on blockade running and to a lesser degree privateering. Oregon repeatedly ran the Union blockade, and under the command of Captain A. P. Boardman made 92 "entrance and clearances" to ports through the blockade. Both the Confederate States Army and the Confederate States Navy were selecting vessels for military service, and Oregon and the steamer J. D. Swain were chosen by the Confederate Army that summer. Oregon was armed with an 8-inch (20cm) columbiad and a 12-pounder (5 kg) howitzer, while J. D. Swain was armed with a 32-pounder (15 kg) rifled cannon and another howitzer. In July, the two ships participated in a joint Army-Navy expedition. Launches from the Union blockading force were harassing the Confederate coastline, and the Confederates formed an expedition to counter the threat. About 135 sailors and marines were loaded onto Oregon and J. D. Swain, and the two ships left Lake Pontchartrain on July 5 and headed to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. After spending the next day unsuccessfully looking for Union vessels, the vessels landed at Ship Island, which was located in a strategic place off of the Confederate coastline. The sailors and marines began constructing a small fortification, while Oregon inspected two fishing boats in the area before releasing them. The four cannons on the Confederate ships were taken ashore to defend the island. Oregon and J. D. Swain returned to New Orleans on July 7, and the former returned with the steamer CSS Gray Cloud the next day to bring further men and supplies for the fort. On July 13, Oregon and the steamer CSS Arrow attempted to lure the gunboat USS Massachusetts into the range of the Confederate cannon on Ship Island, but the Union vessel remained at a distance. Oregon was one of two ships that was used to run supplies to the position on Ship Island. The Confederate Army eventually fitted her as a gunboat and placed her under the command of Captain Abraham L. Myers. She was armed with one 8-inch (203 mm) cannon, one 32-pounder (15 kg) gun, and two small howitzers. Worried that the garrison at Ship Island could be easily cut off by the Union Navy and starved into submission, Confederate Major General David Twiggs ordered the island abandoned on September 13. Oregon helped evacuate supplies from the island, and the withdrawal was completed on September 16. In late 1861 and early 1862, much of