USS Mercedita ( 1861 ) USS " Mercedita " ( 1861 ) was a wooden steamer that served as a gunboat in the Union Navy during the American Civil War . " Mercedita " was built at Brooklyn , New York in 1861 . She was purchased by the Union Navy on 31 July 1861 from J . C . Jewett & Co . , and commissioned at New York on 8 December 1861 , Commander Henry S . Stellwagen in command . Civil War service . " Mercedita " joined the Gulf Blockading Squadron on 3 January 1862 , and the next day chased two vessels attempting to run the blockade ; " Julia " and an unidentified ship ran aground trying to escape and were set afire by their crews . In March , " Mercedita " was ordered to Apalachicola , Florida to relieve in West Pass . There she destroyed the Confederate batteries at St . Vincent Island , Florida on 21 March . She and captured Apalachicola on 3 April . " Mercedita " pursued blockade runner " Magnolia " on 12 April , but during the chase Confederate ships " Whitmore " and " Florida " slipped through the blockade . " Mercedita " captured blockade runner " Bermuda " on 27 April and schooner s " Victoria " and " Ida " on 12 July . In September , she transferred to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron and arrived at Charleston , South Carolina on 19 September . She served on the blockade of Charleston Harbor until the end of January 1863 . On the night of 31 January , CSS " Palmetto State " and " Chicora " , both Confederate ironclad rams , slipped out of the main ship channel of the harbor . They hoped to recapture British iron propeller " Princess Royal " , taken by Union blockaders two days earlier with two powerful steam engines for new Confederate ironclads aboard . " Mercedita " was the first Union ship the southern raiders encountered , and " Palmetto State " succeeded in ramming her , ripping a hole in her keel , piercing her boiler , and leaving her in a sinking condition . Challenged " Surrender or I ' ll sink you , " " Mercedita " — unable to move or bring her guns to bear — struck her colors . However , the Confederate rams — eager for further action — accepted paroles for " Mercedita " s officers and crew and sped off to attack , and before retiring to Charleston . Hardly captured before abandoned , " Mercedita " made temporary repairs before proceeding to Port Royal , South Carolina and Philadelphia , Pennsylvania for complete repairs . In April , she was attached to the West Indies Squadron , to escort California steamers over part of their route , from New York to Aspinwall , Panama . Later that spring , she joined the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and operated from Beaufort , North Carolina for much of the remainder of the year . Joining the West Gulf Blockading Squadron in March 1865 , she saw only brief action with it . In May , she searched for . When the conflict ended , the Union Navy resumed its peacetime activities , protecting American citizens and their property throughout the world . " Mercedita " went to Santo Domingo on 3 August to protect Americans there . Arriving at Ciudad de Santo Domingo on 11 August , the ship found the country in an unsettled political state , but there was no sign of the reported Spanish man - of - war on the southern coast . " Mercedita " departed Santo Domingo on 14 August , touching at Kingston , Jamaica on 17 August for coal " en route " home . Post - war service . Decommissioned on 14 October 1865 , " Mercedita " was sold at public auction at New York on 25 October , and redocumented in merchant service on 9 November . She was converted to a brigantine on 16 June 1879 .