The Story of the Ship With a Familiar Name

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If you’ve read previous posts on the Fortitude Blog, you know how much I enjoy exploring history—especially when I can uncover a personal connection to my surname. So, it probably won’t surprise you that the “familiar” name of a ship featured in this month’s post is Spaulding.

Recently, I came across the fascinating story of a Civil War-era ship named the S.R. Spaulding. Naturally, I had to learn more. Join me as I uncover the story behind her name and follow her remarkable journey and service before, during, and after the Civil War.

The Early Years

The steamship S.R. Spaulding, launched in 1859, was an American iron-hulled, side-wheel steamer constructed by Harlan & Hollingsworth in Wilmington, Delaware.  She was 210 feet in length, with a beam of 33 feet, 15 feet 6 inches depth of hold, and a gross tonnage of 1,500.¹

The S.R. Spaulding served as a merchant vessel for the Merchants & Miners Transportation Company, a major American coastal steamship line established in Baltimore, Maryland in 1852. She operated passenger and freight services connecting major ports along the U.S. Atlantic seaboard gaining a favorable reputation for speed and comfort.^2,17

The Namesake

The ship was named after Solomon Robinson Spaulding, a wealthy leather merchant of Boston, who was one of the founding directors of the Merchants & Miners Transportation Company. The company named the steamship, S. R. Spaulding, in his honor.⁴

Solomon Robinson Spaulding was born May 31, 1805 in Putney, Vermont. He died on August 31, 1874 in Saratoga Springs, New York at age 69.⁵ Solomon’s third great-grandfather was Edward Spalding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony—the first to bring the Spalding surname to the colonies in the early 1600s. I also descend from Edward—he was my ninth great-grandfather.

S.R. Spaulding Commandeered for the Civil War

At the outset of the Civil War in 1861, the Federal navy was composed of roughly 90 ships—40 of which were combat-ready. The Union’s military strategy of a 3,000 mile naval blockade of Southern ports was far beyond what the Federal navy was able to provide. This strategy, called the Anaconda Plan, depicted as “Scott’s Great Snake”, was presented to President Lincoln by Brevet Lieutenant General Winfield Scott.⁶

But how could such an ambitious strategy be successfully carried out given the state of the Federal Navy in 1861?

The Answer: The Union commissioned, purchased, or pressed into service more than 500 civilian and merchant ships to rapidly expand its fleet. Merchant steamers, passenger ferries, and towing vessels were converted to gunboats and blockaders. The sturdy decks of passenger ferries, built to hold horse carriages, were well-adapted for their new role as river gunboats. The Union Navy grew to more than 600 ships by 1865, the largest in the world at the time, giving the North a strategic advantage during the Civil War.⁸

The side-wheel steamer, S.R. Spaulding, was one of those commandeered ships.

Here are a few of the notable missions the S.R. Spaulding undertook during the Civil War.

S.R. Spaulding Helps Free USS Minnesota

The USS Minnesota, a wooden steam frigate in the U.S. Navy, found herself in serious trouble during the Battle of Hampton Roads in Virginia in 1862 when she ran aground. As the ironclad USS Monitor engaged the CSS Virginia, keeping the Confederate vessel at bay, a fleet of tugs—assisted by the S.R. Spaulding—worked to free and refloat the Minnesota. After making temporary repairs, the Minnesota returned to service and continued fighting for the Union throughout the remainder of the Civil War.⁹

S.R. Spaulding Serves as a Hospital Ship 

Long before the U.S. Navy’s modern hospital ships, USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) and USNS Comfort (T-AH 20), merchant vessels were converted into hospital ships during the Civil War.

The U.S. Hospital Ship S.R. Spaulding entered service in 1862 as part of the U.S. Sanitary Commission’s (USSC) pioneering hospital transport system. Established in 1861, the USSC was a private relief organization dedicated to supporting sick and wounded Union soldiers. The S.R. Spaulding was outfitted to transport these soldiers north for medical treatment, becoming part of an emerging and innovative approach to military medical evacuation during the Civil War.¹⁰

Searching Civil War-era newspapers uncovered numerous accounts of the S.R. Spaulding’s missions to bring killed, wounded, and sick soldiers home from battlefields in the South. One such account, published in the New York Daily Herald on July 8, 1862, listed more than 200 sick and wounded soldiers aboard the vessel. They represented regiments from New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Michigan, Vermont, and Maine. 

