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[Creeperopolis]

USS Romeo was a sternwheel steamer that saw service as a tinclad warship during the American Civil War. Completed in August 1862 as a civilian vessel to be used for trade on the Wabash River, she was instead purchased by the Union Navy for military service in the war's western theater in October. Commissioned in December, she cleared naval mines from the Yazoo River later that month before participating in operations against Confederate-held Fort Hindman in January 1863. After the fall of Fort Hindman, Romeo joined an expedition up the White River. In February and March 1863, she was part of the Yazoo Pass expedition, and later that year she fought Confederates at river landings to help isolate Vicksburg, Mississippi, during the Vicksburg campaign.

Later in 1863, Romeo served on the White River for part of the Little Rock campaign, but was in poor condition and required repairs. After these repairs, the vessel was transferred to the Tennessee River. During February 1864, she was part of an expedition up the Yazoo River to Yazoo City, Mississippi. She spent most of the rest of the war patrolling the Mississippi River, encountering Confederate land forces on several occasions. With the war drawing to a close in April and May 1865, Romeo was declared surplus on May 29. Decommissioned on June 30, she was sold on August 17 and was then used in the merchant trade. At some point in her civilian career, she was converted into a sidewheel steamer. Romeo ceased to appear in the shipping registers in 1870.