Silver Lake, a wooden stern-wheel steamer built in 1862 at California, Pennsylvania, was purchased by the Navy on 15 November 1862 at Cincinnati, Ohio, for service in the Mississippi Squadron and commissioned on 24 December 1862, Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Robert K. Riley in command.

On 24 January 1863, Silver Lake and USS Lexington were ordered to join three other ships in the Cumberland River to stop Confederate forces from crossing.

Silver Lake, Lexington, and Robb shelled enemy forces from the town of Florence, Alabama, on 31 March 1863, destroying the cotton works.

Fitch, Silver Lake, Lexington, Brilliant, Robb, and Springfield destroyed the city of Palmyra, Tennessee, on 3 April 1863 in retaliation for Confederate guerrilla forces firing upon a Union convoy.

On the evening of 2 December 1864, an expedition in which Silver Lake was included, surprised Southern batteries near Bell's Mills, Tennessee.