USS New Era ( 1862 ) USS " New Era " ( 1862 ) was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War . She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways . " New Era " was also a name initially carried ( until 1861 ) by a " timberclad " ( later ironclad ) . Commissioned at St . Louis , Missouri , in 1862 . " New Era " , a wooden stern - wheel steamer built at Wellsville , Ohio in 1862 , operated on the Ohio River out of Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , until purchased by the Navy at Cincinnati , Ohio , 27 October 1862 ; and commissioned at St . Louis , Missouri , in December 1862 , Acting Master Frank W . F . Flanner in command . Mississippi River operations . " New Era " arrived off Columbus , Kentucky , 24 December 1862 to support the Union army garrison there threatened by a large Confederate force . Confederate possession of Columbus would have seriously disrupted the flow of supplies to the Union fleet and troops then operating against Vicksburg , Mississippi . When the threat subsided , she returned to Cairo , Illinois . Supporting the capture of Fort Hindman . On 3 January she headed down stream again and the next day , with ten other Union gunboats , got underway up the White River in Arkansas , with Union army troops under Gen . William Tecumseh Sherman , to capture Fort Hindman . On the 11th , Rear Adm . David Dixon Porter ordered New Era to take on board , from " Baron de Kalb " and , men wounded during the expedition for transportation to a hospital ship at the mouth of the White River ; then to proceed to Island No . 10 to relieve . Inspecting river boats near Island No . 10 . " New Era " was next stationed near Island No . 10 inspecting river boats out of St . Louis , Missouri , and other Northern ports to prevent illegal trade with the Confederacy . She captured steamer " W . A . Knapp " carrying a contraband cargo 4 February and took steamers " Rowena " and White Cloud under similar circumstances on the 13th . " Curlew " became her prize on the 28th . Acting Lt . Henry A . Glassford relieved Executive Officer William C . Hansford of command 4 March ; and " New Era " captured steamer " Ruth " carrying contraband and Confederate mail on the 12th . Besides taking ships , she also made frequent arrests of smugglers , subversive agents , and other lawbreakers . Her duty on the Upper Mississippi River bore striking resemblance to that of ships on “ Operation Market Time ” patrol off Viet Nam over a century later . On 16 June " New Era " proceeded to a point above Island No . 10 to destroy 9 boats and barges collected there for a Confederate attack on the island . Final river operations of the war . The " New Era " saw action again on 12 April 1864 , when it opened fire on Confederate cavalry under Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest . Forrest ' s troopers were attempting to capture the small Federal garrison of Fort Pillow . The " New Era " added its guns to the defense of the fort until fire from Confederate sharpshooters forced the vessel to " button up " its gun ports . Though Fort Pillow was captured by the Confederates and a large portion of its USCT garrison massacred , " New Era " remained in the area to pick up those who had escaped . Over the next two days the gunboat continued to intermittently shell the woods near Fort Pillow to dissuade the Confederates from establishing a battery or burning a number of barges along the river bank . " New Era ' s " crew also assisted in burying many of the dead from Fort Pillow . When Confederate forces left the area on 14 April , the " New Era " steamed back north toward Island No . 10 with civilian and military survivors of the Fort Pillow Massacre . Through the remainder of the war the steamer operated on the upper Mississippi and its tributaries protecting Union communications on the waterways . Post - war decommissioning and sale . She decommissioned at Mound City , Illinois , 28 June 1865 and was sold at auction there to W . S . Mepham 17 August 1865 .