Iuka I (SwStr)
A village in northeastern Mississippi, where Union troops under General Rosecrans engaged Confederate forces under General Price in an indecisive battle 19 September 1862.
I
The first Iuka was purchased as Commodore 8 March 1864 from George Griswold of New York. She prepared for service at the New York Navy Yard and commissioned 23 May 1864, Acting Volunteer Lt. W. C. Rogers in command.
Departing New York 7 June, Iuka joined the East Gulf Blockading Squadron at Key West. For the remainder of the war she performed blockade duty cruising in the Gulf of Mexico. This service was briefly interrupted in October 1864 when Iuka escorted a prize steamer from Key West to Boston and then returned to the Gulf. On 31 March 1865 she captured the English schooner Comus sailing from Saint Mark's, Fla., to Havana with a cargo of contraband cotton. After the war Iuka departed Key West 2 June 1865 and reached Boston 12 June. She decommissioned there 22 June and was sold at public auction to Arthur Leary 1 August 1865
