Series 13. USS Dictator (1865)
Scope and Content
The collection consists of a preprinted log book from and a black and white photograph of Dictator. Some of the book's pages are filled in by hand. Many are pasted over with undated newspaper clippings reporting news, general knowledge, games, quotations, and other information. The clippings on some pages have been partially torn off and writing is visible underneath. The photograph is inscribed in pencil: "US Monitor Dictator, 1865/ E.D. Robie, Chief Engineer US Navy and Inspector of Construction of Hull and Machinery of the Dictator."
Historical Note
A single-turreted iron-clad monitor, Dictator was launched December 26, 1863, by Delamater Iron Works, New York, having been designed under contract with John Ericsson (see Series 16). It was commissioned November 11, 1864, under the command of J. Rodgers. As part of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, it cruised from December, 1864, until it was decommissioned at the League Island Navy Yard on September 5, 1865. It served in the North Atlantic Fleet in the 1870s and was sold in September of 1883.