Str Horizon

Built in California, PA in 1854, the John C Fremont , as the Horizon was first named, was a modest sized sternwheel packet rated at 315 tons.  At that time its principal owner, Capt Jackman Taylor Stockdale, was a young man of 26 years who lived in Georgetown, PA.  The unpretentious Fremont was manned for the most part by Georgetown men:  Capt Richard Calhoon was her master with Thomas S Calhoon (clerk) and Joseph Calhoon (steward), and William Briggs (engineer married to Capt Stockdale’s sister). [1] 

The original ownership according to the Certificate of Enrollment of the Customhouse in Pittsburgh, PA is displayed in the following table.

 

Str John C Fremont

Owners and Partners Share Vol: 6636
JT Stockdale 3/8 Enroll No : 161
Allen Stockdale 1/8 Cert Date: 30 Nov 1854
Jo M Calhoon 1/8 Cert Type:: Admeasurement 93
WH Briggs 1/8 Build Locn: California, PA
Wm Rea 1/8 Build Date: 1854
Geo McBride 1/8    

 

The John C Fremont was renamed the Horizon on Mar 1, 1861.  Still owned by Capt Stockdale, the Horizon was pressed into Civil War duty serving at the Battle of Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River on Apr 6-7, 1862.  Also in 1862 with a number of other Pittsburgh based boats, the Horizon was called to the Cumberland River to relieve sick and wounded soldiers. [2]

 

On 22 Apr 1863, the Horizon ran the Vicksburg and Grand Gulf batteries with supplies.  Her civilian crew, except for her pilots, was temporarily replaced by Army officers and soldiers.  Badly damaged by shell fire, she ran the gauntlet successfully. [3]  According to the regimental history of the 11th Illinois Infantry, Second Lieutenant James D. Vernay of Company B received the Medal of Honor.  He had been detached as a volunteer to the steamer Horizon during the Vicksburg campaign.  The medal was issued for “Served gallantly as a volunteer with the crew of the steamer Horizon that, under a heavy fire, passed the Confederate batteries.”. [4]

 

On May 1, 1863 the Horizon collided with the streamer Moderator at night.  Both boats were running without lights.  The Moderator had been damaged to the degree that it was unmanageable.  Both vessels sunk.  Many soldiers,  including Swedish members of Stolbrand’s Battery, were lost when the Horizon sank. [5]  In a  eyewitness report by Gen Issac H Elliot, “I was down to the Horizon and succeeded in getting out three gun carriages, but the stench arising from the 60 horses and men made my officers and men sick.” [6]

According to the Gibsons, the US  government paid $18,500 for the loss of the packet.[7]I have no confirmation of that compensation.   According to Thomas S Calhoon’s journal, no compensation was received because the Army Quartermaster’s required paperwork could not be completed because of war time disruptions, inept lawyers, and unending red tape.  

 

Capt Stockdale or Richard Calhoon was quite probably the pilot of the Horizon during its missions in the Civil War.  I have found no evidence of any other boats Capt Stockdale owned or operated between the years 1861-1863 so I assume he was aboard the Horizon

 

References.


[1] Frederick Way, Jr. Private Letter.
[2]  Frederick Way, Jr.,Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994, (Ohio University Press, Athens 1994), p. 217.

[3] Charles Dana Gibson and E Kay Gibson, Dictionary of Transports and Combatant Vessels Steam and Sail Employed by the Uniion Army 1861 – 1868, (Ensign Press, Cambridge, MA 1995), p 152.
[4]  Regimental History of the 11th Illinois Infantry.
[5]  Frederick Way, Jr.,Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994, (Ohio University Press, Athens 1994), p. 217.
[6]  Gen Issac H Elliot,. Thirty-Third Regiment Illinois Veteran Volunteer Infantry In the Civil War.
[7]  Charles Dana Gibson and E Kay Gibson, Dictionary of Transports and Combatant Vessels Steam and Sail Employed by the Uniion Army 1861 – 1868, (Ensign Press, Cambridge, MA 1995), p 152.

 

 

 

 

 

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