The first USS Mist was a steamer purchased by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
She was planned by the Union Navy for use as a gunboat stationed off Confederate waterways to prevent their trading with foreign countries.
Mist, a stern wheel steamer built at Allegheny, Pennsylvania, in 1864, was purchased at Cincinnati, Ohio, 23 December 1864, and commissioned at Mound City, Illinois, 3 March 1865, Acting Master W. E. H. Fontress in command.
Documented as a merchant ship, she served American commerce on the Mississippi River and its tributaries until 1874.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.