Being a slave ship, the Nightingale was condemned by the New York prize court and then promptly bought by the U.S. Navy, then in serious need of anything that would float and carry guns for the blockade of the South's coasts.
It was commissioned 18 August 1861 under command of Brevet Master David B. Horne.
The Nightingale now carried four 32-pounder cannons.
Fitted out as a collier and store ship, the Nightingale got underway south laden with coal the same day she was commissioned. Stopped at Hampton Roads on the 21st and then left for Key West the following morning. But for occasional trips north for coal and supplies, she served on the Gulf Coast through the first years of the Civil War.
--Old B-Runner
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