The first USS ''Mount Vernon'' was a wooden-screw steamer in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. ''Mount Vernon'' was built at

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, in 1859; chartered by the Navy in May 1861 for three months; purchased by the Navy at New York on 12 September 1861; and commissioned at

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, Commander

Oliver S. Glisson Oliver Spencer Glisson (January 18, 1809 – November 20, 1890), was a rear admiral of the United States Navy. After commanding a schooner in the Mexican–American War, he was posted to the East India Squadron and took part in the Japan Expeditio ...

in command.

Service history

After charter, ''Mount Vernon'' convoyed two steamers and two sailing ships to the

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in May. While in the gulf, she took

brigantine A brigantine is a two-masted sailing vessel with a fully square-rigged foremast and at least two sails on the main mast: a square topsail and a gaff sail mainsail (behind the mast). The main mast is the second and taller of the two masts. Older ...

''East'', suspected of communicating with

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

-held shore territory, and towed damaged ''Parkersburg'' from

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. Ordered to

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, 3 July, ''Mount Vernon'' gave refuge to Unionists preparing to travel north. From 17 July, ''Mount Vernon'' patrolled in and off the Rappahannock River, capturing

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

''Wild Pigeon'' in an attempted escape at night 20 July. On 1 September she sailed for

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to relieve , and in November proceeded to

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. She engaged British

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

''Phantom'' off Cape Lookout 2 December, and on the 31st sent an armed party to aid in firing a ship being used by the Confederates as a beacon. In continued blockade and patrol service off

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, ''Mount Vernon'' took British schooners ''British Queen'' on 1 March 1862 and ''Mary Jane'' on 24 March 1863. With and , ''Mount Vernon'' chased Confederate schooner ''Kate'' ashore near

Fort Casswell The North Carolina Baptist Assembly is a Christian retreat owned and operated by the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, the state's largest denomination. The grounds of the retreat, located adjacent to Caswell Beach on the eastern end ...

2 April, and later in the month captured ''St. George''. After joining in the attack on Confederate batteries at

Sewell's Point Sewells Point is a peninsula of land in the independent city of Norfolk, Virginia in the United States, located at the mouth of the salt-water port of Hampton Roads. Sewells Point is bordered by water on three sides, with Willoughby Bay to th ...

2 May, ''Mount Vernon'' returned to blockade duty, playing a key role in the Navy's efforts to block the flow of materials from overseas and from one point to another in the Confederacy. She took ''Constitution'' 23 May, forced an unknown schooner to ground and set herself on fire 26 June, then in July took up close blockade of New Inlet and Little River Inlet. With ''Cambridge'', in December ''Mount Vernon'' chased another schooner ashore, a feat duplicated on 12 June 1863. ''Mount Vernon'', , and together cut out a blockade runner on 1 August near New Inlet. Arriving

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early in 1864, ''Mount Vernon'' remained there until May 1864. She was in the group of Union ships attacked by ''North Carolina'' off the mouth of

Cape Fear River The Cape Fear River is a long blackwater river in east central North Carolina. It flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Fear, from which it takes its name. The river is formed at the confluence of the Haw River and the Deep River (North Carol ...

in May, and she searched for ''Florida'' in July. She joined in the abortive attack on Fort Fisher 23 and 24 December, and renewed the attack in mid-January 1865. Decommissioning at

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on 27 June 1865, she was sold at

public auction In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

12 July 1865.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mount Vernon Steamships of the United States Navy Ships built in Brooklyn Ships of the Union Navy American Civil War patrol vessels of the United States Gunboats of the United States Navy 1861 ships

Service history

See also

References