USS John Adams-- Part 2: Service In the Civil War

It arrived back in the United States January 1862, carrying letters for President Lincoln from the King of Siam along with a presentation sword and a pair of ivory tusks.

It was sent to Newport, Rhode Island, the wartime location of the US Naval Academy and served as a training ship for midshipmen. In the summer of 1863, it joined the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron and took station off Morris Island inside the Charleston Bar where it served as flagship of the inner blockade line.

The John Adams sailed into Charleston Harbor after the evacuation of the city by Confederate forces in February 1865.

One of the ship's crewmembers, Coxswain Oliver O'Brien, won the Medal of Honor in 1864 for his service capturing a blockade-runner. Another crewmember, Pierre d'Orleans, was a member of the French royal family.

--Old B-Runner