USS Tuscumbia

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34”L x 14”H x 13”W

There are only a half dozen photographic images of the Tuscumbia, a 575-ton casemate ironclad river gunboat built at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1862. The Tuscumbia was heavily used in actions on the Yazoo River, the Mississippi, and at Grand Gulf - at one point receiving 81 hits. The Naval Center images - reproductions from scratched and cracked glass negatives - provide only a couple of different views. Tied up to a river bank, the Tuscumbia appears as a disheveled platform of wood-boards, logs, iron siding, barrels, tarps, crates, and ropes. Her low, squat form is a study in form following function, the expediency of wartime production, and American practicality.