USS Prairie Bird

The USS Prairie Bird (originally the steamboat Mary Miller) was a tinclad Union warship that served in the waters in and around Arkansas during the Civil War.

The Mary Miller was a 171-ton sternwheel paddleboat constructed at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in April 1862, with its hull and framing built by Joel Wall. The steamboat was 158 feet long and thirty feet wide, with a 4.5-foot draft. The U.S. Navy purchased the Miller on December 19, 1862. After it was armored in tin, it became Tinclad #11, the USS Prairie Bird, in January 1863.

The Prairie Bird steamed down the Mississippi River and protected a coal depot above the White River in late February 1863. After serving in Mississippi in mid-March, the ship was stationed at the mouth of the White River in April before going to Memphis, Tennessee, in May; it then patrolled the White and Arkansas rivers into the spring of 1864. The Prairie Bird was involved in the June 28, 1863, skirmish at Gaines’ Landing.

After engaging in operations on the Yazoo River in the spring of 1864, the Prairie Bird was assigned to the Sixth District of the Mississippi Squadron and would patrol between Vicksburg, Mississippi, and the Arkansas River for the rest of the war. The ship seized the steamboat Union in July 1864 “for violation of the revenue laws and giving ‘aid and comfort to the enemy’ by supplying the rebels with provisions and articles contraband of war,” sending the steamer north as a prize vessel. The Prairie Bird witnessed the destruction of the steamboat B. M. Runyan when it struck a snag on July 21, and its crew saved 350 people on board the doomed steamer, while as many as 150 were lost.

On August 11, 1864, the Prairie Bird, along with the USS Romeo, shelled Confederate artillery batteries at Gaines’ Landing after they opened fire on the steamboat Empress; the Prairie Bird lost one dead and three wounded in the engagement.

In December 1864, the vessel moved into Mississippi, cooperating with federal units disrupting Confederate communications and helping to destroy the bridge over the Big Black River on New Year’s Eve. The Prairie Bird would continue operating in the Sixth District until March 1865 when it was sent to Mound City, Illinois, where it was decommissioned in July. Henry Morton bought the vessel at public auction for $8,500 on August 17, 1865.

For additional information:
“From Cairo and Below.” Chicago Tribune, August 18, 1865, p. 1.

“Prairie Bird.” Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/p/prairie-bird.html (accessed May 3, 2024).

The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies. Vol. 26, pp. 505, 515. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1914.

Way, Frederick, Jr. Way’s Packet Directory. Athens: Ohio University Press, 1983, p. 314.

Mark K. Christ
Central Arkansas Library System