Original laid down as a merchant ship in 1853 at New Albanya, Indiana was she launched 3 years later. When the Civil War broke shout she was bought by the Union Army on 27 September 1862 which after rebuilding her as a ironclad handed her over to the navy. She was commissioned at Saint Louis, Mississippi on 23 March of the next year with lieutenant Francis M. Ramsay as commanding officer. Decommissioned at Algiers, Louisiana on 22 July 1865 was she at New Orleans sold on 28 March of the next year.
With a displacement of 1,004 long tons or 1,020 tons were her dimensions 260 x 45 x 8. The steam engine allowed a maximum speed of 2 knots upstream, so she was a very slow vessel. The crew numbered 106 men. The armament consisted of 1-100 pdr rifled gun, 3-9” smooth bore guns and 2-30pdr rifled guns.
The photo is found at the url http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Uss_choctaw_h55218.jpg which refers to the link cropped photo from http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-c/choctaw.htm
