USS Isaac Smith
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Isaac Smith in commercial service, 1861. Her upper deck was later removed for Navy service
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Name: | USS Isaac Smith |
| Owner: |
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| Builder: | Lawrence & Foulks (NYC) |
| Christened: | Isaac Smith |
| Completed: | 1861 |
| Acquired: | 9 September 1861 |
| Commissioned: | 17 October 1861 |
| Out of service: | 30 January 1863 |
| Struck: | 1863 (est.) |
| Captured: |
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| Fate: | wrecked, 5 June 1863 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 453 tons |
| Length: | 171 ft 6 in (52.27 m) |
| Beam: | 31 ft 4 in (9.55 m) |
| Draught: | 9 ft (2.7 m) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | not known |
| Complement: | 56 |
| Armament: | |
USS Isaac Smith was a steamer 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 1863, she became the only warship in the Civil War to be captured by enemy land forces.
Isaac Smith was built by Lawrence & Foulks in 1861 for passenger-cargo service on the Hudson River. She was purchased by the Navy in New York City from E. J. Hamilton 9 September 1861.
On 16 October she was assigned to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron in time to join Flag Officer Samuel F. Du Pont's assault against Port Royal, South Carolina. An intense hurricane occurred during the voyage south compelling the ship to jettison her guns. Nevertheless, she gallantly ignored her own distress and attempted to assist the Marine Corps transport Governor, which foundered off Cape Hatteras.
During a reconnaissance in force on 4 and 5 November, she engaged and repelled three attacking Confederate steamers and silenced batteries at Hilton Head and Bay Point, South Carolina. Two days later she towed sailing sloop Vandalia into action during the landings which wrested Port Royal, South Carolina, from Confederate hands providing the Union a splendid base for the fleet and combined operations that steadily destroyed the Confederacy.
Isaac Smith participated in operations against the coast of South Carolina until 21 January 1862 when she sailed to join the expedition to Savannah, Georgia, led by Captain C. H. Davis, USN, and Brig. Gen. H. G. Wright of the Army. This operation was primarily a diversionary effort to cover up a projected attack on Fernandina, Florida; but it also provided valuable information about Confederate defenses of the water approaches to Savannah, Georgia, and it interrupted communications between Fort Pulaski and Savannah.
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