USS Pocahontas ( 1852 ) The first USS " Pocahontas , a screw steamer built at Medford , Massachusetts in 1852 as " City of Boston " , and purchased by the Navy at Boston , Massachusetts on 20 March 1855 , was the first United States Navy ship to be named for Pocahontas , the Algonquian wife of Virginia colonist John Rolfe . She was originally commissioned as USS " Despatch — the second U . S . Navy ship of that name — on 17 January 1856 , with Lieutenant T . M . Crossan in command , and was recommissioned and renamed in 1860 , seeing action in the American Civil War . As " Pocahontas " , one of her junior officers was Alfred Thayer Mahan , who would later achieve international fame as a military writer and theorist of naval power . Service as USS " Despatch " . " Despatch " , carrying naval passengers and cargo , departed New York on 4 April for the Gulf of Mexico , returned on 12 June , and decommissioned on 4 July for installation of improved boilers and condensers . The ship was in custody of the U . S . Coast Survey Service from January – March 1857 . Recommissioned on 1 March 1858 , " Despatch " departed New York on the 6th to cruise along the Gulf coast seeking ships attempting to smuggle slaves into the nation . She headed north in December , arriving Norfolk , Virginia on the 20th where , following a run to Washington , D . C . to tow to Norfolk , she decommissioned on 2 January 1859 . Rebuilt and renamed " Pocahontas " , 1860 . Rebuilt at the Norfolk Navy Yard , the ship was enlarged to , reclassified a second - class sloop , renamed " Pocahontas " , the first U . S . Navy ship of that name , on 27 January 1860 , and recommissioned on 19 March 1860 , Commander S . F . Hazzard in command . The revitalized warship got under way for the Gulf on the 27th . Arriving Vera Cruz on 16 April , she joined the Home Squadron and cruised along the Mexican coast protecting American citizens and commerce and carrying diplomatic despatches . Fort Sumter and early Civil War . Departing Vera Cruz during the secession crisis , " Pocahontas " arrived Hampton Roads on 12 March , and on 5 April was assigned to the small joint Army - Navy force sent to Charleston Harbor to provision the federal garrison at Fort Sumter . However , she did not reach Charleston Harbor until the afternoon of the 13th , as Major Robert Anderson was surrendering the beleaguered U . S . fort . The next day , she helped evacuate the Union troops and returned north . During the first months of the Civil War , " Pocahontas " patrolled the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers and Chesapeake Bay protecting water approaches to Washington , D . C . against possible Confederate naval attack . She seized steamer " James Guy " off Machodoc Creek , Virginia on 21 May and fired on and damaged Confederate sidewheel steamer , in Aquia Creek , Va . on 7 July . Assigned to the newly established South Atlantic Blockading Squadron , " Pocahontas " departed Washington on 15 October for Newport News , Virginia and sortied from Hampton Roads on the 29th with Flag Officer Samuel F . Du Pont ' s fleet . Bombardment of Port Royal . Under the command of Percival Drayton , " Pocahontas " arrived at Port Royal , South Carolina , either after its defensive forts had been destroyed by other Union vessels or near the end of the battle ; Drayton ' s brother Thomas was commanding Confederate troops on shore in a literal instance of the " brother against brother " phrase used to describe the American Civil War . At the battle , " Pocahontas " was apparently piloted into the anchored by its executive officer , a man who would later achieve international fame as a renowned naval theorist : Lt . Alfred Thayer Mahan . The joint Army - Navy task force captured Port Royal Sound on 7 November , winning for the Union what Du Pont called " the most important point to strike , and the most desirable to have first and to hold . . . " Port Royal , he continued , " alone admits the large ships — and gives us a naval position on the sea coast as our Army is holding across the Potomac . " Subsequent Union naval operations along the Confederate coast fully substantiated Du Pont ' s appraisal of Port Royal ' s strategic value . Blockade duty . During the following months , " Pocahontas " operated along the coasts of South Carolina , Georgia , and Florida , performing blockade duty , reconnoitering rivers and inlets , and supporting amphibious operations . She helped to capture Tybee Island , Georgia on 24 November and assisted in towing ships of the " Stone Fleet " to Maffitt ' s channel and sank them from 20 – 26 January 1862 to block the approaches to Charleston from the sea . From 28 February - 15 March , she participated in an expedition which captured St . Simons Island and Brunswick , Georgia , and Fernandia , Florida . She then continued blockade duty through the spring and early summer . On 14 August , " Pocahontas " and tug " Treaty " fought Confederate troops ashore along some of the Black River while trying to capture steamer " Nina " . Later that month she was ordered north for repairs and arrived Philadelphia Navy Yard on the 31st . Assigned to the West Gulf Blockading Squadron , " Pocahontas " departed Philadelphia , Pennsylvania on 2 October and reported to Admiral David Farragut at Pensacola , Florida on the 18th . The steamer performed blockade duty off Mobile Bay where she captured British steamer " Antona " with a valuable cargo of munitions and merchandise on 6 January 1863 . On 5 March , her guns destroyed blockade running sloop " Josephine " , previously forced aground by near Fort Morgan . After repairs at New Orleans , Louisiana from 6 July - 19 August , " Pocahontas " sailed north . Damaged severely in a storm during the passage , the steamer arrived on 7 September and decommissioned a week later for repairs . End of Civil War , decommissioning . Recommissioned 16 March 1864 , " Pocahontas " sailed for the gulf on 14 April and arrived New Orleans on 9 May . On blockade duty for the remainder of the year , she cruised along the coast of Louisiana and Texas , operating primarily off Sabine Pass . After repairs at New Orleans from 22 December 1864 – 23 April 1865 , the steamer returned to the Texas coast where she served until departing Galveston , Texas on 6 July for the east coast . After stops at Pensacola and Port Royal , South Carolina " Pocahontas " arrived New York on 25 July and decommissioned at the New York Navy Yard on the 31st . Sold at New York on 30 November , the ship was reduced to a bark and served as " Abby Bacon " until 1868 .