The first USS Tuscumbia was a gunboat in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She was named for the town of Tuscumbia, Alabama, which had been named for a Cherokee chief. Tuscumbia was built in 1862 at Cincinnati, Ohio, by Joseph Brown; launched on 2 December; and commissioned at Cairo, Illinois; on 12 March 1863, Lieutenant Commander James W. Shirk in command. She had two engines for the two sidewheels and two smaller engines for her two screws.