Prior to her U.S. Navy service, she served as the United States Army tug Erebus.

On 14 April 1862, she accidentally burned to the waterline on the Mississippi River and sank within a half-mile (0.8 km) of Craighead Point, 3,800 yards (3,475 meters) above Fort Pillow, Tennessee.

[1] Erebus was transferred from the U.S. Army to the U.S. Navy on 30 August or 30 September 1862[1] (sources disagree) and renamed USS Laurel on 19 October 1862.

After the war ended in 1865, Laurel assisted in the demobilization of the Mississippi Squadron before decommissioning at Mound City, Illinois, on 12 August 1865.

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.