X-inch Dahlgren Smooth-bore Gun,
on a slide-pivot mounting. With its crew at their stations, on board a U.S. Navy gunboat during the Civil War. Photographed by Matthew Brady. Note anti-boarding netting; ship's wheel at left; cartridge boxes, cutlasses and revolvers worn by some men; gun-handling equipment and Marine by the rear of the gun. Many sources incorrectly identify this ship as USS Mendota (1864-1867), which did not have a gun of this type in the location seen. It is possible that the ship is USS Miami (1862-1865), which did carry IX-inch guns at the extreme bow and stern. This photograph and the preceding one "Officers of the Miami" were taken from exactly the same location.
Lieutenant Commander Flusser was killed in action on April 19, 1864 in the engagement between Miami and the Confederate ironclad CSS Albemarle. In that action, Flusser personally fired a cannon shell at the Confederate ironclad. The shell, with a 10-second fuse, bounced off the Albemarle's armor and landed back on the deck of the Miami, where its explosion killed him. Brigadier General Henry Walton Wessels, commanding U.S. Army troops at Plymouth, North Carolina, noted: "In the death of this accomplished sailor the Navy has lost one of its brightest ornaments...."
