View of Cincinnati, Ohio - Public domain albumen print photogrpaph

In the early years of the war many civilian ships were confiscated for military use, while both sides built new ships. The most popular ships were tinclads—mobile, small ships that actually contained no tin. These ships were former merchant ships, generally about 150 feet in length, with about two to six feet of draft, and about 200 tons. Shipbuilders would remove the deck and add an armored pilothouse as well as sheets of iron around the forward part of the casemate and the engines. Most of the tinclads had six guns: two or three twelve-pounder or twenty-four-pounder howitzers on each broadside, with two heavier guns, often thirty-two-pounder smoothbores or thirty-pounder rifles, in the bow. These ships proved faster than ironclads and, with such a shallow draft, worked well on the tributaries of the Mississippi.

Cincinnati wasn't always known by the present name. It was first called Ft. Washington in honor of George Washington. Then, in 1788, it was named Losantiville. There is no data on just who dreamed that name up, but in 1789, the local Indians came calling bent on destroying the tiny settlement. They failed. Another attack came in 1790 and 91. By 1802, the Indians gave up, and the settlement was named Cincinnati, in honor of the Society of the Cincinnati by General Arthur St. Clair, then the governor of the Northwest Territory. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was the one who named it "The Queen City of the West". Looking at any police car will remind you of the nickname. Winston Churchhill called Cincinnati one of the most beautiful cities in the Union. Harriet Beecher Stowe started writing "Uncle Tom's Cabin" while living in Cincinnati. Washington Roebling built a magnificent suspension bridge spanning the Ohio river long before the Brooklyn Bridge was built and it is still standing, looking as good as it did when it was first built in 1867. In the late 1800's, William Proctor and James Gamble established the company known as Proctor and Gamble, who made Star Candles. The candles were shipped to the Ohio River and each box was marked with a star inside of a circle. This logo evolved into the Moon and Stars logo that was recently removed from their products because a few people thought that it was satanic. Actually, the logo featured a moon with 13 stars, one for each of the original colonies. Cincinnati is located in Hamilton county, which was named for Alexander Hamilton.