USS Howquah was a screw steamer purchased by the Union Navy

Union Navy

The Union Navy is the label applied to the United States Navy during the American Civil War, to contrast it from its direct opponent, the Confederate States Navy...

 in Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

 from G. W. Upton on 17 June 1863, for action against Confederate

Confederate States Navy

The Confederate States Navy was the naval branch of the Confederate States armed forces established by an act of the Confederate Congress on February 21, 1861. It was responsible for Confederate naval operations during the American Civil War...

 commerce raider CSS Tacony

CSS Tacony

CSS Tacony was originally a bark captured by the Confederate cruiser CSS Clarence during the American Civil War and converted into a Confederate cruiser for commerce raiding.The CSS Clarence, commanded by Lt. Charles W...

 which was then preying upon Northern merchantmen during what Professor Richard S. West has called "the most brilliant daredevil cruise of the war."

Search for Tacony

Howquah departed Boston 25 June 1863, with Acting Volunteer Lieutenant E. F. Devens in command, to search for Tacony in the southern section of the Banks of Newfoundland but her quarry had been destroyed the day before she sailed. Taconys captain, Lieutenant Charles W. Read, OSN, in an effort to elude the Northern gunboats who were scouring the sea for his ship, shifted his guns to captured fishing schooner Archer and put the torch to Tacony. He and his crew were captured 3 days later while attempting to escape to sea from Portland, Maine

Portland, Maine

Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...

, in still another prize, Revenue cutter Caleb Gushing .

Blockade duty

When Howquah returned to Boston 3 July, she received orders to sail for Wilmington, North Carolina

Wilmington, North Carolina

Wilmington is a port city in and is the county seat of New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. The population is 106,476 according to the 2010 Census, making it the eighth most populous city in the state of North Carolina...

, for blockade duty. Except for occasional brief interruptions for repairs, she remained in waters off Wilmington until close to the end of the war, usually stationed near New Inlet. There on 5 November 1863 she assisted USS Nansemond

USS Nansemond (1862)

The first USS Nansemond, a side wheel steamer built at Williamsburg, N.Y. in 1862, as James F. Freeborn, was purchased by the United States Navy at New York City on 18 August 1863 from Richard Squires; it was renamed Nansemond and commissioned at Baltimore on 19 August, with Lieutenant Roswell H...

 and Army transport SS Fulton capture CSS Margaret and CSS Jessie after the ship had run the blockade 15 times. Only 5 days later, she took CSS Ella, a small, fast and new side-wheel steamer subsequently serving the Navy as a picket, patrol, and dispatch vessel. Next, on 11 December, she forced an unidentified ship to run on the beach to be wrecked by a heavy sea.

On Christmas Eve she transported troops from Beaufort, North Carolina

Beaufort, North Carolina

Beaufort is a town in Carteret County, North Carolina, United States. Established in 1709, it is the third-oldest town in North Carolina.The population was 4,189 at the 2008 census and it is the county seat of Carteret County...

, to Bear Inlet to ruin salt works vital to the Confederate war economy. Again on 21 April 1864, she joined USS Niphon

USS Niphon (1863)

USS Niphon was a steam operated vessel acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Navy to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries....

 in an attack on salt works on Masonboro Sound. Her guns shelled the beach while a landing party smashed salt-making equipment ashore.

Early morning 7 May 1864, Howquah and five other blockaders engaged Confederate ironclad ram CSS Raleigh

CSS Raleigh

CSS Raleigh may refer to:*CSS Raleigh was a gunboat that served as a tender to CSS Virginia during the Battle of Hampton Roads*CSS Raleigh was an ironclad ram which patrolled the Cape Fear River near Wilmington, North CarolinaSee also...

 and drove her back toward the harbor to run aground and "break her back" while attempting to cross the bar to safety. On 25 September, while chasing and firing on blockade runner CSS Lynx, Howquah was caught in a cross fire from Fort Fisher

Fort Fisher

Fort Fisher was a Confederate fort during the American Civil War. It protected the vital trading routes of the port at Wilmington, North Carolina, from 1861 until its capture by the Union in 1865....

 and from "friendly guns" on two other Union ships, USS Governor Buckingham

USS Governor Buckingham (1863)

The USS Governor Buckingham was a hermaphrodite brig in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. The ship was built under contract by Messrs Maxon Fish & Co., Mystic, Conn., and was offered for sale to the Navy while on the ways; purchased at Stonington, Connecticut, 29 July 1863 by...

 and USS Niphon. In this operation one of her bluejackets was killed and four others were wounded, but her hull was not seriously damaged. CSS Lynx ended up on the beach totally destroyed by fire.

Second Battle of Fort Fisher

Christmas Eve 1864 found Howquah engaged in amphibious operations. This time the objective was Fort Fisher, which protected Wilmington, one of the South's most successful centers of blockade running and her last port for overseas aid. Howquah landed troops who took the Flag Pond Hill battery and bombarded enemy positions to support Union forces ashore. Unfortunately, Major General B. F. Butler

Benjamin Franklin Butler (politician)

Benjamin Franklin Butler was an American lawyer and politician who represented Massachusetts in the United States House of Representatives and later served as the 33rd Governor of Massachusetts....

 nullified this success by ordering his troops to give up their beachheads and return to their ships; and Howquah had the unpleasant task of assisting in the evacuation. But in less than a month, the Northern ships were again attacking Fort Fisher in conjunction with the Army. Howquah anchored off Half Moon Battery 16 January 1865 and fired at targets ashore while her cutters evacuated the wounded. She remained in the area supporting Northern troops and the fleet's landing force with her guns until the last pockets of resistance along the Wilmington waterfront had been snuffed out.

To the Gulf

Howquah was transferred to Key West

Key West

Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida on the North American continent at the southernmost tip of the Florida Keys. Key West is home to the southernmost point in the Continental United States; the island is about from Cuba....

 for duty in the East Gulf Blockading Squadron. She was stationed in Saint George's Sound, Florida, until ordered North 1 June. She decommissioned at Philadelphia 22 June, 1865 and was sold at public auction

Public auction

A public auction is an auction held on behalf of a government in which the property to be auctioned is either property owned by the government, or property which is sold under the authority of a court of law or a government agency with similar authority....

10 August 1865.