USS ''Sagamore'' was a built on behalf of 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 ...

for service during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

. She was outfitted as a

gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-ste ...

and assigned to the

Union blockade The Union blockade in the American Civil War was a naval strategy by the United States to prevent the Confederacy from trading. The blockade was proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln in April 1861, and required the monitoring of of Atlanti ...

of the

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confede ...

. ''Sagamore'' was very active during the war, and served the Union both as a patrol ship and a bombardment vessel.

Under United States Navy service

Commissioned in 1861 at the Boston Navy Yard

The first U.S. Navy ship to be so named, USS Sagamore — a wooden-hulled, screw-driven

built by the A. & G. T. Sampson and Atlantic Works Boston, Massachusetts — was launched on 1 September 1861 and commissioned on 7 December 1861 at the

Boston Navy Yard The Boston Navy Yard, originally called the Charlestown Navy Yard and later Boston Naval Shipyard, was one of the oldest shipbuilding facilities in the United States Navy. It was established in 1801 as part of the recent establishment of t ...

Civil War

Assigned to the East Gulf blockade

On 26 November 1861, ''Sagamore'' received orders to report to

Flag Officer A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark the position from which the officer exercises command. The term is used differently in different countries: *In many countries ...

William McKean for duty as part of the

East Gulf Blockading Squadron The Union blockade in the American Civil War was a naval strategy by the United States to prevent the Confederacy from trading. The blockade was proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln in April 1861, and required the monitoring of of Atlantic ...

which patrolled the waters off the coasts of

Florida Florida is a U.S. state, state located in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia (U.S. state), Geo ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = " Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,76 ...

, and

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Missis ...

. ''Sagamore''s first encounter with the enemy came at

Apalachicola, Florida Apalachicola ( ) is a city and the county seat of Franklin County, Florida, United States, on the shore of Apalachicola Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico. The population was 2,231 at the 2010 census. History The Apalachicola people, after ...

. On 3 April 1862, armed boat crews from ''Sagamore'' and captured the city without resistance. On 30 June 1862, ''Sagamore'' attacked Tampa, Florida, but withdrew after exchanging fire with a Confederate shore battery. On 11 September, a landing party from ''Sagamore'' destroyed the

salt works A salt evaporation pond is a shallow artificial salt pan designed to extract salts from sea water or other brines. The Salt pans are shallow and large of size because it will be easier for sunlight to travel and reach the sea water. Natural sa ...

, which could produce 200

bushel A bushel (abbreviation: bsh. or bu.) is an imperial and US customary unit of volume based upon an earlier measure of dry capacity. The old bushel is equal to 2 kennings (obsolete), 4 pecks, or 8 dry gallons, and was used mostly for agr ...

s a day, at St. Andrews Bay, Florida. ''Sagamore'' next captured the blockade-running English

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 ...

''By George'' off Indian River, Florida on 1 December, with a cargo of

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. Seeds of t ...

and

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...

. In January 1863, ''Sagamore'' captured ''Avenger'', ''Julia'', and destroyed the

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 s ...

''Elizabeth''. Next she captured the sloop ''Enterprise'' on 8 March 1863, and the sloop ''New York'' on 26 April.

Shelling New Smyrna, Florida

On 28 July, boats from ''Sagamore'' and attacked New Smyrna, Florida. After shelling the town, Union forces captured two schooners; caused the Confederate forces to destroy several other vessels, some of which were loaded with

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

and ready to sail; and burned large quantities of cotton on shore. Following the attack at New Smyrna, ''Sagamore'' returned to her coastal duties. On 8 August, ''Sagamore'' captured the sloops ''Clara Louise'', ''Southern Rights'', ''Shot'', and ''Ann''.

Suwannee River operations

On 21 April 1864, boat expeditions from ''Sagamore'' took 100 bales of cotton and destroyed 300 additional bales near Clay Landing on the

Suwannee River The Suwannee River (also spelled Suwanee River) is a river that runs through south Georgia southward into Florida in the southern United States. It is a wild blackwater river, about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset ...

, Florida. ''Sagamore''s final action in the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policie ...

took place on 7 June. Suspecting that Confederate forces were using cotton to erect

breastworks A breastwork is a temporary fortification, often an earthwork thrown up to breast height to provide protection to defenders firing over it from a standing position. A more permanent structure, normally in stone, would be described as a parapet or ...

on the banks of the Suwannee River, a boat expedition composed of men from ''Sagamore'' and proceeded up the river and captured over 100 bales of cotton in the vicinity of Clay Landing.

Decommissioning

''Sagamore'' was decommissioned on 1 December 1864 at

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

, and was sold at

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. on 13 June 1865.

Under Japanese service

''Sagamore'' was acquired by

Kubota Domain was a feudal domain in Edo period Japan, located in Dewa Province (modern-day Akita Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Kubota Castle in what is now the city of Akita and was thus also known as the . It was governed for the whole of its his ...

, one of the feudal domains of the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia' ...

of Japan in 1865 as the ''Saga-no-kami'', and was renamed Yōshun-maru in 1868. She was donated to the nascent

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrend ...

during the

Boshin War The , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a clique seeking to seize political power in the name of the Imper ...

of the

Meiji restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were r ...

. ''Yoshun'' is recorded to have departed Uraga on 24 April 1869 for Miyako Bay, where she came under attack from the

Republic of Ezo The was a short-lived separatist state established in 1869 on the island of Ezo, now Hokkaido, by a part of the former military of the Tokugawa shogunate at the end of the ''Bakumatsu'' period in Japan. It was the first government to attempt ...

Navy gunboat ''Kaiten'' at the Battle of Miyako Bay on 27 April. She departed Miyako Bay on 6 May with a continent of soldiers and equipment, which she delivered to Aomori on 8 May. She then transported troops and equipment from Aomori to

Hakodate is a city and port located in Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Oshima Subprefecture. As of July 31, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 279,851 with 143,221 households, and a population density of 41 ...

on 19 May and was a participant at the Naval Battle of Hakodate Bay, remaining in those waters until the surrender of the last forces of the Republic of Ezo. In 1870, she was demilitarized and sold to a civilian shipping firm operating scheduled services between Osaka and Tokyo. However, later the same year, she was purchased by an American shipping firm for routes throughout the far east, and was renamed ''Daimyo''. Her subsequent fate is not known.

References

External links

Images
Naval History and Heritage Command website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sagamore Ships of the Union Navy Ships built in Boston Steamships of the United States Navy Unadilla-class gunboats American Civil War patrol vessels of the United States 1861 ships Ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy Naval ships of Japan