Agawam, USS

[Mark Wadsworth]

USS Agawam (1864-1867)

USS Agawam, a 1173-ton Sassacus class "double-ender" steam gunboat, was built at Portland, Maine. Commissioned in March 1864, she was assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. During the year, she was stationed in the James River, Virginia, where she supported mine clearance operations and several times fired on Confederate forces. On 13 August 1864, Agawam was heavily engaged by three enemy shore batteries near Four-Mile Creek, losing three men killed in a four-hour-long battle. In late December 1864, while their ship was under repair at Norfolk Navy Yard, members of Agawam's crew participated in the initial effort to capture Fort Fisher, North Carolina.
From February 1865 to the end of the Civil War, Agawam operated on the inland waters of North Carolina. After the conflict, she served along the Atlantic Coast. Decommissioned in March 1867, USS Agawam was sold in October of that year.

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER