USS Miami (Side-Wheel, Double-Ender Gunboat), 1862-67
USS Miami, a side-wheel, double-ender gunboat, was commissioned on January 29, 1862, at Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania. Joining Rear Admiral David G. Farragut's fleet in Mississippi during the Civil War, she helped prepare and capture New Orleans in the spring. Remaining in the area that summer, Miami helped clear the Mississippi river valley of Confederates. Relocating to the North Carolina Sounds area that September to aide the Blockade, she participated in a number of actions, including the April 19, 1864, engagement with the Confederate ironclad CSS Albemarle, where her Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Commander Charles W. Flusser, USN, died. For the remainder of the war, she served in the James River, Virginia, area. Miami was decommissioned in May 1865, sold in August, and served in American commerce until 1869.
A model of Miami can be found in the Civil War section of the National Museum of the U.S. Navy.
Image: NH 57519: USS Miami (1862-67). Artwork by R. G. Skerrett, 1899. NHHC Photograph Collection.
