USS T . A . Ward ( 1861 ) USS " T . A . Ward " ( 1861 ) 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 . " T . A . Ward " was initially assigned by the Union Navy for blockade duty in the ports and waterways of the Confederate States of America ; however , because of a change in Union strategy , she was redesignated a mortar gunboat , and outfitted with a powerful 13 - inch mortar which could fire up onto high riverbank targets , which regular guns could not reach . Purchased and outfitted in New York City in 1861 . Schooner " T . A . Ward " was purchased by the Union Navy at New York City on 9 October 1861 . While the vessel was being fitted out for blockade duty , she was selected for service in the mortar flotilla being established by Comdr . David Dixon Porter to support Flag Officer David G . Farragut ' s impending attack on New Orleans , Louisiana . The schooner was armed with a 13 - inch seacoast mortar weighing over eight and one - half tons . Two 32 - pounders were also installed to give her a low - trajectory punch . The ship was manned by a crew from the receiving ship and was commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 17 January 1862 , Lt . Walter W . Queen in command . Civil War operations . Assigned to the Mississippi River . Late in January , the schooner sailed for Hampton Roads , Virginia , carrying supplies for schooners and . From that port , she proceeded to Key West , Florida , where Porter ' s flotilla was assembling . Early in March , she proceeded thence to Ship Island , Mississippi , the staging point for Farragut ' s invasion of the South . In mid - March , the schooners sailed to Pass a l ' Outre where they were towed across the bar into the Mississippi River on the 18th . Once inside , they waited almost a month while Farragut ' s steamers labored to get the West Gulf Blockading Squadron ' s deep - draft ships over the bar and into the river and while other preparations were made for Farragut ' s attack on the South ' s greatest city . Attack on Mississippi River forts . On 15 April , revenue cutter towed " T . A . Ward " up the Mississippi River to a position just out of range of the Southern guns in Fort St . Phillip and Fort Jackson . There , the crews camouflaged their ships with bushes and tree branches . On the morning of the 18th , Lt . Queen , who also commanded the flotilla ' s second division , had the schooner towed upstream to a predesignated position on the northeast shore of the river less than 4 , 000 yards from Fort Jackson . Almost immediately , the guns of the fort opened fire on the schooners which , in turn , began lobbing shells into the Confederate stronghold . Damaged by Confederate shells . Early in the action , a near miss upset several barrels of gunpowder in " T . A . Ward ' s " magazine but fortunately did not detonate the explosives . One - half hour later , a shot struck the schooner , damaging her rigging as it smashed through several bulkheads before leaving the vessel through a hole in " T . A . Ward " ' s side a few inches above her waterline . Queen then ordered his division to drop downstream a few hundred yards where the schooner ' s gunners resumed the bombardment as her crew began to repair the damage . The shelling continued for six days and nights . It reached a crescendo in the wee hours of 25 April to distract the gunners in the Southern forts as Farragut ' s fleet raced upstream past the Confederate strongholds to take New Orleans . New Orleans and Mississippi forts surrender . The following day , New Orleans fell ; but Fort St . Philip and Fort Jackson held out until the 28th when they finally surrendered to Porter . On 6 May , " T . A . Ward " retired to Ship Island which the mortar flotilla used as a base for blockade operations to cut off Confederate commerce in the Gulf of Mexico while awaiting Farragut ' s return from the Mississippi to join in an attack on Mobile , Alabama . Early in June , their blockade duty was interrupted by orders which sent the flotilla back up the Mississippi River to support Farragut in an attack on Vicksburg , Mississippi , which he had been directed to undertake by President Abraham Lincoln . Vicksburg operations . A shortage of steamers in the lower river delayed the flotilla ' s ascent of the river , but the mortar schooners were on station below Vicksburg , Mississippi , on 28 June , in time to bombard the Confederate batteries which guarded the river at that point while Farragut ' s deep - draft warships dashed past the Southern guns to join Flag Officer Charles H . Davis ' Western Flotilla in the upper river . While Farragut ' s daring