USS James Adger was a sidewheel steamer in the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She retained her former name. Before being pressed into service by the United States Navy, the SS James Adger was a United States Mail Steamship operating between Charleston, South Carolina and New York City, New York. Owned by James Adger II (James Adger & Co) of Charleston, she was seized while in New York City at the outset of the Civil War and converted for military duty by the Union Navy. There is at least one instance in which the USS James Adger was used to transport a slave, 35-year-old "Margarette," from Charleston to New York. Her owners or shippers were Thomas P. Tainter and John Dickinson; the steamer arrived in NY on 7 July, 1852 (see Slave Manifests for the Port of NY, 1822-1852, National