USS Leslie (1861)

USS Leslie (1861) was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Navy as a tugboat.

Leslie was a screw tug borrowed from the Union Army by the Navy early in 1861 for duty at the Washington Navy Yard.

Leslie sails to Washington to warn of the CSS Virginia
On 9 March 1862, Leslie alerted Union naval forces defending Washington, D.C., of the threat from Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia. However, while she steamed to the mouth of the Potomac River with word of Virginia’s brilliantly successful and ominous foray, plucky USS Monitor was fighting the dreaded Confederate ironclad to a standstill and neutralizing the threat to the Union capital.

Service as a tender on the Potomac River
During 1862 and 1863 Leslie served as tender to the Potomac Flotilla. Thereafter, she served at the Washington Navy Yard until returned to the Army at Baltimore, Maryland, 2 June 1865.