USS Lafayette ( 1848 ) The first USS " Lafayette " was a side wheel steamer , converted to an ironclad ram , in the United States Navy during the American Civil War . " Lafayette " was built at St . Louis , Missouri , in 1848 as " Aleck Scott " ( often spelled " Alick Scott " ) . She was purchased by the War Department as " Fort Henry " on 18 May 1862 for use in the western flotilla . She was converted to an ironclad ram at St . Louis . Renamed " Lafayette " on 8 September 1862 , she was transferred to the Navy with the entire western flotilla by executive order on 1 October 1862 . She was commissioned at Cairo , Illinois , 27 February 1863 , with Captain Henry A . Walke in command . Service history . Battle of Vicksburg , April – July 1863 . The new ram joined Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter ' s Mississippi Squadron above Vicksburg in time for the famous dash on 6 April 1863 past the deadly batteries which protected the vital Confederate fortress . The gunboat s engaged the southern guns as they shepherded Army transports through the gauntlet to New Carthage . Ram " General Sterling Price " was lashed to the starboard side of " Lafayette " for the passage . The ships were covered with heavy logs and bales of wet hay , which proved to be an excellent defense . Each ship , except , also towed a coal barge . " Lafayette " , hampered by the ship lashed to her side , received nine " effective " shots through her casemate and had her coal barge sunk . Although under fire for 2½ hours , all ships of the squadron were ready for service within half an hour after the passage . The successful steaming of the squadron past the heavy batteries contributed to the early seizure of Grand Gulf , the eventual fall of Vicksburg itself , and ultimately the conquest of the entire Mississippi River . Five days later Porter , in " Lafayette " , reconnoitered the Confederate works at Grand Gulf . He found a " strong fort " under construction and shelled the workers out . When Confederate steamer " Charm " attempted to land supplies for the fort the Union gunboats drove her back up the Big Black River . By the 24th , Porter had stationed his gunboats so that they commanded the upper battery at Grand Gulf and closed off the mouth of the Big Black River . On the 29th Porter ' s ships engaged the heavy Confederate works at Grand Gulf , which , the admiral acknowledged , " were very formidable . " In the 5½ - hour battle , the gunboats silenced the lower batteries but could succeed in stopping the fire from the upper forts only " for a short time . " Meanwhile Army transports passed safely below the batteries . Though " Benton " , , and were " pretty much cut up " in the engagement , the expedition was successful , and the net result was summed up by Porter , " We are now in a position to make a landing where the general [ Grant ] pleases . " The following night Ulysses S . Grant took advantage of this mobility and ferried his troops across the Mississippi and landed them at Bruinsburg for lightning operations to isolate Vicksburg from reinforcements . On 3 May Porter once again moved his gunboats against the Confederate batteries , but the southerners , finding their position totally untenable after Grant had taken his army into the country back of Grand Gulf , had evacuated . The great land - sea pincer could now close on Vicksburg . As Porter reported to Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles , " . . . the Navy holds the door to Vicksburg . " Porter departed Grand Gulf with his gunboat squadron and rendezvoused that evening with the Farragut fleet at the mouth of the Red River . He preceded up the river the next day with " Benton " , " Lafayette " , " Pittsburg " , " General Sterling Price " , rams , and . and joined en route . The evening of 5 May the ships arrived at Fort DeRussy , " a powerful casemated work " which the Confederates had recently evacuated in the face of the naval threat . Porter pushed past a heavy obstruction in the river and proceeded to Alexandria , Louisiana , which he occupied on the morning of the 7th . Subsequently turning the town over to Army troops and unable to continue upriver because of the low water , Porter ' s force returned to Fort DeRussy and partially destroyed it . As the Union noose around Vicksburg tightened , " Lafayette " steamed up and down the river gathering information and dispersing Confederate defensive works . With " Pittsburg " she shelled Simmesport , Louisiana , 4 June , forcing the defenders to abandon strong riverside positions . The gunboats then returned to the mouth of the Red River to resume blockade duty . Exactly a month later , on Independence Day , Vicksburg surrendered , ending a long and valiant siege . Summer 1863 . During the summer and fall " Lafayette " , with other Union ships , patrolled the river protecting Federal communications . On 29 September she and arrived at Morganza , Louisiana , on Bayou Fordeche , to support troops under Major General Napoleon J . T . Dana . There more than 400 Union troops recently had been captured in an engagement with Confederates under Brig . Gen . Thomas Green . The Union ships deterred the Confederates from attacking the smaller force of General Dana , demonstrating the ability of gunboats to vastly strengthen otherwise relatively weak ground forces . Red River Campaign , 1864 . The Mississippi Squadron ' s next major operation took the gunboats up the Red River to open the two - month campaign aimed at obtaining a lodgment across the border in Texas . " Eastport " led the way on 12 March 1864 , followed by ironclads , , and , and wooden steamers " Lafayette " , , , and . When they reached the obstructions which the southerners had taken five months to build below Fort DeRussy , " . . . our energetic sailors , " " Porter observed , " with hard work opened a passage in a few hours . " " Eastport " and " Neosho " passed through and commenced bombarding Fort DeRussy as the Union troops began their assault on the works ; by the 14th it was in Union hands . Porter wrote : " The surrender of the forts at Point DeRussy is of much more importance than I at first supposed . The rebels had depended on that point to stop any advance of Army or Navy . . . " On the 15th , after ordering " Benton " and " Essex " to remain at Fort DeRussy to support the Army detachment destroying the works , Porter convoyed the main body of troops up the Red River toward Alexandria . The Union ships reached Alexandria the next morning and a landing party occupied the town and awaited the arrival of Major General Nathaniel Prentiss Banks ' army , delayed by heavy rains . Slowed by low water and obstructions , Porter pushed his vessels up the river . At Grand Encore he left the heavier gunboats behind , including " Lafayette " , and continued up stream 7 April with three ironclads and three wooden steamers to meet General Banks at Shreveport , Louisiana . Three days later they were stopped at Springfield Landing by a huge steamer , " New Falls City " , sunk athwart the channel . Before this formidable obstruction could be removed , word arrived that General Banks had been decisively defeated in the Battle of Sabine Cross Roads near Grand Encore and was in headlong retreat . Porter had no choice but to withdraw . Falling water and increasing Confederate fire from the riverbank strained the seamanship and ingenuity of the Union sailors in their desperate struggle to avoid being trapped above the Alexandria Rapids . After returning to the Mississippi , ships of the squadron were constantly occupied with safeguarding river transportation from southern attack . On 16 May sidewheeler " General Sterling Price " engaged a Confederate battery which had fired on transport steamer Mississippi near Ratliff ' s Landing , Mississippi . " Lafayette " and " General Bragg " converged upon the battery , and the three heavy steamers forced the Confederate gunners back from the river , enabling the transport to proceed . After the war , " Lafayette " decommissioned on 23 July 1865 and was laid up at New Orleans until sold there on 28 March 1866 .