| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Commissioned | 1861 |
| Decommissioned | 1865 |
| Fate | Returned to the United States Coast Survey |
| General characteristics | |
USS Agassiz was borrowed by the Union Navy from the United States Coast Survey during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.
Soon after the outbreak of the Civil War, the United States Coast Survey ship Agassiz was transferred to the Revenue Cutter Service and took the place of Arago as a receiving ship in New York harbor. On 30 December 1861, she was ordered to Sag Harbor at the end of Long Island, New York, and served as a revenue cutter at that port into the spring of 1862. On 4 June 1862, the vessel was ordered to New London, Connecticut, and arrived at her new base six days later. On 23 December 1862, Agassiz departed New London and headed south for service in the sounds of North Carolina. She arrived at New Bern, North Carolina, on 11 January 1863 and supported both Union Army troops and warships of the Union Navy in those dangerous waters into the summer. It is logical to assume that, during this assignment, she was subject to Navy orders, but no documents supporting this hypothesis have been found.
The highlight of her service in the war zone came on the night of 13 and 14 March 1863 when she helped Union gunboats USS Hunchback, USS Hetzel, USS Ceres, and USS Shawsheen in their efforts to repel a heavy attack by Confederate soldiers against Fort Anderson, North Carolina, on the Neuse River. After that action, Comdr. Alexander Murray, the senior naval officer in the sounds of North Carolina, praised "the efficient service rendered by Lieutenant Commanding Robert H. Travers, of the U. S. revenue cutter Agassiz ...The gallant part taken by that vessel was alike creditable to its commanding officer and serviceable in the repulse of the enemy."[ citation needed ]
After the damage the cutter had suffered during the action had been repaired by the Norfolk Navy Yard, Agassiz returned north and arrived at New Bedford, Massachusetts, on 27 July 1863, and she seems to have served there through the end of the Civil War. She moved to Newport, Rhode Island, on 10 October 1865; and, on 29 December of that year, was ordered to New York City where she was transferred back to the U.S. Coast Survey.
The United States Revenue Cutter Service was established by an act of Congress on 4 August 1790 as the Revenue-Marine upon the recommendation of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton to serve as an armed customs enforcement service. As time passed, the service gradually gained missions either voluntarily or by legislation, including those of a military nature. It was generally referred to as the Revenue-Marine until 31 July 1894, when it was officially renamed the Revenue Cutter Service. The Revenue Cutter Service operated under the authority of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. On 28 January 1915, the service was merged by an act of Congress with the United States Life-Saving Service to form the United States Coast Guard.
The third USS Water Witch was a wooden-hulled, sidewheel gunboat in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She is best known as the ship fired on by Paraguay in 1855. In 1864 she was captured by the Confederate States Navy, and subsequently was taken into that Navy as CSS Water Witch.
Harriet Lane was a revenue cutter of the United States Revenue Cutter Service and, on the outbreak of the American Civil War, a ship of the United States Navy and later Confederate States Navy. The craft was named after the niece of senator and later United States President, James Buchanan; during his presidency, she acted as First Lady. The cutter was christened and entered the water for the Revenue Service in 1859 out of New York City, and saw action during the Civil War at Fort Sumter, New Orleans, Galveston, Texas, and Virginia Point. The Confederates captured her in 1863, whereupon she was converted to mercantile service. Union forces recaptured her at the end of war. The U.S. Navy declared her unfit for service and sold her. New owners out of Philadelphia renamed her Elliot Ritchie. Her crew abandoned her at sea in 1881.
USS Marblehead was a Unadilla-class gunboat built for the United States Navy during the American Civil War.
USS Wilderness was a wooden-hulled, side-wheel steamship in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. After the war, she served as a revenue cutter. In 1873, she was renamed John A. Dix for former Secretary of the Treasury John Adams Dix.
USS Dai Ching was a steam gunboat in commissioned into service in the United States Navy in 1863. She served in the Union Navy during the American Civil War until her loss in 1865.
USS Delaware was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy for use during the American Civil War. She had a very active naval career as a gunboat for over three years, and after the war served as a revenue cutter for over 37 years. The steamer was sold to the private sector in 1903, and disappeared from shipping registers in 1919.
USS General Putnam – also known as the USS William G. Putnam – was acquired by the Union Navy during the first year of the American Civil War and outfitted as a gunboat and assigned to the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America. She also served as a tugboat and as a ship's tender when so required.
USS Bibb was a United States Coast and Geodetic Survey vessel that performed survey work during the American Civil War. In 1864, when Washington, D.C. appeared under threat after Lt Gen. Jubal Early’s Confederate army crossed the Potomac River, Bibb was commandeered and armed by the Union Navy.
USS Vixen was acquired by the Union Navy from the United States Coast Survey on 26 August 1861 for use as a reconnaissance vessel during the American Civil War; and was later commissioned on 31 July 1862.
USS Western World was a ship acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Navy to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries.
USRC Naugatuck was a twin-screw ironclad experimental steamer operated by the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service during the American Civil War. She served the U.S. Treasury Department as the USRC E.A. Stevens, a name she retained until sold in 1890. She was loaned to the Navy by the Treasury Department and thus mistakenly referred to in U.S. Navy dispatches during early 1862 as "USS Naugatuck".
The first USS Uncas was a 192-ton steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
USS Corwin was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries.
USS Adela was a steamer captured by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.
USS Ascutney was a large steamer with powerful guns acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways. Post-war, she performed some steamship service for the Navy.
The first USS Wanderer was a high-speed schooner originally built for pleasure. It was used in 1858 to illegally import slaves from Africa. It was seized for service with the United States Navy during the American Civil War. In U.S. Navy service from 1861 to 1865, and under outright U.S. Navy ownership from 1863 to 1865, she was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat, as a tender, and as a hospital ship. She was decommissioned, put into merchant use, and lost off Cuba in 1871.
USC&GS Arago was a survey ship that served in the United States Coast Survey from 1854 to 1878 and in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1878 to 1881. From October 1861 into 1863 Arago was at times attached to the Navy's South Atlantic Blockading Squadron off South Carolina to provide hydrographic support. She was the first ship of the Coast Survey or Coast and Geodetic Survey to bear the name.
John Pyne Bankhead (1821–1867) was an officer in the United States Navy who served during the American Civil War, and was in command of the ironclad USS Monitor when it sank in 1862. He went on to command three other ships.
CSS Pickens was a Cushing-class schooner revenue cutter that saw service in the navies of the United States and Confederate States of America. Built as Robert McClelland in Somerset, Massachusetts, in 1853, she served along the coasts of Louisiana and Texas before transferring her crew and officers to USRC Washington in 1859 and heading to New York for repairs. In 1860, Robert McClelland reported to South West Pass, Mississippi, and was permanently assigned to New Orleans, Louisiana, later that year. After the 1861 secession of Louisiana, her commander turned her over to the state. She entered Confederate service on February 18 and was renamed Pickens. Pickens played a minor role in the Battle of the Head of Passes before being burned to prevent its capture on April 25, 1862, after Union Navy forces entered New Orleans.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships .The entry can be found here.