- USS Owasco (1861)
USS "Owasco" was a wooden hulled screw
gunboat in theUnited States Navy during theAmerican Civil War . She was named forOwasco Lake ."Owasco", built by
Charles Mallory , was launched atMystic, Connecticut ,5 October 1861 ; delivered to the Navy atNew York Navy Yard 6 December 1861; and commissioned there23 January 1862 , Lt. John Guest in command.The new “ninety-day gunboat” departed New York 5 February and reached
Key West, Florida , 10 days later where Comdr.David D. Porter ’s mortar flotilla was assemblying. She then headed via Ship Island, Mississippi for Pass a L’Outre. En route, on 16 March, she capturedschooner s "Eugenia" and "President" laden with cotton and bound forHavana .The mortar flotilla had been established by the Navy to neutralize forts St. Philip and Jackson which protected
New Orleans, Louisiana against attack from the sea. "Owasco" was one of seven steamers assigned to the flotilla to tow the schooners and help them navigate safely in the tricky currents of theMississippi River . In mid April she and her sister steamers moved the schooners into position below the forts. On the 18th, when the mortars opened fire on the Southern positions, the steamers supported the attack with flat trajectory fire until, six days later,David Farragut led his deep draft vessels in a historic dash past the Confederate heavy works. The following day New Orleans fell, depriving the South of its largest city and greatest industrial and commercial center.When Farragut ascended the Mississippi for the second time, "Owasco" helped to tow the schooners up river to a position just below
Vicksburg, Mississippi from which they bombarded the Confederate cliffside batteries 28 June as Farragut, raced under the Southern guns to join theWestern Gunboat Flotilla above Vicksburg."Owasco" participated in the bombardment and capture of
Galveston, Texas 3 October; but, on New Year’s day, was driven out of that port by Confederates in cotton clad steamers.After continuing blockade duty, she participated in the joint Army-Navy capture of
Brazos, Texas 3 November 1863. She captured the English schooner "Fanny" 19 April 1864, carrying cargo for Confederate GeneralMagruder from Havana. She continued to serve along the coast ofTexas through the end of the war.She decommissioned at
New York Navy Yard 12 July 1865 and was sold at auction at New York25 October 1865 .
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