USS Massasoit, a 1173-ton Sassacus class "double-ender" steam gunboat built at Boston, Massachusetts, was first commissioned in March 1864. However, she did not actually embark on active service until the following August, when she began patrols of the New England coast. In October, the gunboat became part of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and later was employed on the James River, Virginia. She participated in an engagement with Confederate forces on 24 January 1865, and remained on the James until April, when she was transferred to the North Carolina sounds. In June 1865, Massasoit was sent north, decommissioning late in that month. She was sold in October 1867.

This page features our only view of USS Massasoit.

Photo #: NH 100991 USS Massasoit (1864-1867) On the James River, Virginia, 1864-65. Published on a stereograph card circa the 1890s by Taylor & Huntington, Hartford, Connecticut. Note small boat landing in the foreground, and guns trained out on the "double-ender" gunboat Massasoit. The original photograph is the left side of the stereograph pair. Courtesy of Louis H. Smaus, 1986. A stereo pair version of this image is available as Photo # NH 100991-A Online Image of stereo pair: 83KB; 675 x 400 pixels