USS Volunteer (1863)

	USS Volunteer anchored of the Western Rivers.
History
United States
Laid down	date unknown
Launched	date unknown
Acquired	29 February 1864; at Springfield, Illinois ;
Commissioned	circa 29 February 1864
Decommissioned	summer 1865; at Mound City, Illinois ;
Stricken	1865 (est.)
Captured	by Union Navy forces; 25 November 1863;
Fate	sold, 29 November 1865
General characteristics
Displacement	209 tons
Length	not known
Beam	not known
Draught	5'
Propulsion	steam engine ; side wheel-propelled;
Speed	6 MPH
Complement	not known
Armament	one heavy 12-pounder smoothbore

Last updated June 15, 2022

The first USS Volunteer was a 209-ton steamer captured by the Union Navy and put to use by the Union during the American Civil War.

Captured by Union Navy forces

Volunteer—originally a Confederate steamer captured off Natchez Island, Mississippi, by Fort Hindman on 25 November 1863—was purchased by the Navy from the Springfield, Illinois, prize court on 29 February 1864.

Civil War Union Navy service

Volunteer was assigned to the Mississippi Squadron and performed valuable service as a patrol, dispatch, and tow steamer.

Her one major engagement during the war occurred on 14 April 1864 when she helped to drive off a Confederate force which was attacking Fort Pillow, Tennessee.

Post-war service

After the end of the war in April 1865, Volunteer convoyed naval stores up and down the Mississippi River as Union naval forces in the West deactivated.

Decommissioning

That summer, she was decommissioned and laid up at Mound City, Illinois, and was sold at public auction there to B. F. Goodwin on 29 November.

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References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships .The entry can be found here.

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