USS Acacia (1863) - South Atlantic

South Atlantic

Her work along the Canadian coast completed, Acacia returned to Boston and resumed her preparation for blockade duty along the coast of the Carolinas. When ready, she proceeded south via Hampton Roads, Virginia, and arrived off Morris Island, South Carolina on the evening of 6 January 1864. The tug served in the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron for the remainder of the war, spending most of her time near Breach Inlet in the line of Union warships outside Charleston Bar. From time to time during her deployment, she had brushes with blockade runners, occasionally forcing the escaping ships to turn back into port and compelling vessels attempting to enter back out to sea.

Ironically, her greatest success came on the morning of 23 December, not when she was on her blockade station, but while she was steaming from Charleston bar to Georgetown, South Carolina, with provisions for screw sloop Canandaigua. As she was passing Cape Romain Shoal, a lookout in the masthead reported two white smokestacks close inshore. Acacia altered course and, "on closing in toward the bar, discovered ... a sidewheel steamer of perhaps 400 long tons (410 t). No colors could be seen." The stranger's decks were crowded with men preparing to abandon her.

Acacia continued "in as near as the depth of water would admit and fired a shell over her." She then lowered her boats, armed them for boarding, and fired another shot over them as they approached the stranded ship. The stranded steamer then sent up white flags as her own boats began pulling toward the mouth of Alligator Creek where they escaped.

Not a soul remained on board the blockade runner when the Union sailors reached her shortly past noon. Upon boarding the prize, they learned that she was Julia, a fast, shallow-draft, iron-hulled vessel built in 1863 at Renfrew, Scotland — apparently for the express purpose of violating the Federal blockade. "Her engine's had been purposely disabled ..." and she was hard aground. The almost heroic efforts of the boarding party managed to get Julia afloat and underway on her own power shortly after daylight on the following morning, and she was ultimately sent to Key West where she was condemned by the prize court.