Have You Seen the VIPER?:
In Search of the Chattahoochee River Squadron’s Lost Vessel
Joan Whitely
Volunteer Archivist
If someone says the word “viper,” they may be talking about any number of things. Perhaps the subject is classic cars, though I have never knowingly seen that v10-engine Dodge Viper, or even one of the “double bubble” models more-recently produced from 1992 until 2017. Even worse, the conversation could be about the namesake themselves. The Viperidae family consists of over 200 species of venomous snakes, those deadly, slithery things with fangs and venom. Did you know those “nope ropes” can bite more than once, and adjust just how much venom they deliver to their victim? Let’s take Cleopatra’s fate as a learning opportunity and let those sleeping beauties lie.
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A quick online search reveals an abundance of products branded and named “viper”, including sunglasses, gaming computer mouses, keyless car entry systems, a pistol, television programs, video games, and more. Sadly, the CSS Viper, the subject this article remains the most interested in, has been overshadowed by her better-known Chattahoochee River Squadron mates, the CSS Jackson and the CSS Chattahoochee. Little is known except that this third Columbus-based ship, a semi-submersible, did exist, was constructed at the Columbus Naval Yard towards the end of the Civil War, and was most likely a “Squib” class torpedo boat. She did launch, was captured by United States forces, then was towed away by the USS Yucca. The Viper sank during a storm near the Gulf of Mexico and for all intents and purposes vanished from sight and history with little trace or representation—even within our museum! The production of history and public memory is rife with cases of survivorship bias, and the Viper is one of the best examples in our local naval story.
We do know more about other Confederate semi-submersibles, which can help us speculate with some scholarly merit toward the nature of the Viper. In general, these semi-submersibles were not true submarines, but could be thought of as a kind of fore-runner to them, or at least another branch on the same tree. The CSS David was probably the best know semi-submersible as it managed to inflict serious damage to the USS New Ironsides during a covert attack in Charleston Harbor on October 5, 1863. The “David” class operated with ballast tanks. What we do know of the “Squib” class is that they were a type of launch armed with spar torpedoes, were steam powered with a partially enclosed hull, but not supplied with ballast tanks.
Remains of the CSS David in 1865.
Scholarship to date casts the Viper as largely a mystery obscured by a historic record lacking in either definitive proof or analytical consensus. In her work on the Confederate naval operations along the Chattahoochee-Apalachicola river system, scholar Maxine Turner provides the most detailed information collected about our particular semi-submersible boat. About 45 feet long, the Viper was laid down in May 1864 and was on a major construction track at the Confederate Navy Yard. R. Thomas Campbell offers additional analysis that possibly two “Squib” class boats designed by William A. Graves were ordered, but the Viper was the only one constructed. Augustus McLaughlin of the Confederate Navy Yard noted in very general terms that the “Torpedo Boat” launched on March 31, 1865. Charles A. Misulia muddies the waters—if you will pardon the pun—by suggesting the Viper may have towed the Chattahoochee out of Columbus ahead of the April 1865 battle in that city, writing, “There is some dispute over whether the Chattahoochee was towed downriver by the Young Rover, as is suggested by Lieutenant William W. Carnes, or whether was taken by the torpedo boat Viper.” We know by its deck log that the USS Yucca had the Viper in tow by May 25, 1865. Under the command of Acting Master H.C. Wade, with entries made by Joshuia Booth and C.F. Barton, the Yucca deck log chronicles how the United States steamer led the Viper’s voyage toward the Gulf until the torpedo boat began taking on water and was let loose during a storm. What remains a mystery is if the Viper could remove itself, and possibly the Chattahoochee, from Columbus under its own power in April, what happened to the Viper in between to necessitate the torpedo boat being towed the remainder of the way to the Gulf? Some scholars argue the Viper was torched by Wilson’s cavalry at the same time that the Jackson was burned, but then why bother towing the burnt remains? We ask these questions but do not yet have satisfying answers. In studying the records of the Viper, I find it striking that all log entries call her the “Torpedo Boat” with the capital letters “T” and “B” as if it was a proper noun. I like to think of it as a sign of respect for the engineering and skill that went into the little craft. Their actions are detailed: putting a man on and off, covering her with a tarp, trying hard to keep her afloat. Finally, with the sea running heavy and the wind increasing, they log: “Torpedo Boat filled and sunk in 10 fathoms water”. The location was noted and marked with a buoy: 28 degrees, 12 minutes north, 83 degrees, 20 minutes west. Anyone quoting or using Turner’s Navy Gray to search for the wreckage is doomed to failure due to a fatal typo of 20 degrees north. Though perhaps overly romantic of a thought, I like to wonder if the typo was on purpose to confuse would-be treasure hunters.
Artist’s depiction of the internal layout of the CSS Squib. As part of the Squib class, the Viper probably looked very similar. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.
I am not the first to search for a definitive account of the Viper, as the museum’s archives house correspondence between historians with the intriguing lead that divers associated with a shop in Madeira Beach, Florida, had spotted the ship’s remains in the 1970s. Alas, no further details remain and the shop has long disappeared. In 1987, local journalist Billy Winn wrote an article for the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer quoting Civil War Naval historians such as our own Bob Holcombe, William Still, and Gordon Watts with hope the wreckage could be found. Further, a Watts proposal in 2008 titled “Search for the Confederate Torpedo Boat Viper” from his Institute for International Maritime Research Inc. proposed a project estimated at $83,000 in search of the lost ship. Of course, nothing yet as come of these proposals.
When the Viper sank in May 1865, the crew of the Yucca became the last people to ever see the third, forgotten member of the Chattahoochee River Squadron. No photograph exists, and we can only speculate what the torpedo boat looked like. To this point, there has been no depiction of the Viper at the National Civil War Naval Museum, but this is something we would like to change.
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We would like to call on everybody that would like to participate, especially students, to bring or send artwork of a realistic or fanciful Viper that we can showcase during our museum’s 25th anniversary celebrations during 2026. Add name, age, and school (if applicable) on the back, no larger than 18” x 18”. Help us make the Viper visible to Columbus again!