USS William G . Anderson ( 1859 ) USS " William G . Anderson " ( 1859 ) was a barque used by the Union Navy during the American Civil War . She was assigned by the Navy to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries . " William G . Anderson " — a fast sailing bark built in 1859 at Boston , Massachusetts , by C . F . and H . D . Gardiner — was initially owned by Edmund Boynton of Boston and acquired at Boston by the Navy on 23 August 1861 . " William G . Anderson " was commissioned at the Boston Navy Yard on 2 October 1861 , Acting Volunteer Lieutenant William C . Rogers in command . Assigned to the West Gulf Blockade . Standing out to sea on 11 October , " William G . Anderson " joined the West Gulf Blockading Squadron , searching for Confederate privateers in the sea lanes of the West Indies . At daybreak on 12 November , lookouts on the bark made out a sail running before the wind in the Bahama channel and tacked to give chase . When within four miles , those in " William G . Anderson " saw the schooner bear away with the British flag at the main masthead . At 0930 , the Union vessel succeeded in bringing the stranger to , and discovered her to be the Confederate privateer " Beauregard " , seven days out of Charleston , South Carolina . " William G . Anderson " sent over an officer to board the prize , who found that the crew had gotten drunk and was engaged in spiking the privateer ' s sole 12 - pound pivot gun and cutting her rigging and sails . A prize crew took over the erstwhile privateer , and the Confederate crew was placed in irons on board " William G . Anderson " . Searching for blockade runners in the Gulf and the Caribbean . After bringing her prize into Key West , Florida , on 19 November , William G . Anderson set sail a week later . She cruised off Puerto Rico , Cuba , Bermuda , and the Windward Islands into the spring of the following year . She sighted 210 vessels , boarded 66 , and had found Confederate privateers , in her commander ' s words , " rare during that time . " She concluded that cruise at the Boston Navy Yard on 16 April 1862 . Towing away a 60 - ton ship while the guards are asleep . " William G . Anderson " departed Boston on 8 May and joined Rear Admiral David G . Farragut ' s West Gulf Blockading Squadron at Ship Island , Mississippi , off the mouth of the Mississippi River . On 14 June , Acting Master William Bailey and 30 men left the ship under cover of darkness , crossed Mississippi Sound , and sailed about 15 miles up the Jordan River . Penetrating Confederate territory by night , the Union raiders escaped notice by encamped Confederate cavalry and seized the 60 - ton Confederate schooner " Montebello " , a ship used by local forces to transport troops across Mississippi Sound . The raiders managed to tow " Montebello " out into the sound before they were noticed by the Confederate forces in the vicinity . Stopping a ship with 350 kegs of gunpowder hidden in her hold . Departing the Ship Island station on 25 June , the bark patrolled the Southwest Pass of the Mississippi River before she took up a blockade station off Galveston , Texas , on 6 July . At the end of August , while on station off Galveston , " William G . Anderson " bagged her second prize — the English - owned schooner " Lilly " . The cargo manifest for " Lilly " showed that she was apparently carrying only salt , drugs , and quinine . Closer investigation , however , revealed 350 kegs of gunpowder and a consignment letter authorizing the British skipper to turn the material over to the first Confederate Army commander he encountered . " William , G . Anderson " placed a prize crew of six men , under Acting Master C . W . Harriman , on board " Lilly " and sent her to Key West , Florida , while the bark resumed her patrols . On 4 September , she intercepted and captured the schooner " Theresa " , laden with cavalry carbines . Two weeks later , the Union bark bagged another blockade runner , the schooner " Reindeer " ( ex - " Jeff Davis " ) laden with 288 bales of cotton en route to Havana . Continued patrols seeking blockade runners . " William G . Anderson " arrived at Pensacola Bay , Florida , on 3 October and remained there on station , protecting the navy yard until the next spring . Underway on 10 April 1863 , the bark resumed blockade duties off the coast of Texas soon thereafter . On 15 April , she captured the cotton - laden schooner " Royal Yacht " after a six - hour chase . Seven days later , " William G . Anderson " teamed with to capture the schooner " Nymph " which was attempting to run the Union blockade off Pass Cavallo . Just eight days later , " William G . Anderson " spotted a sloop trying to run the blockade and gave chase . About six miles north of the lighthouse at St Joseph ' s Island , Texas , the sloop ran aground and was deserted by her crew . The rough seas that day made it impossible for the Union ship to send men to board the prize ; but , on 3 May , the weather had abated enough to permit an expedition shoreward . Union Navy crew ashore attacked by Confederate cavalry . " William G . Anderson " sent in her launch , second cutter , and gig to take off the cotton from the prize . Two of the boats were just in the edge of the breakers as the gig ' s bow grounded on the beach . At that juncture , Confederate soldiers , under the command of Capt . Edward E . Havvy , CSA , charged down the hill nearby , firing as they advanced . The launch and the second cutter managed to clear the beach although hit several times by rifle fire ; but the enemy captured the ship ' s gig and the five men that had been in it . " William G . Anderson " fired five shots from her pivot gun in an attempt to drive off the enemy , but the ship was beyond effective range . Resuming her Gulf Coast blockade duties . Stationed off Pilot Town , Louisiana , between 27 May and 24 June , " William G . Anderson " subsequently resumed her blockading operations off the Texas coast . On 25 August , she captured the schooner " Mack Canfield " laden with 133 bales of cotton off the mouth of the Rio Grande . Two days later , the armed Union bark bagged the cotton - laden schooner " America " ; and , although the prize capsized while under tow , " William G . Anderson ' s " crew retrieved 40 bales of cotton from the sea . After cruising off Galveston , Texas , " William G . Anderson " departed that vicinity on 17 September and took station off New Orleans , Louisiana . She remained there until 30 November , when she sailed back to Galveston and another stint of blockading off the Texas coast . " William G . Anderson " shifted to Pensacola Bay , Florida , on 19 February 1864 and served there protecting the navy yard until 1 April 1865 . Entering Mobile Bay on 3 April 1865 , " William G . And " erson was there six days later when Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House , Virginia , assuring the speedy end of the Civil War . " William G . Anderson " remained in Mobile Bay into the late summer and was then once more stationed at Pensacola Bay , this time from 13 September to 25 November . Alternating between that port and New Orleans until mid - June 1866 , the bark set course north from Pensacola on 15 June 1866 , bound for the New York Navy Yard . Post - war decommissioning and sale . Arriving there on 30 June , " William G . Anderson " was decommissioned on 21 July 1866 . The erstwhile blockade ship was sold at public auction on 28 August 1866 to A . A . Low and Brother ; her subsequent fate is unrecorded .