USS Octorara (1861)

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USS Octorara (1861) was a double-ended, side-wheel steamer used by the Union Navy in the Civil War. Built at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, she was launched on December 7, 1861, and commissioned on February 28, 1862 under Lt. George Brown. She weighed about 829 tons, was roughly 193 feet long, 34 feet wide, with a shallow draft of about 4 feet 10 inches, and could reach around 11 knots. Her armament included one 80-pounder Parrott rifle, one 9-inch Dahlgren smoothbore gun, and four 24-pounder guns. The ship’s name comes from a creek in Pennsylvania, meaning “running water.”

Octorara began blockade duty in March 1862 with the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, later reporting to Ship Island, Mississippi. She served as the flagship for David Dixon Porter’s Mortar Flotilla during Farragut’s expedition up the Mississippi to attack Vicksburg. In the early hours of June 28, 1862, during the attack, her wheel ropes jammed, she drifted into USS Brooklyn’s line of fire, and she was damaged by shells.

On July 24, 1862, while en route to Baltimore for repairs, Octorara captured the British blockade-running steamer Tubal Cain east of Savannah, Georgia, carrying munitions.

Later in 1862 and into 1863, she was part of a “flying squadron” under Commodore Charles Wilkes tasked with countering Confederate raiders like the CSS Alabama and CSS Florida. During that period she helped seize nine Confederate and British blockade runners.

On September 11, 1863, Lt. Cmdr. W. W. Low took command. Octorara arrived in New Orleans on October 19 and joined the West Gulf Blockading Squadron. From November 1863 to March 1864 she assisted the blockade of Mobile, bombarding Fort Powell from February 16 to 29, 1864.

Octorara took part in the Battle of Mobile Bay on August 5, 1864, passing Fort Morgan and helping the Union fleet break through to capture the Confederate ram CSS Tennessee and the gunboat CSS Selma. She endured 17 hits, with 1 man killed and 10 wounded.

She remained in the Mobile area through July 1865, supporting fortifications and taking part in the city’s capture on April 12, 1865. Octorara sailed for New York on July 20, arriving July 29, 1865, and was decommissioned on August 5, 1865. She was sold on November 9, 1866.