USS Fort Jackson

USS Fort Jackson
Fort Jackson moored at Hampton Roads, Virginia, December 1864
History
Union Navy Jack United States
NameUSS Fort Jackson
NamesakeFort Jackson, Louisiana
BuilderJeremiah Simonson
Launched30 October 1862
Commissioned18 August 1863
Decommissioned7 August 1865
FateSold, 27 September 1865
United States
NameNorth America
OwnerUnited States and Brazil Mail Steamship Company
Identification
  • Official number 18303
  • Signal letters H.P.D.K
FateBroken-up in 1879
General characteristics
TypeSidewheel steamer
Displacement1,850 long tons (1,880 t)
Length250 ft (76 m)
Beam38 ft 6 in (11.73 m)
Draft18 ft (5.5 m)
PropulsionSteam engine
Speed14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Armament
  • 1 × 100-pounder rifle
  • 2 × 30-pounder rifles
  • 8 × 9 in (230 mm) smoothbore guns

USS Fort Jackson was a wooden sidewheel steamer in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She was successful in enforcing the Union blockade of Confederate ports, capturing five ships carrying contraband. She participated in the battles for Fort Fisher, which effectively closed the port of Wilmington, North Carolina to the Confederacy. Most notably, the surrender of Confederate forces in Texas was signed aboard the ship, formally ending the Civil War in that portion of the country.

After the war, she was sold by the Navy. Her new owners named her North America. She spent the rest of her career carrying passengers, cargo, and mail between New York and ports in Brazil. She was idled in 1872 in favor of more modern vessels, and was finally broken up in 1879.