USS Whitehead, a screw steamer built in 1861 at New Brunswick, New Jersey, served as a gunboat in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.

Whitehead was purchased by the Navy on 17 October 1861 at New York City from D. B. Martin, and commissioned on 19 November 1861, Acting Master Charles A. French in command.

During the next few months, the steamer Whitehead carried out extensive operations against Confederate vessels and shore installations in the sounds and rivers of North Carolina.

Late in September, Whitehead briefly left North Carolina waters to participate in a Federal assault upon Confederate forces gathered at Franklin, Virginia.

On 3 October, Commodore Perry, Hunchback and Whitehead entered the Blackwater River and fired on Rebel troops for over six hours before a barricade placed across the channel necessitated retreat.

On 12 July 1864, she ascended the Scuppernong River to Columbia, North Carolina, and burned a bridge used to transport supplies to Southern troops at Plymouth.

For the closing months of the Civil War, Whitehead, but for occasional runs to Norfolk, Virginia for supplies, patrolled the inland waters of North Carolina.