Civil War era USS Hunchback / General Grant

[herrmill]

A modeler I know who builds resin kits sent me this photo of USS Hunchback, one of several 517 ton side wheel ferries used in New York City that were converted into gunboats for blockade duty in the North Carolina & Virginia waters.  After the war, she returned to civilian service as General Grant until scrapped in 1880.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Hunchback

I'm currently building several Civil War ironclads in 1/72 scale & plan to start on my first paddle boat, a City Class gunboat, but would be interested in seeking more information about Hunchback or similar double-ender side wheelers used in the war.  From the looks of it, she'd be fairly easy to build with a little conjecture.

Chuck

[greateastern]

From the picture at the Naval Historical Center, it's impossible to tell what the sidewheeler looked like since only deck shots are available.  The City Class Ironclads --see USS Cairo--lots of plans available --is not in the same group. The Hunchback was a privately built sidewheeler (what was original name?) and not government designed.  Donald Canney is the authority on Civil War steam and he includes 1 chapter in his 2 vol work -see title below-- on the City Class but that is not, I think what you want. In vol 1, chap 8 Canney deals with double enders and includes some lines , body and deck plans buy these are Octorara Class, Sassacus Class, Mohongo Class--no City Class here. The source is
The Old Steam Navy, Frigates, Sloops and Gunboats, 1815-1885, vols 1 and 2.
Good Luck

[Swordfish]

My Great Grandfather served aboard the converted NYC ferry Commodore Barney ( ex Ethan Allen ) and building an RC model of the craft has been on my "to do" list for some time. In doing research, it became clear that among the relatively few photos of these ferries, including those supposedly of the Barney, were misidentified. One frequently seen image is that of the Commodore Morris, but often identified as the Commodore Perry.
Having little success in finding a useable and authenticated photo of the Barney, I learned from the correspondence of Lt. Flusser, the Captain of the Perry, that the Barney was almost identical to his vessel. Thus I have pursued photos of the Perry.
The best image I've found to date does seem to be the Perry and a portion of it would appear to make up  the first of the photos you show. See below:
An excellent book containing a great deal of background on these converted NYC ferries is "Over & Back" , by Brian J. Cudahy, Fordham Press.