Command and Control Aboard S.R. Spaulding

In late January 1862, a joint Union Army-Navy expedition assembled at Hatteras Inlet to seize Roanoke Island and secure control of North Carolina’s Sound region. The operation was led by General Ambrose Burnside and Rear Admiral Louis M. Goldsborough. After weather-related delays, the expedition’s fleet—comprising numerous troop transports and more than twenty warships—arrived off the southern end of Roanoke Island.¹³

Among these vessels was the S.R. Spaulding, which served as General Burnside’s primary headquarters. The vessel functioned as the expedition’s command and control center during the pivotal Battle of Roanoke Island in February 1862.¹⁴

Confederate Officer POWs Aboard S.R. Spaulding

Union operations in North Carolina, to include the Battle of Roanoke Island, were referred to in the press as “The Burnside Expedition.” It was one of the first major amphibious operations victory for the Union giving the North control of the Albemarle Sound. Upon conclusion of the battle, Confederate officers were held onboard the S.R. Spaulding.¹⁵

The following account, published in The New York Times, bears witness to the humane and considerate treatment extended to Confederate officers held as prisoners of war aboard the S.R. Spaulding in 1862.

Secretary of War Visits S.R. Spaulding

In January 1865, the Union launched the largest amphibious operation of the Civil War in its assault upon Fort Fisher, North Carolina. The attack commenced with a relentless naval bombardment from Union warships. Under cover of the guns, Union soldiers, sailors, and Marines advanced in a coordinated assault from both sea and land. After eight hours of fierce and often brutal hand-to-hand fighting, the Union forces finally broke through the Confederate defenses and captured the fort.¹⁶

In January 1865, aboard the S.R. Spaulding, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, representing President Abraham Lincoln, formally accepted the captured Confederate garrison flag of Fort Fisher from Union General Alfred Terry.

In the correspondence that follows, Stanton commended the combined efforts of the Union Army, Navy, and Marines, whose coordinated action had secured the victory.¹⁶

STEAMER S. R. SPAULDING
Off Fort Fisher, January 16, 1865

The Secretary of War has the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the flag of Fort Fisher, and in the name of the President congratulates you and the gallant officers and soldiers, sailors, and marines of your commands, and tenders you thanks for the valor and skill displayed in your respective parts of the great achievement in the operations against Fort Fisher and in its assault and capture. The combined operations of the squadron and land forces of your commands deserve and will receive the thanks of the nation, and will be held in admiration throughout the world as proof of the naval and military prowess of the United States.

Edwin M. Stanton
Secretary of War.

Major-General TERRY and
Rear-Admiral PORTER,
Commanding, etc.

S.R. Spaulding’s Final Years

Following the Civil War, the S.R. Spaulding was sold to the Empire Transportation Company and re-christened as the San Salvador. She entered Baltimore shipyard for a complete overhaul, including the installation of new boilers. She then joined the Empire Line fleet serving the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea.¹⁷

The Savannah Daily Herald further described S.R. Spaulding’s upgrade in 1865 as follows:

An elegant dress of new paint has been put upon her exterior, while her cabin and state rooms have been renovated and adorned by the addition of everything that taste and liberality could suggest. The saloon is furnished with sumptuous sofas and lounges, the paneling being furnished in white and gold. The state rooms are roomy, well-ventilated and lighted, supplied with every convenience, and elegantly furnished.

Savannah Daily Herald (1865)¹⁷

A Closing Salute

After two decades of service in both industry and wartime, the S.R. Spaulding met her final fate in 1880, when she apparently foundered in the Gulf of Mexico. However, primary maritime loss records do not provide an exact location or coordinates for the sinking.¹⁸

Ships are built for industry or for war. Few are built to do both. The S.R. Spaulding was one of those rare vessels, serving with honor, strength, and purpose sustaining her reputation as one of the finest and most reliable of the U.S. steam transports.¹⁷ 

Well done, faithful friend. Thank you for your service. May your timbers rest easy.

