USS T. A. Ward (1861)

USS T. A. Ward (1861)

USS T. A. Ward (1861) was a 284-ton schooner was purchased by the Union Navy during the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War.

T. A. Ward was initially assigned by the Union Navy for blockade duty in the ports and waterways of the Confederate States of America; however, because of a change in Union strategy, she was redesignated a mortar gunboat, and outfitted with a powerful 13-inch mortar which could fire up onto high riverbank targets, which regular guns could not reach.