USS Tulip Memorial Ceremony Planned Nov. 3
The 47 sailors lost when the USS Tulip exploded in 1864 will be memorialized during a ceremony at 9 am on Friday, Nov. 3, 2017, in St. Inigoes. The memorial ceremony is hosted by Naval Air Station Patuxent River and will be held at the memorial site. The USS Tulip was destroyed when its boiler malfunctioned.
The vessel was a Union gunboat that was assigned to the Potomac Flotilla. Its mission was in support of Union communications, and it towed, transported, and landed soldiers, while maintaining the Union blockade of Confederate ports.
Officials knew the starboard boiler was faulty, so the vessel had been ordered to return to Washington, D.C., for repairs. The ship’s captain knew he could not be too slow on the return because that would make the ship an easy target for enemy cannons as it went up the Potomac River. Unfortunately, the captain ignored the faulty boiler and ordered the Tulip to proceed full steam ahead.
That decision resulted in an explosion that was heard for miles. The Tulip sank near Piney Point, not very far from what is now Webster Outlying Field in southern St. Mary’s County. Just 10 men survived the explosion from the crew of 57, with two dying shortly afterward.
The only human remains that were recovered were eight badly burned, unidentified bodies that washed ashore and are now buried near St. Inigoes Creek, where the secluded USS Tulip monument stands, making it the smallest federal cemetery in the country.
For more about Lexington Park, visit the St. Mary’s County Community Development Corporation’s Leader member page.
St. Mary’s County Community Development Corporation
46940 South Shangri-La Drive, Suite 7
Lexington Park, MD 20653
301-863-7700