Fortitude Blog Celebrates 5 Years!

In November 2021, I launched the Fortitude Blog, and it’s hard to believe that five years have already passed! I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who has followed along, read my posts, and taken time to share their thoughts.

When I started, I set a goal to post once a month. Since then, the Fortitude Blog has received more than 25,000 views from readers in over 100 countries around the world!

Thanks to everyone who has been part of this journey. Oh, and thanks Google for helping new readers find their way to the Fortitude Blog!

NOTES

1. The Mariners’ Museum and Park. S.R. Spaulding, Merchants & Miners Transportation Co. Accessed from https://catalogs.marinersmuseum.org/object/CL7941 on August 4, 2026.
2. Maryland Center for History and Culture. Merchants and Miners Transportation Company Records. Accessed from https://mdhistory.libraryhost.com/repositories/2/resources/294 on August 1, 2026. 
3. Image: Wikimedia Commons. S.R. Spaulding. Accessed from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:S.R._Spaulding_01.jpg on August 4, 2026. 
4. The New England Historical Genealogical Society. Memorial Biographies Vol VII, 1871-1880. (Massachusetts: The Society, 1907), 114. 
5. FindaGrave. Solomon Robinson Spaulding. Accessed from https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/268012196/solomon-robinson-spaulding on August 1, 2026.
6. American Battlefield Trust. 2025. 10 Facts: Civil War Navies. Accessed from https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/10-facts-civil-war-navies on August 2, 2026. 
7. Image: Elliot, J.B. 1861. Scott’s Great Snake. Accessed from the Library of Congress at https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3701s.cw0011000 on August 3, 2026. 
8. U.S. Naval Institute. 2021. The Blockading, Raiding Navies of the Civil War. Accessed from https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2021/june/blockading-raiding-navies-civil-war  on August 2, 2026. 
9. Wikipedia. USS Minnesota (1855). Accessed from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Minnesota_(1855) on August 6, 2026.
10. Wikipedia. Hospital Ships of the Sanitary Commission. Accessed from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hospital_Ships_of_the_Sanitary_Commission on August 6, 2026. 
11. Image: National Museum of Health and Medicine. 1862. Hospital Ship “S.R. Spaulding” (CP 2658). Accessed from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hospital_Ship_%22S.R._Spaulding%22_(CP_2658),_National_Museum_of_Health_and_Medicine_(3376335153).jpg on August 4, 2026. 
12. Editor. Arrival of the Spaulding. New York Daily Herald, July 8, 1862, p.8. Accessed from https://www.newspapers.com/image/843815102/ on August 6, 2026.
13. North Carolina Department of Natural & Cultural Resources. Naval Battle of Roanoke (BB-5). Accessed from https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2023/12/06/naval-battle-roanoke-bb-5 on August 6, 2026. 
14. Burlingame, J.K. History of the Fifth Regiment of Rhode Island Heavy Artillery. (Rhode Island: Snow & Farnham, 1892), 18.
15. Special Correspondent. The Burnside Expedition: The Latest from Roanoke Island. The New York Times, Vol. XI–No. 3250, February 21, 1862, p.1. Accessed from https://www.newspapers.com/image/20632112/ on August 9, 2026.
16. North Caroline Historic Sites. The Civil War at Ft. Fisher: Aftermath. Accessed from https://historicsites.nc.gov/all-sites/fort-fisher/history/civil-war-ft-fisher/aftermath on August 9, 2026. 
17. Editor. A New Line of Savannah Steamships—Arrival of the San Salvador. Savannah Daily Herald, November 22, 1865, p.3. Accessed from https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn82014389/1865-11-22/ed-1/seq-3/ on August 3, 2026. 
18. The Ships List. Savannah Line: The Fleets. Accessed from https://www.benjidog.co.uk/TheShipsList/SavannahLine.php on August 3, 2026. 
19. Image: Fortitude Blog 5th Year Anniversary. Created by ChatGPT on August 17, 2026.
20. Featured Image: Library of Congress. 1860. Steamship S.R. Spaulding. Colorized by Pacheco, R. Accessed from https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1345839070131936 on August 4, 2026.