CSS Raleigh (1864)
CSS Raleigh was constructed by the Confederate States Navy at Wilmington, N.C., in 1863-64, with Lt. John Wilkinson, CSN, commanding. She was reported in commission on 30 April 1864 under the command of Lt. J. P. Jones, CSN. Built to Constructor John L. Porter's plans, similar to those of North Carolina, she had been laid down and launched at the foot of Church Street, completed at the shipyard of J. L. Cassidy & Sons.
On 6 May, she emerged from Cape Fear River accompanied by CSS Yadkin and Equator and inconclusively engaged six Federal blockaders off New Inlet, N.C. When the six reappeared the following day, Raleigh hastily withdrew up river, struck Wilmington Bar and "broke her back." Her iron plating was salvaged.
Part of the text is incorporated from the United States Navy's Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, a work in the public domain.
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