William H. Brown (1861-1865)
USS William H. Brown, a 200-ton stern-wheel river steamer, was built at Monongahela, Pennsylvania, in 1860 for commercial employment. Acquired by the War Department in June 1861 and transferred to the Navy in September 1862, she served on the Western Rivers as a dispatch and transport vessel throughout the Civil War. On 13 April 1864, while assisting USS Chillicothe during the Red River expedition, she was hit by Confederate artillery fire. Decommissioned and sold in August 1865, William H. Brown operated as a merchant steamer until about 1875.
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