USS Restless was a barque acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
She was used as a gunboat by the Union Navy to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries.
Restless was purchased from Everett and Hawley at New York City on 26 August 1861 and commissioned the following December, Acting Volunteer Lt. Edward Conroy in command. Ordered south upon commissioning, Restless sailed to Norfolk, Virginia, took on supplies for the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, and toward the end of January 1862 arrived at Port Royal, South Carolina. Assigned to the blockade force off Charleston, South Carolina, she took up station off Bull's Bay on 4 February. On the 11th, two escaped slaves provided information on the ships carrying food into Charleston, their use of inland water routes, and conditions in the blockaded city. Two days later, Restless, following that information, discovered three vessels within the shoals. On the 14th, armed boats from Restless captured and destroyed the sloop Edisto and the schooners Wandoo, Elizabeth, and Theodore Stony. All vessels had been carrying rice. At the end of March, Restless put into Port Royal for provisioning. By then she had intercepted five more blockade runners; two schooners were kept as prizes; one sloop and two schooners were destroyed.
Ordered back to the Charleston area on 15 April, she took up station between Rattlesnake Shoal and Caper's Island. On 2 May she captured the schooner Flash and sent her to New York for adjudication. On the 11th she returned to Bull's Bay. Between then and the end of October, Restless captured one steamer, Scotia, two sloops, and a large canoe; and assisted in intercepting two other steamers and a schooner. In November and December, inland expeditions were stepped up. On 5 November, a shore party sent to Palmetto Point intercepted a mail shipment bound for Charleston which provided further intelligence for the campaign against blockade runners. In December, shore parties burned the salt works on Harbor Creek and destroyed Confederate batteries and magazines on Bull's Island. In late January 1863, after 13 months of duty, Restless sailed north for docking and repairs. By mid-June, however, she had returned to blockade duty.
Assigned to the Eastern Gulf Blockading Squadron, she operated off the coast of western Florida for the remainder of the war. Initially stationed at St. George's Sound, she captured a schooner and a sloop in Peace Creek, Charlotte Harbor in early July and took the schooner Erniti 60 miles off Tampa Bay on 19 August. In October she relieved USS Roebuck in St. Andrew Sound and remained on duty there until November 1864. During that time she seized several vessels and destroyed salt works which supplied Confederate forces in U.S. state of Georgia. In mid-November, the bark sailed to Key West, Florida, for repairs; then, in January 1865, took up station again in Charlotte Harbor. At the end of March, she shifted to St. Joseph's Bay where she remained until the end of the war. Toward the latter part of June 1865, Restless, carrying surplus ordnance supplies, rounded the Florida peninsula and sailed north. She was sold at auction in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 21 September the same year.
USS Brooklyn was a sloop-of-war authorized by the U.S. Congress and commissioned in 1859. Brooklyn was active in Caribbean operations until the start of the American Civil War at which time she became an active participant in the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America.
The first USS Sonoma was a sidewheel gunboat that served in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She was named for Sonoma Creek in northern California, Sonoma County, California, and the town of Sonoma, California, that in turn were named for one of the chiefs of the Chocuyen Indians of that region.
USS R. R. Cuyler was a steamer in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She was outfitted by the Union Navy as a gunboat and was assigned to the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America.
The first USS San Jacinto was an early screw frigate in the United States Navy during the mid-19th century. She was named for the San Jacinto River, site of the Battle of San Jacinto during the Texas Revolution. She is perhaps best known for her role in the Trent Affair of 1861.
USS South Carolina was a steamer used by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
USS Stars and Stripes was a 407-ton steamer acquired by the U.S. Navy and put to use by the Union during the American Civil War.
The first USS Seminole was a steam sloop-of-war in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.
The first USS Pocahontas, a screw steamer built at Medford, Massachusetts in 1852 as City of Boston, and purchased by the Navy at Boston, Massachusetts on 20 March 1855, was the first United States Navy ship to be named for Pocahontas, the Algonquian wife of Virginia colonist John Rolfe. She was originally commissioned as USS Despatch – the second U.S. Navy ship of that name – on 17 January 1856, with Lieutenant T. M. Crossan in command, and was recommissioned and renamed in 1860, seeing action in the American Civil War. As Pocahontas, one of her junior officers was Alfred Thayer Mahan, who would later achieve international fame as a military writer and theorist of naval power.
USS Unadilla was a Unadilla-class gunboat built for service with the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She was the lead ship in her class.
USS Huron was a Unadilla-class gunboat built for the United States Navy during the American Civil War for blockage duty against the ports and rivers of the Confederate States of America.
USS Rosalie was a captured Confederate sloop acquired by the Union Navy from the prize court during the American Civil War.
USS Huntsville was a steamer 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.
USS Roebuck was a barque used by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
USS William G. Anderson was a barque used by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was assigned by the Navy to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries.
USS James S. Chambers was a schooner 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.
USS Hope was a 19th-century wooden yacht schooner, designed and built in 1861 by Henry Steers for Captain Thomas B. Ives of Providence, Rhode Island. She was acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was placed into service as a gunboat assigned to support the fleet blockading the ports of the Confederate States of America. However, at times, Hope was assigned extra tasks, such as that of a dispatch boat, supply runner and salvage ship. She was a pilot boat from 1866 to 1891 and in 1891 she was replaced by the Herman Oelrichs, when the Hope was wrecked ashore the Sandy Hook Point.
The third USS Union was a heavy (1,114-ton) steamer with a powerful 12-inch rifled gun purchased by the United States Navy during the American Civil War.
USS T. A. Ward was a 284-ton schooner was purchased by the Union Navy during the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War.
John Cummings Howell was an officer in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. He rose to the rank of rear admiral and late in his career was commander-in-chief of the North Atlantic Squadron and then of the European Squadron.
USS Isilda, sometimes spelled Ezilda, was an armed schooner in commission in the United States Navy from 1861 to 1863. As part of the Union Navy, she saw service during the American Civil War.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships .The entry can be found here.