Myrtle I (Tug)
1862-1865
Any of several evergreen shrubs of the family Myrtaceae having solitary white or pinkish flowers and dark-colored berries.
I
(Tug: tonnage 60; length 75’1”; beam 16'3"; draft 6’1”; speed 10 knots)
The twin‑screw tug Resolute was acquired by the Navy from the War Department on 30 September 1862. Renamed Myrtle on 15 October 1862; and assigned to Rear-Adm. David Dixon Porter’s Mississippi Squadron. During the remainder of the Civil War, she operated out of Cairo, Illinois, providing tug and towing services for the squadron and serving as a dispatch boat. She served on both the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers and in 1865 transferred her base of operations to Mound City, Illinois.
Turned over to the naval station at Mound City on 8 August 1865, Myrtle was sold at public auction less than a fortnight later, on 17 August 1865, to E. H. Ellis.
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
11 August 2022
