USS Wyandotte ( 1853 ) USS " Wyandotte , originally USS " Western Port , was a steamer acquired by the Navy as a gunboat for the Paraguay Expedition in 1858 . When the crisis of the American Civil War occurred , she operated in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways . Paraguay expedition of 1858 . " Western Port " – a former merchant steamer built at Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , in 1853 – was chartered by the United States Department of the Navy in the autumn of 1858 to participate in an American naval expedition up the Paraná River to Asunción , Paraguay . After the vessel had been fitted out as a gunboat , she was commissioned as USS " Western Port " on 27 October 1858 , Commander Thomas T . Hunter in command . Conflict with Paraguay . " Western Port " soon sailed for South American waters and – at Montevideo , Uruguay , – joined the task force commanded by Flag Officer William Branford Shubrick , which had been assembled to support the negotiations of United States Commissioner to Paraguay , James Butler Bowlin . President of the United States James Buchanan had appointed Bowlin to seek redress for the shelling of the U . S . Navy sidewheel gunboat in 1855 , which had resulted in the death of the American ship ' s helmsman . The Paraguay expedition got underway from Montevideo on 30 December 1858 and ascended the Rio de la Plata , the Paraná River , and the Paraguay River . She arrived off Asunción on 25 January 1859 , and Bowlin went ashore to conduct negotiations which succeeded in winning an apology to the United States and a large indemnity for survivors of the dead helmsman . Bowling also signed a new commercial treaty between the United States and Paraguay . After the conclusion of the negotiations , " Western Port " returned to the United States and was decommissioned on 28 May 1859 . She was purchased by the Navy Department on 6 June 1859 and renamed " Wyandotte " . As USS " Wyandotte " . After repairs , " Wyandotte " was recommissioned on 19 September 1859 and assigned to the Home Squadron . She spent much of the next year cruising – for the most part in the Caribbean – in an effort to suppress the slave trade . Captures slave ship " William " . On 9 May 1860 , " Wyandotte " captured the barque " William " – a slave ship carrying 570 Africans at the time of her capture – off the Isle of Pines near the south coast of Cuba . She took her prize to Florida and arrived at Key West , Florida , on 12 May 1860 . The ship landed the slaves on 16 May , turned the prize over to a United States Marshall on 22 May , and soon resumed her cruising . Operations at Key West . As the threat of secession of the Southern United States grew in the mid - and late autumn of 1860 , " Wyandotte " guarded and reprovisioned United States Government military installations along the United States Gulf Coast . On 16 November 1860 , she was ordered to protect Fort Taylor at Key West , Florida , while the steamer watched Fort Jefferson . These actions saved Key West for the Union , permitting its wartime use as the home port of the U . S . Navy ' s Gulf Blockading Squadron . American Civil War . Escape from Pensacola . In mid - December 1860 , " Wyandotte " steamed to Pensacola , Florida , and entered the drydock at Pensacola Navy Yard to have her fouled bottom scraped and to receive minor repairs . She was refloated on 9 January 1861 and refused to surrender when Confederate forces took over the navy yard three days later . Instead , she towed the stores ship out to sea . " Wyandotte " remained in Pensacola Bay , performing valuable observation and communication duty . She transported troops from Fort Barrancas , Florida , to Fort Pickens on 10 February 1861 and regularly patrolled the inner shore of Santa Rosa Island , Florida , to prevent Confederate soldiers from attacking Fort Pickens by land . Reinforcement of Fort Pickens . " Wyandotte " took part in the nighttime reinforcement of Fort Pickens on 12 April 1861 , the day the American Civil War began with the Confederate shelling of Fort Sumter in South Carolina . With the outbreak of hostilities , " Wyandotte " joined the Gulf Blockading Squadron on 17 May 1861 . After carrying out patrol and transport assignments , she proceeded to the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn , New York , for major repairs , arriving there on 23 August 1861 . South Atlantic Blockading Squadron . On 5 December 1861 , " Wyandotte " departed New York City bound for Port Royal , South Carolina , and duty with the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron . From there , she was dispatched to Tybee Island , Georgia , for reconnaissance work on 19 December 1861 and then was transferred to the blockade off Wassaw Sound , Georgia , on 23 February 1862 . " Wyandotte " returned to Port Royal in late April 1862 and proceeded to the blockade off Mosquito Inlet , Florida , on 12 May 1862 . She returned to Port Royal in July 1862 , and arrived in New York City a second time on 25 July 1862 for extensive repairs at the New York Navy Yard . North Atlantic Blockading Squadron . " Wyandotte " left the navy yard on 1 September 1862 for duty in the Potomac River with the Potomac Flotilla . She was reassigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron at Hampton Roads , Virginia , on 7 October 1862 , deploying off Fort Monroe , Virginia , as a guard ship . On detail , " Wyandotte " salvaged valuable supplies from the schooner " Marie Banks " , wrecked off Cape Henry Light , Virginia , on 10 February 1863 . She was repaired at the Norfolk Navy Yard in Portsmouth , Virginia , and got underway again on 11 April 1863 to resume blockade duty . However , badly strained , " Wyandotte " could no longer withstand rolling seas and was condemned as fit for guard duty only on 3 October 1863 . She spent the remainder of the war off Norfolk , Virginia . Post - war decommissioning . " Wyandotte " was decommissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 3 June 1865 and was sold at auction there on 12 July 1865 . She was redocumented for merchant service on 23 September 1865 , but was stranded when she ran aground off Duxbury , Massachusetts , on 26 January 1866 and was damaged beyond economical repair .