USS Argosy ( 1863 ) USS " Argosy " ( 1863 ) was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War . She was used by the Union Navy as a supply ship and gunboat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways . " Argosy " , a stern wheeler , constructed at Monongahela . On 24 March 1863 , the Union Navy purchased " Argosy " - a stern - wheel river steamer built in late 1862 and early 1863 at Monongahela , Pennsylvania - and , five days later , placed her in commission , Acting Master William N . Griswold in command . Civil War service . Assigned as a supply ship and gunboat on Southern rivers . On 3 April , she got underway up the Ohio River to join a group of gunboats — commanded by Lt . Comdr . Le Roy Fitch — operating on that river and on its tributaries , the Tennessee River and the Cumberland River . Her duties consisted of patrolling these waters to safeguard their use as lines of communication and supply supporting Union troops then pushing south through the state of Tennessee and , later in the war , into Georgia . She also labored to deny the use of these waters to Southern forces . Leaving behind a path of destruction . For example , on 5 May , she joined four other gunboats in an expedition up the Tennessee River . As they ascended that river , they destroyed " . . . every kind of boat that could serve the rebels . . . " On the 11th , she , , and left and , the division flagship , at Cerro Gordo and continued on upriver to Eastport , Mississippi , " . . . the highest navigable point at that stage of water . " Providing reserve support for General Rosecrans . Their presence far up the Tennessee River provided General William Rosecrans with a possible haven of naval gunfire support to which his troops could retire in the event of a serious setback in an engagement with Confederate forces which , Union leaders then felt , were massing for a major offensive . For a number of reasons — including the assassination of General Earl Van Dorn on 7 May — the Southern push did not materialize , but Argosy ' s operations on this occasion were typical of her service throughout the remaining two years of the Civil War . By this time , the South ' s naval forces had been swept from the Mississippi River and its branches ; and Vicksburg , Mississippi , and Port Hudson , Louisiana , the last Confederate riverside forts blocking Northern shipping , were about to fall . Thus , other than routine patrol and escort duty , little work was left for the gunboat . " Argosy " lands a successful raiding party . One exception occurred on 6 September 1863 when a party from " Argosy " landed at Bruinsburg , Mississippi , to destroy a ferryboat . The Northern sailors also found a small group of horsemen with a large quantity of ordnance supplies . Upon seeing the Union men , the Southerners mounted and rode away , abandoning a " . . . wagonload consisting of 250 , 000 waterproof percussion caps , 1 box containing 5 , 000 friction pruners . . " and a few other items . Confederate ram " Webb " attempts an escape down the river . The end of the war found " Argosy " serving in the 1st District of the Mississippi Squadron which was responsible for the river between New Orleans , Louisiana , and Donaldsonville , Louisiana . In the predawn darkness of 24 April , the Confederate steam ram - which had just emerged from the mouth of the Red River — dashed downstream past " Argosy " in an attempt to escape to sea . False rumors — that President Jefferson Davis and other high officials of the collapsed Confederacy were on board the Southern steamer — heightened interest in her race toward freedom . Her success depended upon the steamer ' s slipping by Union warships without being identified . When her true nature was discovered and a warning of her coming had been wired downriver , her commanding officer , Lt . Charles W . Read , CSN , realized that all chance of safely reaching the Gulf of Mexico had disappeared . As a result , he ran " Webb " on a riverbank , set her afire , ordered his crew to scatter , and attempted to slip away ashore . Post - war decommissioning , sale and subsequent maritime career . " Argosy " continued to serve the Mississippi Squadron as it demobilized during the months following the end of the fighting . One of its last ships , the stern - wheeler , was finally decommissioned at Mound City , Illinois , on 11 August 1865 . She was sold at public auction there on 17 August 1865 to Mr . V . P . Schenck , and was redocumented under her original name on 11 October 1865 . " Argosy " operated commercially on the Mississippi River and its tributaries until she was destroyed by fire at Cincinnati , Ohio , on 7 March 1872 .