USS Sachem ( 1861 ) The second Navy vessel to bear the name Sachem , this screw steamer was built in 1844 at New York City , where it was purchased by the Navy on 20 September 1861 . Service history . Battle of Hampton Roads . After towing service in New York Harbor where the Navy was buying vessels to blockade the Confederate coast , " Sachem " , commanded by Acting Master Lemuel G . Crane , got underway on 6 March 1862 and , with , escorted the to Hampton Roads . The ships reached Fort Monroe on the night of the 8th . " Sachem " , was present the next day during " Monitor " s historic engagement with Confederate ironclad ram , CSS " Virginia " , the former . Battle of Forts Jackson and St . Philip . On the 17th , " Sachem " was assigned to the Coast Survey and , with the assistant in charge , soon sailed for the Gulf of Mexico where Flag Officer Farragut was preparing to attack New Orleans . " Sachem " entered the Mississippi on 12 April ; and , " . . . while exposed to fire from shot and shell , and from sharpshooters in the bushes , " her boats surveyed the river from the passes to positions just below forts St . Philip and Jackson . They marked off the channel for Farragut ' s deep draft men - of - war and located firing positions for Comdr . David D . Porter ' s mortar schooners . Whenever riflemen in the underbrush along the river ' s marshy shores fired upon the surveying parties , a few rounds of canister from the Union warships would silence the musketry . However , at night , Confederates managed to undo much of the work of these brave engineers by moving their carefully located stakes and flags . But the triangulation continued ; and , when Farragut moved his fleet up the river on the 15th , charts prepared by the Coast Survey guided each of Porter ' s vessels to a position from which it could fire accurately at one of the forts while suffering minimum exposure to enemy guns . On the morning of the 18th , when the schooners began bombarding the forts , each gunner knew to the yard the distance from his mortar to the target . In the days that followed , whenever a vessel changed its position , an officer of the Coast Survey would immediately calculate the new distance for her gunners , enabling them to resume their extremely accurate fire . " Sachem " , meanwhile , was busy transporting the wounded to the hospital at Pilot Town , mapping the labyrinthine waterways in the vicinity , supplying pilots for military traffic on the river , and helping to refloat after that gunboat had run aground . Farragut , covered by an intense bombardment from Porter ' s schooners , had dashed through the obstructions across the river and past the forts on the night of 23 – 24 April . The outflanked riverine forts surrendered on the 28th . Operations off the coast . " Sachem " , after supporting Farragut near New Orleans , arrived at Ship Island , Mississippi on 5 May , but got underway later that day to reconnoiter Lake Ponchartrain and the Pearl River . Then , on the 7th , she accompanied the steamers of the mortar flotilla to the bar off Mobile Bay to get information and lay buoys for a contemplated attack on that port . On the 8th , when the steamer ran aground on Southeast Shoal under the guns of Fort Morgan , " Sachem " , ignoring the Confederate fire , steamed in to help refloat the ship . The appearance of the Union warships off Mobile Bay prompted Confederate forces to destroy and evacuate the navy yard at nearby Pensacola , Florida . Porter assisted Brigadier General Lewis G . Arnold in occupying and restoring the abandoned works which soon became a valuable Union naval base in the gulf . Few records have been found to help trace " Sachem " ’ s movements during the coming weeks . On 16 May , while writing to the Superintendent of the Coast Survey , Porter mentioned " Sachem " leading three steamers up the Pearl River seeking Confederate gunboats reported there . On the expedition , Mr . J . G . Oltmanns of the Coast Survey was severely wounded by a Confederate rifle ball . " Sachem " ’ s guns quickly scattered the Southern sharpshooters . It is not clear whether this action occurred during " Sachem " ’ s expedition up the Pearl which began on 5 May or took place during a later operation there . A late report states that men from " Sachem " were ashore above Natchez on the 25th , but nothing is known about their mission or about the operation of their ship at the time . Operations off Texas . On the last day of June , Farragut ordered Capt . H . W . Morris , Senior Naval Officer at New Orleans , to man " Sachem " with officers and crew , so the Coast Survey probably returned her to the Navy there about this time . In the same dispatch , he also ordered " Sachem " to blockade Aransas Pass , Texas . Commanded by Acting Volunteer Lt . Amos Johnson , the gunboat served there as tender to bark late in July . On 12 August , she took an unidentified prize in Aransas Bay . Four days later , she and yacht engaged a battery behind a levee . One shot struck the gunboat ' s side and wounded a petty officer before the Union ships silenced the Southern guns . The Confederate artillerymen later returned to their guns and resumed the duel which continued intermittently throughout the day . Two days later , " Sachem " , , and " Arthur " supported a party from sloop , which landed near Corpus Christi , Texas to attack a battery . Fire from the ships enabled the beach party to beat off a counter attack by large bodies of infantry and cavalry . They held their beachhead on the shore until freely withdrawing late in the day after exhausting their ammunition . " Sachem " ’ s commanding officer , Acting Master Amos Johnson , won high praise for his " courage and zeal " during the action . On the night of 6 December , " Sachem " captured a small , unidentified schooner manned by three men and laden with salt . The prisoners told of an armed Confederate schooner which had left Corpus Christi to sound the channel at Corpus Christi Pass . Two boats from " Sachem " got under way the next morning to intercept the Southern ship . They caught sight of their quarry some 28 miles further and gave chase . After pursuing the schooner , " Queen of the Bay " , about 8 miles , the boats forced her ashore . The Confederates abandoned their ship and opened fire on the Union boats from the shore , killing three men and wounding three others including the commander of the boat party , Acting Ensign Alfred H . Reynolds . The Federal sailors then left their boats and retreated overland 30 miles to rejoin " Sachem " at Aransas Bay . Battle of Galveston . " Sachem " , badly needing repairs , proceeded to Galveston where she arrived on 29 December . Two days later , before dawn on the first day of 1863 , Confederate forces surprised the Union Navy ships in that port . During the struggle , " Sachem " and " Corypheus " vigorously supported the Union Army garrison which was under attack . surrendered ; and , after running aground , was destroyed to prevent capture . " Sachem " , under orders of Lt . Comdr . Law , senior surviving naval officer , ran through heavy artillery fire from the shore and escaped to sea . She reached New Orleans about midnight of 3 – 4 January . Vicksburg Campaign . In need of overhaul before the action , " Sachem " was badly cut up during the fighting in Galveston Harbor and had one propeller shot away . But , some two months of repair work at New Orleans restored the gunboat to fighting trim . At that time , early March 1863 , Admiral Farragut was preparing to push up the Mississippi once more to help tighten the stranglehold which Admiral David Dixon Porter and General Ulysses S . Grant were closing around Vicksburg . Once past the Confederate batteries at Port Hudson , he intended to blockade the mouth of the Red River to stop the flow of men and supplies from the west to Southern armies fighting east of the Mississippi . While Farragut approached Port Hudson on 14 March , , " Sachem " , and several mortar schooners were already in position below the forts . That afternoon , as the mortars began a slow bombardment of the lower riverside breastworks , " Sachem " steamed up close to Southern batteries tempting them to reveal the positions of their cannon ; but the Confederate guns spurned the bait and remained hidden . As darkness fell , Farragut moved his assault forces , three steam sloops - of - war — each lashed to a gunboat — and side - wheeler , , up to predetermined positions just out of range of Port Hudson ' s artillery . Shortly after ten , the warships , led by flagship , , and her consort , , got under way and stealthily steamed upstream . About an hour later , guns of the lower battery opened fire . " Sachem " , " Essex " , and the mortar schooners immediately replied . Their fire so hampered the gunners in the lower batteries that they did little damage to Farragut ' s flotilla as it raced up the river , guns ablazing , toward more deadly batteries beyond range of " Sachem " , " Essex " , and the mortar schooners . About an hour past midnight on the 15th , Comdr . Caldwell , in " Essex " , ordered " Sachem " to investigate a ship