foray past Vicksburg was tactically successful , it was brought to naught strategically by the Union Army ' s want of sufficient troops to take and hold the river fortress . Thus , after a fortnight ' s inconclusive operations with Davis , Farragut — supported again by the mortar boats — dashed once more under the Confederate guns and retired downstream to New Orleans . Union crisis in Virginia . Meanwhile , events had occurred near Richmond , Virginia , which beckoned " T . A . Ward " back to the U . S . East Coast . General George B . McClellan ’ s drive up the Peninsula toward the Confederate capital had been halted by General Robert E . Lee ' s Army of Northern Virginia in the Seven Days Campaign , and the Union ' s Army of the Potomac was beleaguered in a bridgehead at Harrison ' s Landing on the northern bank of the James River . As a result , in an effort to save the imperiled Northern troops , Federal Army leaders in Washington asked U . S . Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles for all possible naval support in the James . In compliance , the Union Secretary of the Navy ordered most of Porter ' s mortar boats back to Hampton Roads , Virginia , where " T . A . Ward " and her sisters arrived on the last day of July . Reassigned to the Potomac River . By this time , however , the greatest danger to the Union Army had passed ; and the mortar vessels were repaired before resuming active operations . When back in top fighting trim , " T . A . Ward " was assigned to the Potomac Flotilla which was then protecting Union communications with Washington , D . C . by water and attempting to stop Confederate traffic across the Potomac River between Maryland and Virginia . Her first contact with the enemy came on the night of 3 and 4 October near Blakistone Island , Maryland , when she captured a large man - of - war boat which was attempting to slip back to Virginia under cover of darkness . The next night , she took two more boats attempting to run the blockade from Breton and St . Clement ' s Bays . Later in the month , the ship sailed to the Rappahannock River for blockade duty . On 29 October , a party from " T . A . Ward " helped to put out a fire in the American merchant ship " Alleghanian " , which had been set ablaze by a group of Virginians . By mid - November , the schooner was back on station in the Potomac and captured the sloop " G . W . Green " ; a seine boat ; and six prisoners near St . Jerome ' s Creek , Maryland . She continued to serve in the Potomac Flotilla until transferred to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron early in the summer of 1863 . Transferred to the North Atlantic blockade . " T . A . Ward " arrived at Hampton Roads on 5 July and soon was stationed off Wilmington , North Carolina , where she served on blockade duty into the autumn . On 26 September , orders from Washington directed her to proceed to waters off Charleston , South Carolina , for duty with the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron . Reassigned to the South Atlantic blockade . On 17 October 1863 at Murrell ' s Inlet , South Carolina , boat crews from the schooner destroyed Southern merchant schooner " Rover " , before that blockade runner could slip to sea laden with cotton . Three days later , a party from " T . A . Ward " went ashore to reconnoiter and obtain fresh water ; but it was surprised by Confederate cavalry . Ten of the Union seamen were captured . On 12 April 1864 , boats from " T . A . Ward " and seized the blockade - running steamer " Alliance " , which the night before had run aground on Daufuskie Island , South Carolina , laden with glass , liquor , and soap . On 16 August 1864 , a boat expedition from and " T . A . Ward " captured some 100 prisoners and a large quantity of arms during a daring raid into Mclntosh County , Georgia . The Union landing party also destroyed a salt works and a bridge across the South Newport River on the main road to Savannah , Georgia . Between the 23d and the 25th of the same month , men from these two ships engaged Confederate pickets along Georgia ' s Turtle River . End - of - war operations . " T . A . Ward " spent the autumn and early winter undergoing repairs at Port Royal , South Carolina ; but , by New Year ' s Day 1865 , she was on blockade duty off Charleston , South Carolina , and she served in nearby waters through the end of the Civil War . Post - war decommissioning . In June 1865 , she was detached and sailed north . The schooner arrived at Portsmouth , New Hampshire , on 15 July 1865 , was decommissioned there on 22 July 1865 , and was sold on 25 September 1865 .