USS Wild Cat was a captured Confederate schooner acquired by the Union Navy from the prize court during the American Civil War.

She was put into service by the Union Navy to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries.

Wild Cat—a wooden-hulled schooner captured by the Federal Navy in 1862—served as a tender to warships of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron.

On 13 June, Wild Cat sailed up to Hutchinson's Island, off St. Helena Sound, in company with the gig from the sloop-of-war USS Dale, Lt. W. T. Truxtun, commanding, to investigate a large fire ashore.

Upon arrival in the vicinity, the Union sailors found the burning Marsh Plantation, set afire by a marauding Confederate band.