USS Delaware ( 1861 ) USS " Delaware " ( 1861 ) was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy for use during the American Civil War . She had a very active wartime career as a gunboat , and after the war served as a revenue cutter . The steamer was sold to the private sector in 1909 , and disappeared from shipping registers in 1919 . Origins . The " Delaware " — a sidewheel steamer — was the fourth ship to be named " Delaware " by the Navy . She was built in 1861 at the Harlan & Hollingsworth Iron Shipbuilding Company of Wilmington , Delaware . The steamboat , initially called the " Edenton " , was ordered in 1860 by the Albemarle Steam Packet Company . This company was made up of 24 businessmen from northeastern North Carolina who wanted to operate a steamboat in the Albemarle Sound area of North Carolina . According to the agreement , the steamboat would be built using " timbers of bar iron , attached to the hull plating via keepers . " The Packet Company ' s president , Edward Wood of Edenton , grew concerned over the deteriorating situation between the North and the South . Wood ultimately stopped payments over fear that the steamboat , now called the " Virginia Dare " would be detained . ( Hayes Collection , SHC ) Later the " Virginia Dare " was purchased by the Union Navy on 14 October 1861 , and renamed " USS Delaware " . Lieutenant S . P . Quackenbush was placed in command . Assigned to the North Atlantic blockade . " Delaware " s task — during the course of her patrols — was to sink or capture Confederate ships , and to bombard forts and other military installations . Assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron , " Delaware " sailed from Philadelphia , Pennsylvania on 12 December 1861 and stood up the James River on 26 December on patrol . On 12 January 1862 , she sailed for Hatteras Inlet , North Carolina as part of General Burnside ' s expedition against Confederate forces in the North Carolina sounds . " Delaware " took part in the capture of Roanoke Island on 7 – 8 February , and on 10 February she took part in the attack on Elizabeth City , North Carolina , where she shared in the capture or destruction of five Confederate gunboats and two schooners . On 19 February , " Delaware " and seven other gunboats made a reconnaissance up the Chowan River . The purpose of this voyage was to destroy two railroad bridges above the town of Winton . It was during this foray that she was nearly ambushed at the town wharf by a force of Confederate soldiers and artillery hiding among the brush near the dock . Union commander Rush Hawkins , who was in the crosstrees of the foremast , spotted the Confederates and warned the helmsman in time to sheer off . " Delaware " s superstructure was severely shot up by rifle fire , but fortunately the artillery overshot its mark . After pulling away from the dock " Delaware " returned fire and dispersed the Confederate militia . The next day , " Delaware " and the other gunboats returned to Winton . Finding it deserted , the town was burned , partly in retaliation for the ambush . ( Barrett 1963 ) On 13 – 14 March , " Delaware " participated in the capture of New Bern , and captured four vessels . ( DANSF ) Virginia river operations . " Delaware " arrived in Hampton Roads on 2 June for service in Virginia waters until 30 October . She had several encounters with enemy batteries and captured a number of small craft which she sent in as prizes . She returned to operations in the rivers and sounds of North Carolina from October 1862 - February 1863 , when she sailed with in tow , arriving at Hampton Roads on the 11th . Until 5 April 1863 , " Delaware " cruised in the James and York Rivers and Chesapeake Bay , then on the North Carolina coast until 27 November , when she sailed to Baltimore , Maryland , for repairs . On 27 March 1864 , she returned to the waters of Virginia , to patrol and perform picket duty , transport men and ordnance stores , and clear the rivers of torpedoes ( mines ) until the end of the war . U . S Revenue Cutter Service history . Arriving at Washington Navy Yard on 27 July 1865 , " Delaware " was decommissioned there on 5 August and sold on 12 September to the United States Revenue Cutter Service . Commissioned as the USRC " Delaware " , she served as a Revenue cutter homeported at Galveston , Texas in 1865 . In 1868 , she underwent extensive repairs at Baltimore , Maryland and was then reassigned to Mobile , Alabama . " Delaware " was homeported in Pensacola , Florida and renamed the USRC " Louis McLane " in 1873 , honoring the twelfth Secretary of the Treasury Louis McLane . In 1877 she served out of Key West , Florida until 23 October 1903 , when she was sold to the private sector for $ 4195 . Renamed the " Louis Dolive " , she operated until 1919 , when she was removed from shipping registers . ( Canney , 1995 ) , ( Lytle - Holdcamper , 1975 )