which had been sighted coming down stream . It proved to be being towed by after the steam sloop - of - war had been disabled and forced to retire from the action . Later , a boat came down and reported that " Mississippi " was aground and in trouble . While " Sachem " steamed to assist the distressed side wheeler , another boat appeared , rowing down , bringing Capt . Smith , " Mississippi " ’ s commanding officer ; Lt . George Dewey , the future hero of Manila Bay ; and word that " Mississippi " had been abandoned . " Sachem " transferred the officers to " Richmond " and then headed back up river . She soon struck a raft , breaking it in two , fouling her propeller , and almost causing her to collide with " Richmond " . A few moments later , blazing " Mississippi " drifted into view and forced " Sachem " , to maneuver desperately to avoid entanglement with that doomed and dangerous derelict . Then , " Sachem " devoted the rest of the night to picking up stray survivors of the side wheeler . During the fighting , " Sachem " ’ s only serious injury was a fracture in the barrel of her 20 - pounder Parrot rifle . After supporting Farragut ' s attack on Port Hudson , " Sachem " was based at Baton Rouge , to help maintain Union control of the lower river . In April , while proceeding to Berwick Bay , La . , to replace which had been captured there on 28 March , " Sachem " developed serious leaks which forced her to return to New Orleans . After repairs had been completed , the ship returned to Berwick Bay ; ascended the Atchafalaya River , bypassing Port Hudson ; and joined Farragut in sealing off the mouth of the Red River and in patrolling the Mississippi above Fort Hudson . This blockade stopped the flow of food and supplies to the Southern riverbank forts at Vicksburg and Port Hudson . When Porter daringly raced his gunboats down the Mississippi past the batteries at Vicksburg , Admiral Farragut decided to leave the river and turn his attention back to the blockade of the gulf coast . On the morning of 8 May , he left his flagship , " Hartford " , and embarked on " Sachem " for passage back down the Atchafalaya to Brashear City , La . , where he boarded a train for New Orleans . " Sachem " then returned by the back route to the Mississippi between Vicksburg and Port Hudson where she served as a dispatch vessel carrying messages and supplies between Army and Navy units besieging those two Southern river strongholds . Early in July , the fall of those fortresses opened the entire Mississippi to Union shipping and freed " Sachem " for duty in the Berwick Bay – Atchafalaya area which occupied the gunboat during the summer . Second Battle of Sabine Pass . Early in September , " Sachem " was assigned to a joint Army - Navy expeditionary force mounted at New Orleans to attack Sabine Pass , Texas . Possession of this port would close another important Confederate blockade running center and provide the Union with a base for a thrust into the interior of Texas . " Sachem " arrived off Sabine Pass on the evening of the 7th , followed across the bar and entered the harbor there the next day . That afternoon , " Sachem " , followed by , advanced up the Louisiana Channel while " Clifton " and moved forward along the Texas shore . " Sachem " and " Clifton " opened fire on the Confederate battery at Fort Griffin , but the Confederate guns remained silent until the Union gunboats were at close range . Then they countered with a devastating cannonade . A shot through her boiler totally disabled " Sachem " and another cut " Clifton " ’ s wheel rope causing her to run aground under the Southern guns . Nevertheless , the damaged gunboats continued their struggle until heavy casualties forced " Clifton " to surrender . " Arizona " and " Granite City " then began to withdraw ; so Lt . Johnson , with no possibility of saving his ship , ordered her Parrott gun spiked ; her magazine flooded ; and her signal book and spy glass destroyed . He then had her flag hauled down and a white flag hoisted . Confederate cotton - clad steamer CSS " Uncle Ben " then pulled up to " Sachem " and towed the gunboat to Sabine City . On 17 October , " Sachem " sailed for Orange , Texas , and operated under the Texas Marine Department supporting the Confederate Army . In March 1864 , " Sachem " was back at Sabine Pass ; and , in April , was said to be commanded by a noted blockade runner of Galveston , John Davisson ; was reportedly laden with cotton and awaiting a chance to slip through the blockade . However , no further record of her career has been found .