USS Ouachita, a 720-ton side-wheel "Tinclad" river gunboat, was built at New Albany, Indiana, in 1861 for civilian use. Taken over by the Confederate Army in early 1863 under the name Louisville, she was used as a cargo ship until captured on the Little Red River, Louisiana, on 13 July 1863 by the U.S. Navy gunboats Manitou and Rattler. She was subsequently taken over by the U.S. Navy, renamed Ouachita and converted to a rather large, lightly-armored gunboat. Commissioned in January 1864, she was assigned to the Mississippi Squadron, and participated in the March 1864 expedition up the Black and Ouachita rivers and the March-May 1864 Red River expedition. After the latter operation, Ouachita engaged in patrol activities. In May and June 1865, after the end of the Civil War, she went up the Red River to take over the Confederate ironclad Missouri. USS Ouachita decommissioned in July 1865 and was sold the following September. After her sale, she was employed as the merchant steamer Vicksburg until she burned on 6 July 1869.

This page features our only views of USS Ouachita.

For images related to Alfred Marshall, who served as Ouachita's pilot during her U.S. Navy service, see: Pilot Alfred Marshall, USN.

Photo #: NH 100000 USS Ouachita (1864-1865) Photographed by A.D. Lytle, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Alfred Marshall served a Pilot on this steamer. Collection of Alfred Marshall. Courtesy of Mrs. William A. McElhiney, 1984.
Photo #: NH 49985 USS Ouachita (1864-1865) Anchored on the Western Rivers, circa 1864-65. This photograph was taken within a few moments of that seen in Photo # NH 100000, and was therefore probably taken by A.D. Lytle, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Photo #: NH 49986 USS Ouachita (1864-1865) On the Western Rivers during the Civil War.
Photo #: NH 55830 USS Ouachita (1864-1865) Wash drawing by F. Muller, circa 1900, depicting Ouachita on the Western Rivers during the Civil War.
Photo #: NH 65466 USS Ouachita (1864-1865) Pen and ink drawing by Samuel War Stanton, depicting the ship operating on the Western Rivers during the Civil War. Collections of the Navy Department, 1967.