Monitor U.S.S. Tecumseh

James Henan was born circa 1842 in Ireland and enlisted on 30 April 1864 aboard the U.S.S. Minnesota at Hampton Roads as an Ordinary Seaman for a 2 2/3 year enlistment^[1]. He was an Army transferee to the Navy.

Henan was attached to the Tecumseh shortly after his enlistment. On 1 August 1864, he was admitted to Naval Hospital Pensacola with adynamia. ^[3] His hospital slip indicates he was discharged to duty aboard the U.S.S. Potomac on 5 August 1864. Henan's rendezvous index card states he served aboard the U.S.S. Richmond, the tugboat U.S.S. Buckthorn, U.S.S. Oneida and finally the U.S.S. Narcissus ^[2].

On 4 January 1866 while en-route to New York to be decommissioned, the Narcissus encountered a storm off Tampa Bay and ran aground onto sandbar near Egmont Key. While trying to back herself off the sandbar, the Narcissus' boiler exploded and she sank with the loss of all hands, including James Henan.

Interment

U.S.S. Narcissus off Egmont Key, Florida

Dependents

 

Awards & Memorials

 

Alternate Spellings of Name

James Heenan

References and Sources

^[1] Return of the United States Naval Rendezvous, U.S.S. Minnesota at Hampton Roads, VA for 1864

^[2] NARA T1099. An index to rendezvous reports during the Civil War, 1861-1865.

^[3] Hospital Tickets and Case Papers, compiled 1825-1889. ARC ID: 2694723. Department of the Navy, Records of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Record Group 52. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.