and fire one effective shell into the Keystone State while running down to attack us, which (according to Captain LeRoy’s report), killing twenty-one men and severely wounding fifteen, caused him to haul down his flag in token of surrender. The enemy now kept at a respectful distance while preparing their ironclad vessels to sail up more closely. Our Navy Department continued slowly to construct more of these rams, all on the same general plan, fit for little else than harbor defense." -- William T. Glassell, Lt. CSN Hardly captured before abandoned, Mercedita made temporary repairs before proceeding to Port Royal, South Carolina and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for complete repairs. In April, she was attached to the West Indies Squadron, to escort California steamers over part of their route, from New York to Aspinwall, Panama. Later that spring, she joined the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and operated from Beaufort, North Carolina for much of the remainder of the year. Joining the West Gulf Blockading Squadron in March 1865, she saw only brief action with it. In May, she searched for . When the conflict ended, the Union Navy resumed its peacetime activities, protecting American citizens and their property throughout the world. Mercedita went to Santo Domingo on 3 August to protect Americans there. Arriving at Ciudad de Santo Domingo on 11 August, the ship found the country in an unsettled political state, but there was no sign of the reported Spanish man-of-war on the southern coast. Mercedita departed Santo Domingo on 14 August, touching at Kingston, Jamaica on 17 August for coal en route home. Decommissioned on 14 October 1865, Mercedita was sold at public auction at New York on 25 October, and redocumented in merchant service on 9 November. She was converted to a brigantine on 16 June 1879. References Ships of the Union Navy Ships built in Brooklyn Steamships of the United States Navy Gunboats of the United States Navy 1861 ships