High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The first USS Nansemond, a side wheel steamer built at Williamsburg, N.Y. in 1862, as James F. Freeborn, was purchased by the United States Navy at New York City on 18 August 1863 from Richard Squires; it was renamed Nansemond and commissioned at Baltimore on 19 August, with Lieutenant Roswell H. Lamson in command.