The Arago was a wooden hulled, brig-rigged, sidewheel steamer built in 1855 by Westervelt &amp; Sons at New York, New York. Chartered by the Union Army in the Army Transport Service, during the American Civil War for use as a troop transport and in operation with the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron throughout the war, "Arago" was the ship that returned the United States flag to Fort Sumter in April 1865. Returned to transatlantic passenger and freight service after the Civil War, she was sold to the Peruvian government in 1869.