USS Michigan In the Spyglass of Marine Historians Saturday
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USS Michigan, steam paddle frigate, was U.S. Navy's first iron hull warship, put into service in 1844.
Prow of USS Michigan, later renamed the Wolverine, was saved from scrapping and is on display at the Erie Maritime Museum in Pennsylvania.
The U.S. Navy's first iron-hull warship, the USS Michigan, was involved in one of the few incidents of the Civil War to occur in the Great Lakes area.
In April, 1863, a band of Confederates operating out of Canada seized the transport Philo Parsons in a futile attempt to capture the Michigan and use it to release prisoners on Johnson's Island in Lake Erie.
The incident and details about the Michigan will be in focus at a meeting of the Saginaw River Marine Historical Society on Saturday, Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. in Trinity Episcopal Church. Visitors are asked to use the entrance at Grant and Fifth. The public is invited and there is no charge for admission.
The Michigan was the only U.S. warship stationed on the Great Lakes during the Civil War. It was based in Detroit and traveled frequently on recruiting trips to ports on the lakes.
The USS Michigan was a frequent visitor to Bay City in the early 1900s, often docking at the foot of Second Street, according to historical researcher Alan Flood, retired lakes captain.
The ship also was used to help put down "King" James Strang's self-proclaimed kingdom on Beaver Island in Lake Michigan and was sent to the Upper Peninsula to help quell mine worker strife.
The Michigan, 167 feet long, displaced 450 tons. She was built in Pittsburgh and re-assembled in Erie and was powered by side paddlers and sail. The ship was one answer to American distrust of the Britishand protection of the northern border after the War of 1812.
The Michigan was renamed the USS Wolverine in 1905 when a new battleship was commissioned the USS Michigan.
The Wolverine proudly towed the reconstructed Niagara about the lakes in a grand patriotic celebration during the 1913 Centenary commemoration of the Battle of Lake Erie.
Neither the please of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a former Navy secretary, nor the ship's glorious history was enough to save her from scrapping in 1949. The prow, however, survives and has been restored and is on display along with other artifacts in the Erie, PA, Maritime Museum.
Information about the meeting may be obtained from Don Morin, 686-3663.
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