USS Iris (1863)
Open-knowledge reference entry
USS Iris 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.
Iris was built as Willet Rowe at Brooklyn, New York, in 1863 and was purchased by the Navy in New York City from C. W. Copeland 16 October of that year. She was outfitted as an armed tug and sailed from New York City 2 November to join the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron off Charleston, South Carolina, 6 November. She took station inside the bar at Charleston where she served faithfully during most of the remainder of the war.
Service history
USS Iris steamed with Nipsic to the North Edisto River 8 February 1864 to support a reconnaissance in force undertaken by the Union Army as a diversion to prevent Southern troops in the Charleston area from moving to Florida for action against Brigadier General Truman Seymour. A week later she was back at her old station inside the bar.
On 12 December Iris moved to the Savannah River to be on hand to support General William Tecumseh Sherman at the end of his march through Georgia to the sea where he was assured of supplies and a secure operating base behind the big guns of the Navy. From Savannah, Georgia, she sailed to Port Royal, South Carolina, for repairs, arriving 1 January 1865.
Iris returned to service early in February in time to participate in the expedition to Bull's Bay which diverted Confederate troops from General Sherman's path as he marched north close to the sea ever ready to retire to the coast under Naval protection if necessary.
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