Battle of Blair's Landing-- First Use of Periscope in Battle

The first use of a periscope occurred during this battle and was used to fire the gun from the USS Osage that killed Confederate General Thomas Green. It had been invented onboard just a few days earlier. Union Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Selfridge fired it and wrote about it in his memoirs.

The Osage was a single turret Neosho class river monitor launched in 1863. It was sunk by a torpedo in Blakely River, Alabama during the attack on Spanish Fort. It was later raised and sold. It's armament consisted of 2 x 11 inch Dahlgren smoothbore cannons.

I See, with My Little Periscope. --Old Blockade-Runner