USS Peoria (1863)

History
United States
Name	USS Peoria
Builder	New York Navy Yard
Launched	29 October 1863
Commissioned	26 December 1866
Decommissioned	5 September 1867
Fate	Sold, 26 August 1868
General characteristics
Class and type	Sassacus-class gunboat
Displacement	974 long tons (990 t)
Length	235 ft 6 in (71.78 m)
Beam	35 ft (11 m)
Draft	9 ft 3 in (2.82 m)
Complement	137
Armament	4 × 8 in (200 mm) Dahlgren smoothbores 2 × 60-pounder Parrott rifles 2 × 24-pounder Dahlgren howitzers 2 × 20-pounder Dahlgren howitzers

The first USS Peoria was a double-ended sidewheel steamer in the United States Navy.

Peoria was built at the New York Navy Yard; launched on October 29, 1863, and commissioned on December 26, 1866, Commander Oscar C. Badger in command.

Assigned to the North Atlantic Station, Peoria got underway from New York on January 6, 1867, for shakedown along the southeast coast. Returning to Hampton Roads, Virginia on March 12, she sailed on April 14 for the West Indies.

Touching at the Virgin Islands, Santo Domingo, Haiti, Puerto Rico, and the Leeward Islands, she then turned north to Hampton Roads before dropping anchor at Portsmouth, New Hampshire on July 28, 1867. Peoria decommissioned there on September 5, 1867, and was sold on August 26, 1868. The USS Peoria is named after Peoria Illinois.

•  This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.