 "Oliver M. Pettit" was a wooden sidewheel paddle steamer built in 1857 at Williamsburg, New York.The United States Navy purchased her at New York City on 17 August 1861 and commissioned her at the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York, on 4 October 1861, as USS "O. M. Pettit" with Acting Master A. S. Gardner in command.After serving as a tug at the New York Navy Yard, the "O. M. Petit" joined the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron early in 1862 for service in the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America.