USS Santiago de Cuba ( 1861 ) USS " Santiago de Cuba " ( 1861 ) was a brig acquired by the Union Navy during the first year of the American Civil War . She was outfitted as a gunboat with powerful 20 - pounder rifled guns and 32 - pounder cannon and was assigned to the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America . Commissioned in New York City in 1861 . USS " Santiago de Cuba " was a wooden , brigantine - rigged , side - wheel steamship built in 1861 at Brooklyn , New York . She was purchased by the Navy on 6 September 1861 at New York City ; and was commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 5 November 1861 , Commander Daniel B . Ridgely in command . Civil War service . Gulf of Mexico operations . The new steamer was ordered to Havana , Cuba , She reached Havana on 17 November . On 3 December , she captured British blockade runner schooner , " Victoria " , at sea some 90 miles west of Point Isabel , Texas , and sent the prize to Galveston , Texas . Four days later , she chased and overtook British schooner , " Eugenia Smith " , but released her for want of evidence justifying a seizure . Thus , she began a career which kept her at sea during much of the Civil War . " Santiago de Cuba " scored next on 26 April 1862 when she took schooner , " Mersey " , of Charleston , South Carolina ; and she captured schooner , " Maria " , on the 30th off Port Royal , South Carolina . Schooner , " Lucy C . Holmes " , laden with cotton , fell into her clutches on 27 May , and the Union side wheeler seized blockade runners , " Columbia " on 3 August and " Lavinia " on the 27th — both off Abaco in the Bahamas . Searching for commerce raiders and blockade runners . In September , " Santiago de Cuba " was assigned to a newly organized " Flying Squadron , " created to seek out and capture Confederate commerce raiders " Alabama " and " Florida " . The squadron caught several prizes but never found the elusive Southern warships . On 21 June 1863 , " Santiago de Cuba " overtook " Victory " off Palmetto Point , Eleuthera Island , ending a long chase after the British steamer had slipped through the blockade off Charleston with a cargo of cotton , tobacco , and turpentine . On the 25th , she took steamer , " Britannia " , in the same area . On 15 July , she boarded steamer , " Lizzie " , east of the Florida coast and sent the prize to Key West , Florida for trial . Late in the year , " Santiago de Cuba " sailed north for repairs and decommissioned on 30 December 1864 . North Atlantic blockade operations . Overhaul completed , the side wheeler recommissioned on 6 June 1864 and resumed her chase . Some three months later , " Santiago de Cuba " took " A . D . Vance " at sea northeast of Wilmington , North Carolina attempting to carry a cargo of cotton to Europe . On 2 November 1864 , blockade runner steamer , " Lucy " , struck her colors in compliance with a demand from " Santiago de Cuba " . Soon thereafter , the steamer began preparation for a new experience . She was assigned to the task force in which Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter attacked Fort Fisher on Christmas Eve , 1864 . During the operation , she protected the landing troops as they went ashore , supported them during the fighting , and covered them as they reluctantly reembarked the next day , under orders of General Benjamin F . Butler , the army commander . Porter immediately began work organizing a new invasion force . The union warships and Army transports returned to the vicinity of Wilmington in mid - January 1865 . After a bloody three - day fight , Fort Fisher fell on the 15th . The next day , " Santiago de Cuba " embarked men wounded in the battle and sailed for Norfolk , Virginia . Medals of Honor . During the Civil War , the following crewmen of the USS Santiago de Cuba were awarded the Medal of Honor : Decommissioning and subsequent career . After the war ended , " Santiago de Cuba " was decommissioned on 17 June 1865 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard . She was sold at public auction in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , on 21 September 1865 . She was redocumented on 16 November 1865 . For more than two decades , she operated in mercantile service . On 7 December 1886 , her engines were removed , and she was rigged as a schooner . Records of her subsequent career have disappeared . References . Pictures of the USS " Santigo de Cuba "