USS Water Witch ( 1851 ) The third USS " Water Witch was a wooden - hulled , sidewheel gunboat in the United States Navy during the American Civil War . She is best known as the ship fired on by Paraguay in 1855 . In 1864 she was captured by the Confederate States Navy , and subsequently was taken into that Navy as CSS " Water Witch . Commissioning and early service . " Water Witch " was launched by the Washington Navy Yard in 1851 and was commissioned during the winter of 1852 – 53 , Lieutenant Thomas Jefferson Page in command . On 8 February 1853 , the gunboat set sail from Norfolk , Virginia , for an extended exploration and survey voyage along the Atlantic coast of the southern portion of South America and of the rivers which drain that part of the continent . Over the next few years , she conducted surveys of the rivers in Paraguay , Argentina , and Uruguay . In February 1855 , while the little steamer was surveying the Río de la Plata , she was fired upon by the Paraguayan Fort Itapirú . The bombardment killed one member of her crew ( helmsman Samuel Chaney ) and ended her surveying mission on the river . The gunboat , however , continued her mission in other areas of the southeastern coast of South America until 1856 . On 8 May 1856 , she returned to the Washington Navy Yard for repairs and went out of commission on the 12th . The ship recommissioned briefly during the summer of 1858 , but her next real active service came after yet another recommissioning on 17 September of that same year . She headed for the coast of South America as part of the Paraguay expedition under Flag Officer William B . Shubrick to exact an apology and an indemnity from Paraguay over the incident which had occurred in 1855 . In January 1859 , " Water Witch " and " Fulton " arrived in Asunción , the capital of Paraguay ; and , backed by the warships , an American commissioner , Mr . Bowlin , began negotiations with the Paraguayans . As a result of that expedition , Paraguay extended a satisfactory apology to the United States , indemnified the family of the slain " Water Witch " crewman , and granted the United States a new and highly advantageous commercial treaty . After the resolution of the difficulties with Paraguay , " Water Witch " resumed her survey missions in that region of the world . That employment , punctuated by periods out of commission in the United States , lasted until the fall preceding the outbreak of the Civil War . She was again decommissioned , this time at the Philadelphia Navy Yard , for repairs on 1 November 1860 . Civil War . She returned to active duty on 10 April 1861 , just two days before General Beauregard ' s bombardment of Fort Sumter opened hostilities between the North and the South . Steaming via Key West , Florida , she joined the Gulf Blockading Squadron off Pensacola , Florida , on 2 May . There , her initial duty consisted of dispatch service and shuttling mail between the blockaders and their base at Key West . She also carried mail to Havana , Cuba . However , later that summer , her duty station was changed to the area around the mouth of the Mississippi River . That duty lasted until the beginning of 1862 . During the intervening months , she made several reconnaissance runs into the mouth of the Mississippi , missions for which her shallow draft made her an ideal ship . During one such incursion , ships of the Federal Fleet were attacked by the Confederate ram " Manassas " and the converted gunboat " Ivy " . " Water Witch " engaged " Ivy " briefly but never encountered the ram which zeroed in on and damaged " Richmond " . The Union ships re - crossed the bar ; and the Confederates retired upriver , " Manassas " having suffered damage to her ram . On 20 January 1862 , the Gulf Blockading Squadron was divided in two to create the West Gulf Blockading Squadron and the East Gulf Blockading Squadron . " Water Witch " was assigned to the latter organization , and her area of operations became the gulf coasts of Alabama and Florida . She served most frequently off Mobile , Alabama and Pensacola , but also performed the familiar duty of dispatch vessel and mail packet . On 5 March 1862 , the gunboat pursued the Confederate schooner , " William Mallory " , for five hours before finally capturing the blockade runner late in the day . In April , she began another period of repairs that lasted until September . On 6 September , she was recommissioned and ordered to join Rear Admiral Samuel F . du Pont ' s South Atlantic Blockading Squadron . She arrived at Port Royal , South Carolina , on 18 September and , by the end of the month , was on blockade station in the St . Johns River in northeastern Florida . On 1 October , " Water Witch " , , and moved up the river as far as St . John ' s Bluff to reconnoiter Confederate batteries situated on the heights . They traded some shots with the heavy caliber battery but soon retired because of well - directed fire from the Southerners . The following day , Federal troops landed and moved inland to isolate the Confederates manning the batteries on the bluff . Thereupon , the Southerners abandoned their guns in haste , and " Water Witch " participated in the unopposed occupation of the former Confederate positions late on the 3rd . Over the next few days , the warship participated in a foray farther up the river to destroy shipping and river barges . On 17 October , she returned to Port Royal to resume her role as a dispatch vessel again . She continued to serve with the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron until February 1863 when she broke down and had to be towed north for repairs . She completed repairs late that spring and returned to Port Royal on 14 June . She performed blockade duty at several points along the coasts of South Carolina , Georgia , and northern Florida , but most frequently at Ossabaw Sound between Ossabaw Island and the Georgia mainland about 15 miles due south of Savannah , Georgia . That remained her primary duty station well into 1864 . On the night of 3 June of that year , a Confederate boat force under the command of First Lieutenant Thomas P . Pelot , CSN , succeeded in boarding and capturing " Water Witch " in Ossabaw Sound after a brief scuffle which cost the Union ship two killed and 12 wounded . { 13 officers and 49 men were captured } . CS losses were 6 killed and 17 wounded . Doubly ironic is that one of the Confederate fatalities was a black man - a river pilot named Moses Dallas - while one of the Union fatalities was black landsman Jeremiah Sills . The only Union man to escape was a " contraband " named Peter McIntosh . The prize was subsequently taken into the Confederate Navy in which she retained the name " Water Witch " . Lt . W . W . Carnes , CSN , commanded the ship during her service for the South . Plans were being made to move her to Savannah for some special assignment , but she remained at White Bluff , Georgia , until 19 December 1864 when the Confederates burned her to prevent recapture . Carnes was later ordered to Columbus , Georgia to take command of the CSS " Jackson " . New life . The National Civil War Naval Museum constructed a full - scale reproduction of the USS " Water Witch " using her original plan drawings at their facilities in Columbus , Georgia . The museum is also home to the " Water Witch " ' s original bell , one of her flags , and an original Bible taken from the ship . The museum ' s Water Witch recreation and exhibit opened to the public on 4 April 2009 .