 USS (ex-CSS) Little Rebel
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Confederate States | |
| Name | CSS Little Rebel |
| Launched | 1859 |
| Acquired | January 1862 |
| Commissioned | 1862 |
| Fate | Captured, 6 June 1862 |
 United States | |
| Name | USS Little Rebel |
| Acquired | 6 June 1862 |
| Commissioned | 9 January 1863 |
| Decommissioned | 24 July 1865 |
| Fate | Sold into merchant service, 29 November 1865 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Cotton-clad ram |
| Displacement | 161 long tons (164 t) |
| Draft | 12 ft (3.7 m) |
| Propulsion | Steam engine, screw-propelled |
| Speed | 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Armament | 3 × 12-pounder guns |
Little Rebel was a cotton-clad ram that had been converted from a Mississippi River steamer to serve as the flagship of the Confederate River Defense Fleet in the American Civil War. Sent from New Orleans to defend against the Federal descent of the Mississippi, she was among the force that engaged vessels of the Union Army's Western Gunboat Flotilla at the Battle of Plum Point Bend on May 10, 1862. On June 6, she again was involved in an action with the Federal gunboats, this time at the First Battle of Memphis. In the battle, a shot from a Federal gun pierced her boiler, disabling her, and she was then pushed aground by the Federal ram USS Monarch and captured.
Subsequently, repaired and taken into the Union Navy, she served through the remainder of the war, seeing only limited action. After the war, she was deemed surplus by the Navy Department. Sold, she reentered the merchant service, where she remained until 1874.