USS Fort Jackson was a wooden sidewheel steamer in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.

She participated in the battles for Fort Fisher, which effectively closed the port of Wilmington, North Carolina to the Confederacy.

Most notably, the surrender of Confederate forces in Texas was signed aboard the ship, formally ending the Civil War in that portion of the country.

In the mid-nineteenth century, Cornelius Vanderbilt developed a profitable trade route from New York to San Francisco.

[6] Vanderbilt's merchant ship Union was converted into the gunboat Fort Jackson at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Fort Jackson was named for the fortification on the Mississippi River that was taken by Flag Officer David Farragut on April 28, 1863.

[9] On 25 July 1863, Captain Henry A. Walke was placed in charge of the ship, and he had the honor of commissioning Fort Jackson on 18 August 1863.

There she joined with steamer Connecticut in an attempt to intercept British arms shipments from Bermuda to Wilmington, North Carolina.

Fort Jackson lay off the island waiting for the Confederate steamer to sail, but was blown off station by a gale.

Second Assistant Engineer John T. Wilson was dismissed from the Navy for gross neglect of duty for burning out one of the ship's boilers.

[17][18] On 21 April 1864, Captain Benjamin F. Sands, her new commanding officer, organized a boat expedition in which her crew crossed the bar to Masonboro Sound, destroyed valuable salt works, and seized 56 prisoners.

The blockade runner left Wilmington for Nassau with a cargo of 600 bales of cotton, but managed to throw about 50 overboard during the chase.

[24] In late 1864, the ship was reassigned from blockade duty to support Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter in his efforts to capture Fort Fisher at the mouth of the Cape Fear River.

The next day, Christmas, Fort Jackson was converted into a hospital ship; small boats transferred her ammunition to Susquehanna.

It is not documented why Fort Jackson was selected for this service, but it is likely that the quality of the ship's surgeon, Phillip S. Wales,[25] played a role.

He was recognized at the time as a superior medical professional, and ultimately rose to become Surgeon General of the United States Navy.

[26] During this first assault, naval gunfire silenced Fort Fisher's guns, but the landing force was unable to take the bastion and was withdrawn.

B. Magruder met with Union Brigadier General E. J. Davis aboard Fort Jackson on 2 June 1865 and signed the formal surrender of Confederate forces in Texas, ending the Civil War in that portion of the country.

[46] After her return in December 1872, she was replaced in the Brazil Line's sailings by the steamer Ontario, a more modern propeller-driven ship.