| History | |
|---|---|
 Confederate States | |
| Name | Tuscarora |
| Owner | Southern Steamship Company |
| Launched | 1861 |
| In service | Purchased from civilian service, 1861 |
| Fate | Accidentally burned, November 23, 1861 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Sidewheel steamer |
| Displacement | 400 short tons (357 long tons) |
| Length | c.100 feet (30 m) |
| Propulsion | Steam |
| Complement | 25 |
| Armament | |
CSS Tuscarora was a sidewheel steamer that briefly served as a gunboat in the Confederate States Navy at the beginning of the American Civil War. She was about 100 feet (30 m) long, displaced 400 short tons (357 long tons), and was manned by a 25-man crew. The vessel was purchased in 1861 from the Southern Steamship Company by Confederate authorities in New Orleans, Louisiana. Armed with two cannons, Tuscarora was engaged in the Battle of the Head of Passes on October 12, 1861. Ordered up the Mississippi River to Columbus, Kentucky, in November, she was destroyed on November 23, 1861, when a fire of unknown origin started in her boilers and spread to the ship's munitions.