USS Prairie Bird-- Part 3: Rescuing R.M. Runyan Survivors and Other Operations

The Prairie Bird was assigned to the 6th District of the Mississippi Squadron for most of the remainder of the war and operated between Vicksburg and the Arkansas River.

On July 21 she seized the steamer Union for violation of revenue laws and "giving aid and comfort to the enemy."

On July 23, she rescued 350 of 500 passengers aboard the R.M. Runyan which sank off Skipwith's Landing, and on August  11 she engaged an enemy battery at Gaines Landing, Arkansas, in support of operations there.  In December, the Prairie Bird joined other Union vessels and army units to cut Confederate communications in Mississippi and on the 31st  assisted in the blowing up of a railroad bridge over the Big Black River.

Remaining with the 6th District until March 1865 then it was to Mound City until decommissioned in July.  On 17 August, the Prairie Bird was sold at public auction to Henry Morton.

--Old B-Runner