. Lardner 15 November 1862.

Assigned to the East Gulf Blockading Squadron, G. L. Brockenborough's shallow draft made her an ideal vessel to blockade the many inlets of the Florida coast. She served as a blockader and tender to steamers USS Port Royal and USS Somerset in St. George's Sound and the Apalachicola River. until she was abandoned after a severe gale had forced her aground in St. George's Sound 27 May 1863.

References

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