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The first America was a racing schooner designed by George Steers and built at New York City in shipyard of William H. Brown. The yacht was constructed for a syndicate headed by John Cox Stevens, the commodore of the New York Yacht Club, and including other prominent sportsmen who wished to win recognition for American shipbuilding and sailing skill during Crystal Palace exposition--the first of great international world's fairs. Launched on 3 May 1851, America sailed for Europe.

During the summer, she won distinction in a number of yacht races and proved herself a match for the fastest sailing craft. Sailing a course around the Isle of Wight on 22 August, she won the Royal Yacht Society regatta and was visited by Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward. Her owners now felt that they had achieved their desired demonstration of American shipbuilding seamanship. and sold her to a British purchaser on 1 September 1851. A subsequent purchaser renamed her Camilla, under British colors she continued to show herself seaworthy as well as fast.

In 1860 Henry Edward Decie bought the ship and, after competing in English Channel races, took her to Cane Verde Islands ostensibly en route to the West Indies. When the secession crisis in the United States threatened to escalate into civil war, Decie departed St. Vincent in Camilla early in 1861 and headed for the Southern coast, apparently hoping to find in the Confederacy some way of turning a profit from his yacht.

The schooner arrived at Savannah, GA., on 25 April 1861 shortly after the attack on Fort Sumter. Decie journeyed to Montgomery, Ala, where he met Confederate President Jefferson Davis. He is said to have secretly sold Camilla to the Confederate Government, and she was supposedly renamed . Documents substantiating this have not been found. In any case, the yacht--still commanded by Decie--was next used to carry a Southern purchasing commission to England where she briefly resumed racing before again sailing for the South around 21 August. The schooner ran through the blockade into Jacksonville, Fla., and was inspected there by a Confederate customs agent on 25 October 1861.

Evidence suggest that she ran the blockade more than once during the next few month. Upon the last occasion, Union warships fired upon her, but she made port unscathed.

After Union combined forces began taking control of the Florida coast early in March 1862, the schooner was scuttled in Dunn's Creek--a tributary of the St Johns River--to avoid capture. She was found there on 18 march 1862 by a Union expedition raised after a week's labor and towed to Port Royal S.C. where she was repaired. Thought was given to sending her to the Naval Academy for use as a practice ship Flag Officer Samuel Du Pont wrote to Washington to learn the Navy Department's intentions in the matter He never received a reply to this query, and had the former yacht outfitted as a dispatch vessel and blockader.

Acting Master Jonathan Baker began the yacht's service in the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron when he sailed her to Florida waters with dispatches for warships operating along the coast. America then took station in the inner line of blockaders off Charleston. From time to time she tired up{on ships as they attempted to run into or to escape from that port. Her first success came on the night of 13 October when she captured the schooner David Crockett which was trying to slip out to sea with a cargo of turpentine and rosin to be delivered to Bermuda.

On 28 October, Du Pont ordered America to New York for repairs which lasted until late in the year. The yacht returned to Port Royal on 3 January 1863 and took station in Charleston waters. On 29 January she was one of the warships that cooperated in forcing the iron screw steamer Princess Royal aground. Boat crews from America assisted in refloating that valuable prize whose cargo included rifled artillery, small arms, ammunition, and steam engines for ironclads being constructed at Charleston.

Near midnight on the night of 18 and 19 March, America fired the first rounds into the large British iron-hulled steamer Georgiana which was endeavoring to run into Charleston with a much needed military cargo including rifled cannon. Her gunfire and signals to other Union warships were instrumental in forcing the blockade runner aground where she was destroyed.

On 25 March 1863, Secretary of the Navy Gideon VVelles finally ordered America to sail in May for Newport, R.I.. the wartime site of the Naval Academy Before going north, the yacht scored one last time on the morning of 31 March when she sighted Antelope and brought that salt-laden British topsail schooner to with a shot across the blockade runner's bow, enabling boat parties from Memphis to seize her.

America got underway on the afternoon of 4 May headed for Newport, and reached the Academy in time to participate in that summer's training cruise. Manned by midshipmen and commanded by Lt. Theodore F Kane, she sailed to new York with the Academy's other practice ships which were sailing for the first time as a squadron. They headed south along the New England coast and maneuvered off the entrance to Long Island Sound before proceeding to Gardener's Bay where they conducted various evolutions including the stripping of the sloop of war Marion.

While America was at the New York Navy Yard. Kane received orders to put to sea in search of CSS Tacony a bark recently captured by the brig Clarence which in turn been taken and manned by the Confederate commerce raider CSS Florida. Deeming Tacony a superior ship to Clarence, the commander of her Southern prize crew transferred his men to the bark, put the torch to Clarence, and headed north in Tacony on a 12 day rampage in which he captured 13 Northern merchant ships.

America put to sea on the afternoon of 15 June seeking the already notorious Tacony. As she searched to the southward during the ensuing 10 days, the yacht encountered extremely rough weather before, somewhat the worse for wear, she returned to New York without having had even a glimpse of her elusive quarry.

After landing her midshipmen at Norfolk late in the summer America proceeded to the Portsmouth (N.H.) Navy yard for repairs. While she was there the commandant of the yard sent her to sea on 30 August 1863 to search for the lumber-laden merchant schooner Medford whose mate had run away from the port with her"..probably with the intention of going South." Reinforced by 10 men from Fernandia, America stood out to sea and hunted for the runaway. After returning to port empty handed she departed Portsmouth and sailed back to Newport.

The yacht served at the Academy through the end of the Civil War and participated in the summer cruise of 1864. When the midshipmen returned to Annapolis following the collapse of the Confederacy, the schooner accompanied Constitution on the voyage back to the mouth of the Severn. After the midshipman training cruise of 1866, America was laid up at Annapolis and remained there, inactive until sent to the Washington Navy Yard in the autumn of 1869 for a complete overhaul. The following spring, she moved to the New York Navy Yard to prepare to resume international racing. On 8 August 1870, she competed for the cup which she had won in the famous race around the Isle of Wight, 19 years before, in a race which bore its name. Although past her prime, America finished fourth out of the fleet of 19 entries i the first American's Cup race.

In 1873, the navy sold the yacht to Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler who used her both for racing and for cruising. She remained in his hands and those of his family until put up for sale for commercial use in 1917.

Thinking that such a fate was unworthy of a ship with her distinguished record, Charles Foster purchased America and had her overhauled. In 1921 she was towed to Annapolis and presented to the Naval Academy. In 1941, son after th start of another major overhaul of the schooner, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, plunging the United States into World War II. The Navy immediately halted work on all construction and repair projects not directly related to the war effort and the yacht was left under a shed in the Annapolis Yacht Yard across the Severn from the Naval Academy. This makeshift structure collapsed under the weight of deep snow during the surprise blizzard that hit Annapolis on 29 March 1942, crushing America's hull. Her name was stricken from the Navy list on 11 October 1945 and the remains of the yacht were scrapped.