The first USS Mahaska was a wooden, double-ender, sidewheel steamer of the third rate in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.

Mahaska was built at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine, for $130,001.68; launched 10 December 1861 and commissioned 5 May 1862, Lt. Norman H. Farquhar in command.

On 20 June she engaged the Confederate batteries along the Appomattox River and on 1 November destroyed entrenchments at West Point, Virginia.

The following year she took part in the joint expedition against Jacksonville, Florida, 5 February to 4 April, remaining on picket and patrol duty in the St. Johns River until 16 August when she returned to Charleston, South Carolina.

Overhaul completed 16 January 1865, Mahaska returned to Florida waters, capturing the schooner Delia, near Bayport, 17 February.