USS Clover (1863)

USS Clover (1863) was a steam operated gunboat 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.

Clover, a steam tug, was purchased as Daisy on 11 November 1863 from Winsor and Co., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; outfitted at Philadelphia Navy Yard; and commissioned there on 28 November 1863, Acting Ensign J. M. Smiley in command.

Service with the South Atlantic Blockade
Clover sailed on 1 December 1863 to join the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron at Beaufort, South Carolina. She was employed on picket duty guarding the monitors, and on tug and dispatch service until the end of the war.

On 26 January 1865 she captured the schooner Coquette and brought her into Port Royal, South Carolina. After the war, she joined in dragging for torpedoes (mines) off Charleston, South Carolina.

Post-war decommissioning and sale
Arriving at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 26 July 1865, Clover was decommissioned the following day and sold on 21 September 1865.