USS Alonzo Child ( 1857 ) USS " Alonzo Child " ( 1857 ) was a side - wheel steamer seized by the Union Navy during the American Civil War . She was used by the Union Navy as a barracks ship in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways . " Alonzo Child " , in the service of the Confederacy . " Childs " , " A . Child " , " A . Childs " , " Child " , and " Childs " — was a large side - wheel " river boat " built in 1857 at Jeffersonville , Indiana . During the next few years , she operated out of St . Louis , Missouri , plying the waters of the Mississippi River and its tributaries . One of her pilots was Samuel Clemens , better known as Mark Twain ( also see photo ) . Early in the Civil War , the ship found herself in waters controlled by Confederate forces and , by the end of 1861 , was apparently serving the Confederate Government . In any case , on 18 December of that year , the South ' s Secretary of the Navy , Stephen R . Mallory , authorized payment of $ 1 , 000 to her owners for the performance of some now unknown service . It seems that at some time during the ensuing 18 months , title to the steamer passed into the hands of the Confederate Government , but no details of the transaction have been discovered . Her engines removed and placed in CSS Tennessee . In the spring of 1862 , when Rear Admiral David Farragut wrested control of the lower Mississippi River from the South , " Alonzo Child " found temporary safety in the Yazoo River . In December 1862 , her engines were removed and taken to Alabama to provide power for one of the Confederate ironclads under construction in that state to assist in the defense of Mobile , Alabama , and ultimately to challenge the Union blockade of that port . The remains of " Alonzo Child " seized by the Union Navy . The fact that these engines were installed in CSS " Tennessee " is supported by the Union Navy ' s inspection of that ironclad ram in August 1864 soon after she surrendered to Rear Admiral Farragut in the closing moments of the Battle of Mobile Bay . " These engines , " the board of inspection reported on 13 August 1864 , " were taken out of the river steamer called the " Alonzo Child " . " " Alonzo Child " considered for use as a fireship . After losing her engines , the former steamer — now reduced to a barge — remained in the Yazoo River anchored at Yazoo City , Mississippi . As Major General Ulysses S . Grant and Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter increased the tempo of their operations against Vicksburg , the Southern defenders of that strategic Confederate cliff - side fortress filled " Alonzo Child " with combustibles to ready her for possible use as a fireship and then moved her down stream so that , as an alternative , she might be employed to obstruct the channel of the Yazoo between Haynes and Snyders Bluffs . On 19 May 1863 , Lieutenant Commander John G . Walker — commanding the ironclad gunboat — found her there , abandoned and " . . . much knocked to pieces . " She had not been set ablaze and apparently had not been sunk . Walker also found " . . . guns , ammunition , tents , etc . . . . " which had been left behind in nearby evacuated Confederate riverbank fortifications . His report of seizing the " . . . 8 - inch , 10 - inch , and 6 - inch rifles . . . in these works " has led some historians to conclude mistakenly that " Alonzo Child " carried these guns . Sent north for reconditioning as a barracks ship . The damage to the former steamer was apparently only cosmetic for , on 25 July , Porter sent her to Cairo , Illinois , with the recommendation that " she will make a good receiving ship or marine barracks . " Picking up 350 POWs for the trip north . " En route " north under tow by Union side - wheeler , she came across " Sam Young " hard aground above the mouth of the White River , " . . . nearly high and dry " with some 350 captured Confederate soldiers and an armed guard on board . " Alonzo Child " embarked the prisoners and their guards and carried them to Helena , Arkansas . Converted into a receiving ship by the Union Navy . After reaching Cairo , Illinois , early in August , the prize was fitted out by the navy yard at Mound City , Illinois , for duty as a receiving ship , and she served there and at Cairo until close to the end of the Civil War . The Union Navy ' s de facto possession of the former steamer was ratified by the Federal court in Springfield , Illinois , when it condemned " Alonzo Child " as a lawful prize on 29 March 1864 . End - of - war demobilization and sale of " Alonzo Child " . As Confederate defenses were crumbling throughout the South and the Navy slowly began to demobilize its Mississippi Squadron , " Alonzo Child " was sold at Mound City on 29 March 1865 .