USS Heliotrope was a wooden steamer originally named Maggie Baker, which was acquired by the Union Navy for use during the American Civil War.

Heliotrope, a wooden steamer, was originally named Maggie Baker, and was purchased by the Navy from her owner, Stacey Pitcher, at New York City on 16 December 1863.

Heliotrope was assigned initially to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, and sailed soon after her commissioning to Hampton Roads, Virginia, where she served as a tug and ordnance boat.

Returning to routine patrolling in the Potomac River, she embarked with other gunboats on another expedition 16 March, sending her small boats with about 50 men up Mattox Creek.

The small gunboat continued her vital work of choking off Confederate supplies in the Potomac River area until mid-April, when she steamed for New York City, arriving 20 April.