USS Leslie (1861)

History
United States
Laid down	date unknown
Launched	date unknown
Acquired	early in 1861
In service	1861
Out of service	1865
Stricken	1865 (est.)
Homeport	Washington Navy Yard
Fate	returned to the Army 2 June 1865
General characteristics
Displacement	100 tons
Length	not known
Beam	not known
Draught	not known
Propulsion	steam engine screw-propelled
Speed	not known
Complement	not known
Armament	not known

USS Leslie (1861) was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Navy as a tugboat.

Leslie was a screw tug borrowed from the Union Army by the Navy early in 1861 for duty at the Washington Navy Yard.

Leslie sails to Washington to warn of the CSS Virginia[]

On 9 March 1862, Leslie alerted Union naval forces defending Washington, D.C. of the threat from Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia. However, while she steamed to the mouth of the Potomac River with word of Virginia’s brilliantly successful and ominous foray, plucky USS Monitor was fighting the dreaded Confederate ironclad to a standstill and neutralizing the threat to the Union capital.

Service as a tender on the Potomac River[]

During 1862 and 1863, Leslie served as tender to the Potomac Flotilla. Thereafter, she served at the Washington Navy Yard until returned to the Army at Baltimore, Maryland on 2 June 1865.

See also[]

• United States Navy
• American Civil War

References[]

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.