USS Thomas Freeborn USS " Thomas Freeborn " was a steam tug acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War . " Thomas Freeborn " was used by the Navy as a gunboat to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries . Civil War operations . Built for the relief of Fort Sumter . " Thomas Freeborn " — a sidewheel steamer built in 1861 at Brooklyn , New York — was one of three steam tugs chartered by the Navy in April 1861 for use in the unsuccessful Fort Sumter relief expedition . She was detained at New York , however , and did not sail with the other two ships , and " Uncle Ben " , On 7 May , she was purchased by the Union Navy and , under the command of Comdr . James H . Ward , joined the newly formed " Flying Flotilla " as his flagship . She departed New York City on 16 May for duty in the Chesapeake Bay and at Hampton Roads , Virginia . Operations in the Virginia area . In Hampton Roads , and " Thomas Freeborn " engaged Confederate batteries at Sewell ' s Point , Virginia , on 19 May . The next day , " Thomas Freeborn " carried Senators Benjamin F . Wade , Zachariah Chandler , and Robert Morrill to Washington , returning to Hampton Roads on 22 May . She again sailed for the Washington Navy Yard on 23 May and took part in the Union occupation of Alexandria , Virginia , on the 24th . " Thomas Freeborn " deployed on permanent blockade and patrol duty in the Potomac River on 27 May . There , , , and " Thomas Freeborn " fired on and silenced Confederate batteries at Aquia Creek , Virginia , on the last day of May . On 24 June , " Thomas Freeborn " and shelled Confederate installations at Mathias Point , Virginia , after having received sporadic shore fire from the batteries earlier . Casualties included Commander James H . Ward who was shot and killed while attempting to land on the point during the evening of 27 June . " Thomas Freeborn " returned to the Washington Navy Yard for repairs on 12 July . Return to the Potomac River Flotilla after repairs at Washington . " Thomas Freeborn " soon rejoined the flotilla , capturing sloop " A . B . Leon " off White House Point , Virginia , on 26 July 1861 . On 4 August , she captured schooner " Pocahantas " and sloop " Mary Grey " in Pohick Creek , Virginia , and , on 10 November , received fire from Confederate batteries on Maryland Point , Virginia , but sustained no damage . " Thomas Freeborn " captured schooner " Mail " and her cargo of salt in Coan River , Virginia , on 1 August 1862 , and seized and burned schooner " Arctic " in Maryland ' s Great Wicomico River on 15 September . She captured sloop " Thomas Reilly " on 1 October at the mouth of Quantico Creek , Virginia . Crew goes ashore to cut telegraph lines . A landing party from " Thomas Freeborn " cut telegraph lines stretching from Occoquan and Fredericksburg , Virginia , to Richmond , Virginia , on 4 October 1862 . On 21 February 1863 , and " Thomas Freeborn " engaged a Confederate battery near Fort Lowry , Virginia ; each vessel received minor damage . " Thomas Freeborn " helped " Yankee " , , and destroy a Confederate encampment under construction at Carter ' s Creek , Virginia , on 29 April . The vessel spent the remainder of 1863 and all of 1864 on patrol and reconnaissance duty along the Potomac River . Searching for the assassins of President Lincoln . " Thomas Freeborn " was repaired at the Washington Navy Yard in early January 1865 . Returning to duty , she captured blockade runner " William Smith " on 3 March in the Piankatank River , Virginia . On 17 April , she was ordered by the Secretary of War , Edwin M . Stanton , to patrol the Chesapeake Bay from Point Lookout , Maryland , to the mouth of the Patuxent River , Maryland , in search of the assassins of President Abraham Lincoln . Finding nothing , she was ordered to proceed to Cherrystone , Virginia , on 1 May 1865 and warned of the expected arrival of Confederate ram " CSS Stonewall " from Europe . The steamer returned to the Washington Navy Yard later in the month . Post - war decommissioning and redocumentation . " Thomas Freeborn " was decommissioned at the Washington Navy Yard on 17 June 1865 and was sold at auction there on 20 July to Anthony Raybold . She was redocumented as " Philip " on 14 September 1865 and finally disposed of in 1887 . References .