USS Myrtle (1862)

The first USS Myrtle was a steamer purchased by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.

She was used by the Union Navy as a tugboat and as a dispatch boat assigned to assist Union Navy ships patrolling Confederate waterways.

Assigned to the Mississippi Squadron
Myrtle, a twin screw tug, was acquired as Resolute by the Navy from the U.S. War Department 30 September 1862; renamed Myrtle 15 October 1862; and assigned to Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter’s Mississippi Squadron.

During the remainder of the Civil War she operated at Cairo, Illinois, providing tug and towing services for the squadron and serving as a dispatch boat. She served on both the Mississippi River and the Ohio River and in 1865 transferred her base of operations to Mound City, Illinois.

She was turned over to the naval station at Mound City 8 August 1865. She was sold at public auction 17 August 1865 to E. H. Ellis.