P.S. My copy of volume 2 of the DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN NAVAL FIGHTING SHIPS does indeed have a listing for the USS DE SOTO, a side wheeled steamer of 1675 tons, showing that it was purchased at New YOrk in August 1861, and then went on to Florida in December of that same year. It then goes on to give a short synopsis of her service during the war years, and was first decommissioned when she was sent to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in June of 1864.