USS Signal ( 1862 ) USS " Signal " ( 1862 ) — a small 190 - ton steamship — was acquired during the second year of the American Civil War by the Union Navy and outfitted as a gunboat . She also served other types of duty , such as that of dispatch vessel and convoy escort . Built in West Virginia in 1862 . The first ship to be named " Signal " by the Navy — a wooden - hulled , stern - wheel steamer built in 1862 at Wheeling , Virginia ( now West Virginia ) — was purchased by the U . S . Navy on 22 September 1862 at Saint Louis , Missouri . Civil War service . Mississippi River operations . Although no record of her commissioning has been found , it is known that she was in operation on 22 October 1862 , when she departed Carondelet , Missouri and headed down the Mississippi River to join in the campaign against the Confederate river fortress at Vicksburg , Mississippi . Acting Volunteer Lieutenant John Scott was mentioned as her commanding officer in an order issued on 14 November and presumably commanded the ship from the start of her service . " Signal ' s " first weeks were devoted to duty as a dispatch vessel . On 29 November , she and " Marmora " entered the Yazoo River on a reconnaissance expedition and ascended that stream some 21 miles . From time to time , riflemen fired upon the ships from the river banks ; but , in each instance , the ships shelled and dispersed the attackers . That afternoon , the ships returned to the Mississippi unharmed . Yazoo River operations . " Signal ' s " work for the day steaming up and down shallow , winding streams in hostile territory was a sample of the service she would perform throughout her career . She and " Marmora " again ascended the Yazoo on 11 December to obtain information needed for a projected joint Army - Navy expedition in that area to outflank Vicksburg , Mississippi . They discovered Confederates had placed torpedoes ( mines ) in the channel and returned to report and to volunteer to destroy the explosive devices . The next morning , accompanied by , , and , they returned up the Yazoo to destroy the " infernal machines . " During this early mine sweeping operation , one of the torpedoes exploded under " Cairo " , and she sank 12 minutes later . " Cairo " was the first of over 40 Union ships to be torpedoed during the Civil War . The expedition returned to the Mississippi after dark that evening bringing the survivors from " Cairo " . Operations on the White River . On 4 January 1863 , " Signal " got underway in an expedition up the White River to attack Fort Hindman , which surrendered on the 11th , after a three - day battle . About a month later , " Signal " made a reconnaissance up the White River and brought back information of the military situation at Little Rock , Arkansas . Late in February , " Signal " returned to the Yazoo and devoted most of her time probing that stream until Vicksburg fell on 4 July . Return to Mississippi patrolling . During the ensuing months , " Signal " served as a dispatch vessel and patrolled the Mississippi to interdict Confederate commerce especially from the Red River . On 8 December 1863 , " Signal " and defended disabled merchant steamer " Henry Von Phul " , which had been shelled by a Southern shore battery . On 19 April 1864 , " Signal " was ordered to ascend the Red River to Alexandria , Louisiana to protect coal and provision barges waiting there for the use of the flotilla of gunboats Rear Admiral David D . Porter had led farther upstream in the campaign known as the Red River Expedition . On 4 May , " Signal " was ordered " to take on board a bearer of dispatches from Mayor General Nathaniel Prentice Banks and proceed down the river . . . " About 20 miles down stream , the ship was fired upon by Confederate cavalrymen , and she returned the fire with her starboard guns . The engagement continued intermittently until she reached and Army transport " John Warner " some four more miles below . " Signal " burns and crew is captured . " Signal " rounded to and made fast to the stern of " Covington " , and both ships continued to engage the Confederates throughout the day and night . At daylight , the three ships got underway ; but , upon rounding Dunn ' s Bayou , " John Warner ' s " whistle signaled " enemy in sight . " Artillery and small arms fire soon disabled the transport which drifted ashore blocking the channel below the gunboats . In the ensuing battle , " Signal " was disabled and ran aground where she was reluctantly set afire and abandoned by her crew which was captured ashore . The two other ships were also lost . However , most of the crew of " Covington " , along with " Covington ' s " captain , managed to escape and make its way back to safety at Alexandria , Louisiana . Fate of the crew . " Signal ' s " captured crew was held at the Camp Ford prisoner of war camp near Tyler , Texas . The prisoner exchange lists show thirty - nine men from this vessel as being exchanged from this camp . Six of the crew members , Quarter Gunner Charles Asten , Gunner ' s Mate George Butts , Seaman John Hyland , Seaman Timothy O ' Donoghue , Boatswain ' s Mate Michael McCormick , and Pilot Perry Wilkes , were awarded the Medal of Honor for their conduct during the ship ' s final engagement on the Red River .