New National SaStr

New National
(SwStr: t. 1,000; a. 1 12-pdr. r.)

New National, a wooden side-wheel steamer, was seized by Union gunboats at Memphis, Tenn., 6 June 1862, after they had destroyed the Confederate River Defense Fleet.

Placed in service as a transport, First Master A. M. Grant in command, for the War Department's Western Flotilla, New National carried troops in a joint expedition to St. Charles, Ark., where they landed 17 June, stormed Southern earthworks, and won control of the White River for the Union fleet.

Transferred from the War Department to the Navy 30 September 1862, New National served as a receiving ship and as a mail and supply boat for the Mississippi Squadron.

Returned to her owner, Pearson Montgomery, at the intervention of Secretary of the Treasury Chase, 21 March 1863 she was simultaneously chartered by the Navy and kept in service.

After the fall of Vicksburg, she participated in the expedition which captured Yazoo City, Miss., 13 July 1863.

Following service maintaining Union communication and supply lines on the Mississippi and its tributaries through the end of the Civil War, New' National decommissioned at Mound City, Ill., 12 April 1865 and was returned to her owner.