View source for CSS Lady Davis

{{Short description|Confederate gunboat from American Civil War}}
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| Ship image =CSS LAdy Davis.jpg
| Ship caption = Top picture CSS ''Lady Davis'' ([[Harper's Weekly]] May 18, 1861)
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| Ship country = Confederate States
| Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|Confederate States of America|naval}}
| Ship name = ''Lady Davis''
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| Ship commissioned = March 1861
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| Ship fate = served as private blockade runner 1862–1865; captured 1865
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| Ship displacement = 250 tons
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| Ship armament = 1 24-pounder cannon, 1 12-pounder rifled cannon
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'''CSS''' '''''Lady Davis''''' was a [[gunboat]] in the [[Confederate States Navy]] during the [[American Civil War]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Lady Davis |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/confederate_ships/lady-davis.html |website=Naval History & Heritage Command |access-date=2 February 2025}}</ref>

Originally the Richmond iron steam tug ''James Gray'', built at [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]] in 1858, ''Lady Davis'' was purchased in March 1861 by [[Governor]] [[Francis Wilkinson Pickens]] of [[South Carolina]], who armed her and placed in command [[Lieutenant]] [[William Gaillard Dozier]], [[South Carolina Navy]], with orders to thwart reinforcement of [[Fort Sumter]] by [[United States|Union]] troops.
On May 7, 1861 ''Lady Davis'' was purchased by the [[Confederate States|Confederacy]] for $32,000 and commissioned in the Confederate Navy, operating thereafter along the [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] and South Carolina coasts. Lieutenant [[Thomas P. Pelot]], CSN, took command about 5 days later, relieving Lieutenant [[Edward Cantey Stockton]], South Carolina Navy. At that time, the little gunboat served as the flagship of [[Commodore (rank)|Commodore]] [[Josiah Tattnall III]]'s Savannah Defense Squadron, consisting of [[CSS Savannah (gunboat)|CSS ''Savannah'']], [[CSS Sampson|CSS ''Sampson'']] and [[CSS Resolute|CSS ''Resolute'']].

On May 19, ''Lady Davis'' began her career with distinction by capturing and taking into [[Beaufort, South Carolina|Beaufort]], South Carolina the ''A. B. Thompson'', a full-rigged ship of 980 tons and a crew of 23 out of [[Brunswick, Maine|Brunswick]], [[Maine]], whom she encountered off Savannah while on an expedition seeking the U.S. armed brig Perry. The exploit culminated in acrimonious litigation to decide whether an Army captain and a dozen of his soldiers should share in the prize money. [[Captain (land and air)|Captain]] [[Stephen Elliott, Jr.]], [[Confederate States Army|CSA]], happened to be on board and acted as a pilot during the capture and afterward, while his men claimed to have helped bring in the prize.

On the following day, the crew was reenlisted into the Confederate States Navy, the State officers being replaced by regulars between then and June 1. ''Lady Davis'''s rifled gun remained the property of South Carolina, on loan, while the other, a 24-pounder howitzer, was a gift outright to the Confederacy. By November, Lieutenant John Rutledge commanded her.

She joined in the battle of [[Port Royal, South Carolina]] on November 7, 1861. Although her engines were transferred to [[CSS Palmetto State|CSS ''Palmetto State'']] late in 1862, well built iron hulls were in great demand and she was able to continue her successful career as a privately owned [[blockade runner]] out of [[Charleston, South Carolina]]. With the occupation of Charleston in 1865 by Federal forces, ''Lady Davis'' was captured and turned over to the Light House Board by [[Admiral]] [[John A. Dahlgren]], who praised her hull, while noting that she was, again, minus her machinery, whose disposition is not recorded.

==References==
{{Reflist}}
:{{DANFS}}

{{CSN gunboats}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lady Davis}}
[[Category:Gunboats of the Confederate States Navy]]
[[Category:Ships built in Philadelphia]]
[[Category:1858 ships]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in November 1861]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the American Civil War]]