The Baltimore was seized by the Union Army on the Potomac River on April 21, 1861, and turned over to the Navy department where it was commissioned the same month with Lieutenant J.H. Russell in command.
During the Civil War, the Baltimore was used as an ordnance vessel between the Washington Navy Yard and nearby ammunition depots. She was also used to ferry Army troops across the Potomac River.
On 19 May 1861, she ran aground at the mouth of the Potomac and was attacked by a Confederate Navy ram. Nine people were killed. She was refloated with the assistance of the USS Mount Vernon (was at both Battles of Fort Fisher).
After that, the Baltimore saw some service with the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron as a dispatch and supply vessel.
On May 9, 1862, she transported President Abraham Lincoln and Secretaries Edwin M. Stanton and Salmon P. Chase, from Fort Monroe to Norfolk, Virginia, to get a close up view of the destroyed Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia.
The Baltimore was turned over to Norfolk Navy Yard on May 22, 1865, and sold on June 24, 1865, at Washington, D.C.
--Old B-Runner
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