View source for CSS Spray

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|Ship caption=CSS ''Spray''
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|Ship country=Confederate States
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Confederate States of America|naval}}
|Ship name=''Spray''
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|Ship laid down=[[New Albany, Indiana]]
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|Ship maiden voyage= 1850
|Ship in service=1863-1865
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|Ship captured=May 12, 1865
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|Ship class=Steam gunboat
|Ship type=Tugboat
|Ship tonnage=118
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The '''CSS ''Spray''''' was a steam-powered, [[paddle wheel|side-paddle wheel]] [[tugboat]] built in [[New Albany, Indiana]] originally fitted as a mercantile ship before becoming a [[gunboat]] in the [[Confederate States Navy]] and used in the [[St. Marks, Florida|St. Marks]], [[Newport, Wakulla County, Florida|Newport, Florida]] area.

==History==

===As the civilian ''Spray''===
In 1850, [[Daniel Ladd]], a [[Newport, Wakulla County, Florida|Newport, Florida]] cotton and general mercantile businessman, purchased the ''Spray'' for $15,000. The ''Spray'' operated as far south as [[Cedar Key, Florida]], up the [[Apalachicola River]] to [[Columbus, Georgia]], up the [[Suwannee River]] and west to [[New Orleans]] transporting cotton, naval stores, hides, tobacco, beeswax. It first sailed into St. Marks, Florida in 1850.<ref name="Ladd Family History">{{Cite web |url=http://www.laddfamily.com/New%20Port/Wakulla%20Ladds.htm |title=Ladd Family History |access-date=2009-07-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091124042006/http://www.laddfamily.com/New%20Port/Wakulla%20Ladds.htm |archive-date=2009-11-24 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
[[File:USS Mohawk and CSS Spray.jpg|thumb|[[USS Mohawk (1858)|USS ''Mohawk'']] in chase of CSS ''Spray'' into Mark's river.]]

===As CSS ''Spray''===
As a confederate vessel and refitted, the ''Spray'' operated in the vicinity of the naval station at St. Marks during 1863–1865, and was the object of much attention by the Federal forces in that vicinity. On September 12, 1863, the captain of the ''[[USS Stars and Stripes]]'' reported an unsuccessful attack on the ''Spray'' up river on the [[St. Marks River]].
The ''CSS Spray'' was said to be the only Confederate States Navy vessel to operate exclusively in Florida waters.

In February 1864, Federal troops in two naval expeditions of 14 ships landed at St. Marks. Their mission was to capture [[Tallahassee, Florida]], [[Fort Ward (Florida)|Fort Ward]], [[Port Leon]], and burn the nuisance gunboat CSS ''Spray''.<ref>De Quesada, A. M., A history of Florida forts: Florida's Lonely Outposts, History Press, 2006, {{ISBN|978-1-59629-104-1}}]</ref> The mission failed.

March 6, 1865, the crew of ''Spray'' participated in the [[Battle of Natural Bridge]] with a complement of 25 men.<ref>[http://www.joe.com Battle of Natural Bridge]</ref>

The ''Spray''{{'}}s fate is specious in that it was reported as burned/scuttled by Confederates on St. Marks River in a few accounts and yet survived into the early 20th century by the accounts of the Ladd family.<ref name="Ladd Family History" />

===Commanders===
* Lt. Charles W. Hays, [[Confederate States Navy|CSN]] (1863)<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://mailer.fsu.edu/~rthompso/cw/allen/app_c.html |title=Muster Roll of the Confederate Steam Boat Spray |access-date=2009-07-16 |archive-date=2010-05-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100501082156/http://mailer.fsu.edu/~rthompso/cw/allen/app_c.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* Lt. Henry. L. Lewis, CSN (1864).
Henry Lewis was born in [[Virginia]] and appointed to the CSN from Virginia. He was formerly a lieutenant with the U.S. Navy. Lewis also commanded the [[CSS Rappahannock|CSS ''Rappahannock'']] from 1862 to 1863 before taking command of the ''Spray'' in 1864.<ref>[http://www.lva.virginia.gov/whatwehave/mil/connavy/ship_results.asp?page=8&ship= Library of Virginia, Military Records]</ref>
<ref>[http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/csn/s.txt Haze Gray: Naval History]</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* Gaines, W. Craig, Encyclopedia of Civil War shipwrecks, LSU Press, April 2008, {{ISBN|978-0-8071-3274-6}}

{{1864 shipwrecks}}
{{1865 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spray, CSS}}
[[Category:Gunboats of the Confederate States Navy]]
[[Category:Florida in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Ships built in New Albany, Indiana]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in November 1864]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in March 1865]]