The USS Osage along with it's sister ship, the USS Neosho were commissioned in early 1863. These were shallow draft, wooden hulled single-turret monitors designed by Eads. They were the only stern-wheel monitors. The Osage took part in an expedition up the Black and Ouachita rivers and the Red River expedition. The Osage was sunk by a torpedo in Blakely River Ark., 29 March 1865. The Neosho took part in the Red River expedition, attacked a battery near Simmsport La., and operated on the Cumberland River.

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