USS Clifton (1861)

USS Clifton playing a fire hose on a Confederate fire raft on the lower Mississippi River, 17 April 1862
History
Operator:	Union Navy (1862–63) Texas Marine Dept. (1863–64)
Launched:	1861
Acquired:	1861
Commissioned:	1862
Fate:	burned to prevent capture, 1864
General characteristics
Displacement:	892 tons
Propulsion:	Walking beam steam engine side paddle wheels

Union Navy (1862–63)

USS Clifton was a shallow-draft side-wheel paddle steamer, built in 1861 at Brooklyn, New York, as a civilian ferry. The Union Navy bought her early that December, and commissioned her after having her converted into a gunboat. In 1863 she ran aground, was captured and commissioned into the Texas Marine Department. Her career ended in 1864 when she ran aground and her Confederate crew burned her to prevent her recapture.

Clifton steamed from New York to the Gulf of Mexico in February–March 1862. In April she towed mortar schooners into the Mississippi River and supported them as they bombarded the Confederate fortifications below New Orleans. After the forts and city fell later in the month, she operated with Rear Admiral David Farragut's squadron during its drive up the river to Vicksburg, Mississippi. There, on 28 June 1862 Clifton was damaged by enemy gunfire.

Clifton participated in the Battle of Baton Rouge on 5 August 1862.

In October 1862, Clifton took part in the capture of Galveston, Texas. She helped seize Fort Burton, at Butte La Rose, Louisiana, in April 1863. In mid-July, her crew assisted in capturing the sailing bark H. McGuin. Later in the month she fired on Confederate batteries on the Atchafalaya River, Louisiana.