USS Volunteer (1863)
# USS Volunteer (1863)

The first USS Volunteer was a 209-ton steamer captured by the Union Navy and put to use by the Union during the American Civil War.

Virginia served the Navy in minor roles: as a dispatch boat and tugboat; however, at times, she would also be assigned as a patrolling gunboat.

## Captured by Union Navy forces

Volunteer—originally a Confederate steamer captured off Natchez Island, Mississippi, by Fort Hindman on 25 November 1863—was purchased by the Navy from the Springfield, Illinois, prize court on 29 February 1864.

## Civil War Union Navy service

Volunteer was assigned to the Mississippi Squadron and performed valuable service as a patrol, dispatch, and tow steamer.

Her one major engagement during the war occurred on 14 April 1864 when she helped to drive off a Confederate force which was attacking Fort Pillow, Tennessee.

## Post-war service

After the end of the war in April 1865, Volunteer convoyed naval stores up and down the Mississippi River as Union naval forces in the West deactivated.

## Decommissioning

That summer, she was decommissioned and laid up at Mound City, Illinois, and was sold at public auction there to B. F. Goodwin on 29 November.

