USS Tioga ( 1862 ) USS " Tioga " ( 1862 ) was a large steamer with powerful guns , acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War . Tioga was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways . " Tioga " constructed at the Boston Navy Yard . " Tioga " – one of 12 double - ended steam gunboats laid down in the summer and fall of 1861 – was launched by the Boston Navy Yard on 18 April 1862 ; sponsored by Mrs . H . P . Grace ; and commissioned on 30 June 1862 , Lt . George W . Rodgers in command . Civil War operations . Assigned to the North Atlantic blockade . The double - ender sailed for Hampton Roads , Virginia , late that day , joined the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron upon her arrival there on 5 July , and promptly ascended the James River to support Union troops beleaguered in a small pocket on the north bank of the river . Maintaining control of the James River for McClellan . Robert E . Lee ' s Army of Northern Virginia had recently defeated General George B . McClellan ' s Army of the Potomac in the Seven Days Campaign and penned the Northern forces in a bridgehead at Harrison ' s Landing where they were protected by the guns of Union warships and fed by Federal supply ships . The Union gunboats , charged with maintaining control of the James for the North to assure the continuation of McClellan ' s waterborne support , constituted an independent division of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron called the James River Flotilla . One of the first ships to " screen an aircraft carrier ” . While in the James River Flotilla , " Tioga " escorted supply ships and frequently exchanged fire with Southern batteries and sharpshooters ashore . One of her more unusual duties during this assignment was the chore of protecting the barge which carried and launched an observation balloon to reconnoiter Confederate positions and troop deployments . Thus , it has been claimed jocularly that she was one of the first warships to screen an aircraft carrier . Supporting General McClellan and defending Washington . During much of August , " Tioga " helped to cover the movement of Union troops as McClellan evacuated the peninsula between the James and the York Rivers and transferred his troops north by water to protect Washington , D . C . After the withdrawal had been largely completed , the James River Flotilla was broken up on 29 August , with a dozen of its ships being transferred to the Potomac Flotilla and the remainder reverting to the direct control of Rear Admiral Louis M . Goldsborough , who commanded the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron . " Tioga " was one of the Union warships sent north to strengthen Federal control of the Potomac River and , by doing so , to beef up the Union forces afloat ready to defend Washington , D . C . At this time , General Robert E . Lee was defeating General John Pope ' s Army of Virginia in the Second Battle of Bull Run , greatly endangering the Federal capital . Reassigned to the West India Squadron . However , before " Tioga " could become an effective part of the Potomac Flotilla , a change of orders reassigned her to the newly established West India Squadron , formed – under the command of Commodore Charles Wilkes – to counter the threat posed by the recent commissioning of the Confederate commerce raider " Florida " and the expected activation of the steam warship then being built for the South in England under the designation 290 which would prey on Northern shipping as " Alabama " . While " Tioga " never encountered either of these adversaries which would win renown under Confederate colors , she did compile an impressive score against blockade runners . Maintaining an impressive score against blockade runners . She took her first prize on 14 February 1863 , when she overhauled " Avon " and sent that English schooner to Key West , Florida , for adjudication . On 13 March , she captured another British schooner , " Florence Nightingale " , laden with cotton and without papers . Nine days later , she made a prize of the English side - wheel steamer " Granite City " . The British sloop " Justina " struck her colors to the gunboat on 23 April . On 20 June , while cruising in company with and , " Tioga " sighted a strange steamer ; and the three Union ships gave chase . When they noticed a large quantity of cotton floating in the water , " Tioga " and " Octorara " hove to and picked up the jettison ed cargo , while " Santiago de Cuba " kept up the pursuit and overtook the English steamer " Victory " which she sent to Boston , Massachusetts , under a prize crew . A week later , " Tioga " captured " Julia " as that English schooner attempted to slip through the Union blockade laden with cotton and rosin . On 25 September , she took Confederate steamer " Herald " which had escaped from the South with a cargo of cotton and naval stores . Reassigned to the East Gulf Blockade . Three days before the gunboat made this capture , orders had left Washington to transfer " Tioga " to the East Gulf Blockading Squadron . After beginning her new assignment , the double - ender participated in the capture of sloop " Last Trial " near Key West ; but thereafter she spent much of the autumn undergoing repairs at Key West . Doing her best in intercepting blockade runners . Early the following year , she resumed her success as a bane to blockade runners . She took an unidentified schooner – laden with salt , liquors , coffee , arms , and other items badly needed by the South – off Grand Bahama Island on 4 January 1864 . On 20 March , she overhauled the sloop " Swallows " – laden with cotton , rosin , and tobacco – and sent her to Boston . About the same time , she chased and overtook the sloop " Oriental " . Crew stricken with yellow fever , ship is sent north and decommissioned . Late in the spring of 1864 , yellow fever broke out on board " Tioga " ; and , on 19 June , she was ordered north . She arrived at Portsmouth , New Hampshire , on the 27th and was decommissioned two days later but remained in quarantine in the lower harbor until October . Post - war operations . After an overhaul had been completed and the Civil War had ended , " Tioga " was recommissioned at Portsmouth on 6 June 1865 and cruised off the New England coast through the summer . In October , the ship was transferred to the Gulf Squadron ; and she arrived at Pensacola , Florida , on 30 November . The double - ender cruised in the Gulf of Mexico , principally off the coast of Texas , through the winter and into the spring of 1866 . Final decommissioning and sale . Ordered north , " Tioga " arrived at New York City on 8 May and was laid up in the navy yard there until she was sold on 15 October 1867 .