Naval History and Heritage Command

Cities in Ohio and Georgia.

I

The first Marietta, a 5‑gun, 28‑oared row gunboat, was built in 1803‑05 by Edward W. Tupper of Marietta, Ohio, as part of the fleet of gunboats President Thomas Jefferson planned to use as America's first line of coastal defense. Marietta was sent down to New Orleans around 1807, but no records are extant that show her subsequent fate. She probably guarded the southern and southeast Atlantic coasts of the United States during the years before the War of 1812.