USS Stockdale ( 1863 ) USS " Stockdale " ( 1863 ) was a steamer commissioned by the Union Navy during the American Civil War . She served the Union Navy during her struggle against the Confederate States of America , both as a tugboat as well as a gunboat when the occasion demanded . Built in West Brownsville , Pennsylvania , in 1863 . " Stockdale " – a wooden , side - wheel steamer built in 1863 at West Brownsville , Pennsylvania & nbap ; – was purchased by the Navy on 13 November 1863 at Cincinnati , Ohio , from B . T . Laughlin , et al . , under the name " J . T . Stockdale " , and commissioned at Cairo , Illinois , on 26 December 1863 , Acting Ensign John Lowrie in command . Civil War operations . Assigned to the West Gulf Blockade . Renamed " Stockdale " sometime before 19 January 1864 and designated " Tinclad No . 42 " , the gunboat steamed down the Mississippi River and joined the West Gulf Blockading Squadron at New Orleans , Louisiana , on 3 January 1864 . On 8 January 1864 , Acting Master Thomas Edwards assumed command of the ship . Defending New Orleans from recapture . Since rumors were then circulating that Confederate ironclads were about to attempt to recapture New Orleans , " Stockdale " steamed down the Mississippi River to reinforce Admiral David Farragut ' s ships in defending that strategic city , and she served in the West Gulf Blockading Squadron through the end of the Civil War . Most of her service was performed in Berwick Bay , Lake Pontchartrain , and other inland waters along the gulf coast . Under attack by Confederate cavalry . On 16 May 1864 , a landing party from the tinclad gunboat was fired upon by Confederate cavalry at the mouth of the Tohefuncta River . Two officers were captured and one killed before Edwards succeeded in forcing the attackers to withdraw . The Battle of Mobile Bay . The ship was ordered to Mississippi Sound on 23 July to prepare for the impending attack on Mobile Bay . On the morning of 2 August , she anchored off Petit Bois Island . The next day , she steamed to Dauphin Island where all of her boats were used to land troops from Union Army transports . On the morning of the 5th , while David Farragut was leading his squadron into Mobile Bay , " Stockdale " steamed toward Fort Powell and bombarded that Southern fortress . In the months that followed , " Stockdale " continued to serve in the West Gulf Blockading Squadron for the most part , and supported mop - up operations in and around Mobile Bay . Destroying a valuable Confederate salt works . On 8 September , she joined , , and an Army transport for an expedition to Salt House Point , Mississippi , to destroy extensive Southern salt works . Only " Stockdale " and " Rodolph " crossed the bar and entered the Bon Secours River . The salt works were so extensive that boat crews from the two ships worked all day and into the following afternoon before finishing the destruction . Destroying a sawmill and of lumber . On the 11th , " Stockdale " again joined " Randolph " in an expedition — this time up the Fish River to seize a sawmill engine , some livestock , and of lumber . Confederate riflemen fired upon the retiring ships and felled trees ahead of them , but the Union ships broke through the obstructions to safety . The capture of blockade runner Medora . On 8 December , " Stockdale " and captured schooner " Medora " in Mississippi Sound as the blockade runner was attempting to slip to sea laden with cotton . " Stockdale " continued to perform various duties into 1865 . On 8 March , she began support of active operations against Mobile , Alabama , and she continued the duty until the city surrendered on 12 April . Post - war decommissioning and disposal . After the Civil War ended , " Stockdale " continued to operate in the Gulf of Mexico until she was decommissioned on 24 August 1865 at New Orleans . She was sold at public auction there on the same day . Note . Lytle classifies this ship as a stern wheel steamer in his " Merchant Steam Vessels of the United States 1807 - 1868 " , p . 94 .