Published Rare 1/6th Plate Ambrotype of Rebel Screw Steamer “AID”
Published Rare 1/6th Plate Ambrotype of Rebel Screw Steamer “AID”.
Launched 1852 at Kensington, Pennsylvania, the Steamer Aid, was acquired by the State of South Carolina and added to the South Carolina Coast Patrol in 1861. Weighing 147 tons, with one, 42-pdr gun, a complement of eight crew, it worked in Charleston Harbor prior to the outbreak of the war. She was patrolling the harbor until her engine was removed for an ironclad being built at Charleston in 1862 that was christened CSS Chicora. Aid was never transferred to the Confederate States Navy. On 11 January 1861, the following copy from information received from Charleston, South Carolina, dated 10 January 1861, was reported in the Cleveland Daily Plain Dealer:
"A steam tug, Aid, left the wharf to-night for the purpose of reconnoitering. She is mounted with one gun and under the command of Lt. Hamilton, formerly of the Federal Navy."
John Randolph Hamilton was born 17 November 1828 in South Carolina, the son of James Hamilton and Elizabeth Matthews Heyward. Appointed midshipman, USN, 8 September 1845, promoted passed midshipman, 6 October 1851, master, 15 September 1855, and to lieutenant, 16 September 1855. Resigned, 15 December 1860. Appointed lieutenant South Carolina Coast Patrol, December 1860. Appointed Captain of Marine Artillery, Charleston, South Carolina, circa 8 February 1861. Resigned ca. 15 April 1861. Appointed lieutenant, Confederate States Navy from South Carolina, 26 March 1861; promoted first lieutenant, 23 October 1862, to rank from 2 October 1862. First lieutenant, PNCS, 2 June 1864, to rank from 6 January 1864. Ordered to Pensacola, Florida, to construct a floating battery, 19 April 1861. Served on Savannah Station, 1861-1862. Service abroad, April 1862-1864. Originally ordered to England as first lieutenant of the 290 (Alabama), April 1862. Assigned to the command of the proposed commerce raider Alexandra, November 1862-February 1863. CSS Palmetto State, Charleston Naval Station, 1865. Tucker's Naval Battalion, Drewry's Bluff, 1865. Captured at Sayler's Creek, 6 April 1865. Confined on Johnson's Island. Released on oath of allegiance, 19 June 1865. Hamilton died at Chester, South Carolina, 6 December 1907, and is interred at Evergreen Cemetery.