The first USS Thistle was a Union Army steamer acquired by the United States Navy during the American Civil War.

Thistle was placed in service and used by the Union Navy as a tugboat and, when the opportunity presented itself, as a gunboat, in the blockade of ports of the Confederate States of America.

Thistle—formerly the Army tug Spiteful—was transferred by the War Department to the Union Navy on 1 October 1862.

Thistle deployed with the Mississippi Squadron as a tug and reconnaissance vessel in October 1862 and participated in the capture of Fort Hindman, Arkansas, on 11 January 1863.

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