USS Tahoma ( 1861 ) USS " Tahoma " was a built by order of the United States Navy for service during the American Civil War . " Tahoma " was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways . Commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard . " Tahoma " — a wooden - hulled , 4th rate screw gunboat constructed during 1861 at Wilmington , Delaware , by W . and A . Thatcher — was launched on 2 October 1861 ; and commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 20 December 1861 , Lt . Comdr . John C . Howell in command . Civil War operations . Assigned to the East Gulf Blockade . Assigned to the East Gulf Blockading Squadron , " Tahoma " remained with this force for her entire career through the Civil War . On 26 April 1862 , while patrolling east of Sea Horse Key , Florida , the screw gunboat chased a schooner until the quarry ran aground where she was destroyed . Two months later , " Tahoma " raided St . Marks , Florida , burned a barracks and destroyed a battery of cannon before heading out to sea , unscathed . Blockade runner " Uncle Mose " carelessly approaches Tahoma . While patrolling off the Yucatan Peninsula on 7 July , " Tahoma " captured the blockade - running schooner " Uncle Mose " , which had sailed unawares up to where the gunboat had anchored . Comdr . Howell later reported that the Confederate captain was astonished " at finding a man - of - war where we were anchored . " The prize was laden with 115 bales of badly needed cotton . Sending ashore a landing party on Sea Horse Key . After patrol duty in the late summer and early fall , " Tahoma " helped to destroy three important Confederate salt works . On the morning of 6 October , " Tahoma " , and " Somerset " lay to off Sea Horse Key and sent ashore a landing party of 111 men in eight boats . A pre - landing bombardment of shell , shrapnel , and canister fired from the howitzers mounted in two of the boats scattered some 20 to 30 armed Confederate guerrillas . The sailors quickly landed and deployed to cover the boats . Working parties destroyed 28 boilers and burned all buildings in the vicinity . As Howell subsequently reported : Capturing seven blockade runners . While operating along the Florida coast during the first six months of 1863 , " Tahoma " captured seven blockade runners : the cotton - laden sloop " Silas Henry " at Tampa Bay on 8 January ; British schooner " Margaret " off St . Petersburg , Florida , on 1 February ; the yacht " Stonewall " off Pea Creek on 22 February ; schooner " Crazy Jane " , carrying a cargo of cotton and turpentine , near Gadsden ' s Point on 5 May ; cotton - carrying schooner " Statesman " in Tampa Bay on 6 June ; the British blockade - running schooner " Harrietton " off Anclote Key s on 18 June ; and " Mary Jane " , destroyed on the same day at Clearwater , Florida . Also during this period , " Tahoma " engaged a Confederate shore battery at Gadsden ' s Point on 2 April . Attacking and destroying vital Confederate salt works . " Tahoma " and " Adela " landed an expeditionary force at Tampa , Florida , on 17 October 1863 and burned the steamer " Scottish Chief " as well as the sloop " Kate Dale " . Operating out of Key West , Florida , from January 1864 , " Tahoma " launched two daring raids against Confederate salt works in February of that year . On the morning of 17 February , a landing force went ashore in two detachments and marched seven miles inland to destroy salt works at St . Marks , Florida . Ten days later , another force went ashore to destroy an even more distant station near Goose Creek . On the latter occasion , the landing party eluded Confederate cavalry and brought off a dozen prisoners , including a captain from an infantry company . Before their destruction , these two salt works had produced some 2 , 500 bushels of salt — important not only for preserving food but also for making gunpowder . Recommissioned for post - war operations . In the summer , the gunboat steamed north for repairs and was placed out of commission at the New York Navy Yard on 23 July 1864 . After the completion of her overhaul , the ship was recommissioned on 13 April 1865 and operated off the U . S . East Coast until decommissioned at Boston , Massachusetts , on 27 July of the same year . The ship again served on active duty , this time with the Gulf Squadron , from the fall of 1866 into the summer of 1867 . Post - war decommissioning and sale . " Tahoma " was decommissioned for the last time on 27 August 1867 . The ship was later sold on 7 October that same year at New York .