USS Miami ( 1861 ) The first USS " Miami " was a side - wheel steamer , double - ender gunboat in the United States Navy during the American Civil War . " Miami " was launched by Philadelphia Navy Yard on November 16 , 1861 , and commissioned there on January 29 , 1862 , Lieutenant Abram Davis Harrell in command . Service history . Battle of New Orleans . The wooden - hulled gunboat was ordered February 5 , 1862 , to proceed to Ship Island , Mississippi for duty in the Mortar Flotilla organized to neutralize Confederate riverside forts during Admiral David Farragut ' s impending attack on New Orleans , Louisiana . " Miami " reached Ship Island on March 19 and headed for Pass a l ' Outre where she entered the Mississippi River to join Commander David Dixon Porter ' s flotilla . During the next few weeks she was busy preparing for the assault . On April 13 , " Miami " joined , , , and and steamed upstream . A Confederate steamer exchanged fire with Union ships before scurrying upriver to safety . Early in the morning , five days later , " Miami " towed three mortar schooners to predesignated positions below Fort St . Philip and Fort Jackson when the Union ships bombarded the Confederate works which guarded the approach to New Orleans . The shelling continued intermittently until it reached crescendo before dawn on April 24 as Admiral Farragut led his deep draft , salt water fleet up the Mississippi in a daring dash past the forts . " Miami " remained below with the mortar schooners providing covering fire for Farragut ' s ships as they ran the gauntlet . When the Federal vessels had reached safety , " Miami " turned to transporting U . S . Army troops to positions for launching an attack on the forts by land , and continued the task until the forts surrendered to the Navy on April 28 . Farragut ordered the Mortar Flotilla to Ship Island on May 1 to prepare for action against Mobile , Alabama . Porter left Ship Island with his steamers and Vicksburg Campaign . Meanwhile , Farragut , upon returning from a daring expedition up the Mississippi River to Vicksburg , Mississippi had received " stringent orders to send a large force up the river " to join forces with Admiral Charles Henry Davis ' western flotilla in clearing the entire Mississippi Valley . He accordingly sent for Porter ' s mortar schooners to shell the heights of Vicksburg and Memphis , Tennessee which could not be reached by his flotilla ' s guns . " Miami " reached New Orleans on June 7 and spent the following fortnight towing schooners upriver . She reached Vicksburg on June 21 for a week ' s service moving schooners in and out of firing positions and shelling the cliffside batteries herself . On June 28 her guns engaged the Confederate cannon at rapid fire while Farragut ' s ships ran by the Vicksburg batteries to join the armed riverboats of Admiral Davis ' Western Flotilla . The joining of the salt water and fresh water squadrons buoyed morale throughout the North , but the strategic potential of the feat was largely nullified by a lack of ground forces to take and hold key points along the river . Farragut returned to the lower river on July 15 . " Miami " departed Ship Island on September 1 and arrived at Fort Monroe on September 9 . After two months devoted to reconnaissance duty up the James River , blockade duty in Hampton Roads , and refitting , " Miami " got underway from Norfolk , Virginia on November 9 and entered the North Carolina sounds the following day . There she helped enforce the blockade , deterred Confederate military activity and gathered intelligence . Action against CSS " Albemarle " . In an effort to counter the effect of Union naval superiority in the sounds , the Confederacy constructed a number of ironclad s in North Carolina . One , CSS " Albemarle " , built at Scotland Neck , North Carolina , afforded " Miami " the highlight of her service in the sounds . On April 17 , 1864 , Confederate troops launched a sustained attack on Plymouth , North Carolina . Union gunboats moved to support their troops ashore and were promptly taken under fire by the Southern batteries . Next day , the fighting at Plymouth intensified as the Confederates pressed the assault . Union Army steamer USS " Bombshell " was sunk during the engagement , but by 9 : 00 PM , the Southern advance had been halted . Lieutenant Commander Charles W . Flusser reported : " The and " Miami " took part and the general says our firing was admirable . " The southern attack required naval support in order to achieve success , and Flusser added meaningfully : " The ram will be down tonight or tomorrow . " Confederate ironclad " Albemarle " had departed Hamilton , North Carolina on the evening of April 17 , and anchored above Plymouth the following night . Shortly after midnight on April 19 , " Albermarle " weighed anchor and stood down to engage . Meanwhile , anticipating an attack by the ram , Lieutenant Commander Flusser lashed " Miami " and " Southfield " together for mutual protection and concentration of firepower . As " Albemarle " appeared , he gallantly headed the two light wooden ships directly at the southern ram , firing as they approached . " Albemarle " struck " Southfield " a devastating blow with her ram . It was reported that she " tore a hole clear through to the boiler " and " Albemarle " ' s captain stated that his ship plunged 10 feet into the side of the wooden gunboat . Though backing immediately after the impact , " Albemarle " could not at once wrench herself free from the sinking " Southfield " , and thus could not reply effectively to the fire poured into her by " Miami " . At last her prow was freed as " Southfield " sank , and " Albemarle " forced Flusser ' s ship to withdraw under a heavy cannonade . Small steamer and tinclad moved downriver also . The shot of the Union ships had been ineffective against the heavily plated , sloping sides of the ram . Early in the engagement , Lieutenant Commander Flusser had been killed . Brigadier General Henry Walton Wessels , commanding Union troops at Plymouth , noted : " In the death of this accomplished sailor the Navy has lost one of its brightest ornaments . . . " " Albemarle " now controlled the water approaches to Plymouth and rendered invaluable support to Confederate States Army moves ashore , giving the South a taste of the priceless advantage Union armies enjoyed in all theaters throughout the war . On April 20 , Plymouth fell to the southern attack . " Albemarle " ' s threat to Union naval supremacy in North Carolina waters was ended October 27 when Lieutenant William B . Cushing exploded a spar torpedo under the ironclad ' s overhanging armor , tearing a hole in her wooden hull . The drive on Richmond . Shifting to the James River to support General Ulysses S . Grant ' s drive on Richmond , Virginia , " Miami " engaged Confederate batteries at Wilcox ' s Landing , Virginia . Proceeding toward heavy firing , " Miami " had discovered batteries at Wilcox ' s Landing firing on Union transports . She immediately open a brisk cannonade , and after an hour the Confederates withdrew . Next day , " Miami " , accompanied by , drove off batteries which were firing on another group of transports near Harrison ' s Landing , Virginia on the James River . Throughout the embattled South , Union gunboats kept communications and supply lines open despite the efforts of the Confederates to sever them . For the remainder of the war , " Miami " operated in the James River , playing an important role in the naval effort , assisting Grant ' s unrelenting pressures on the Confederate capitol which finally forced the Lee to surrender at Appomattox Courthouse , Virginia on April 9 , 1865 . The double - ender decommissioned at Philadelphia , Pennsylvania on May 22 , 1865 , and was sold at auction in Philadelphia on August 10 , 1865 . " Miami " served American commerce until 1869 .