Name USS Colonel Kinsman Launched date unknown In service 1 January 1863 | Laid down date unknown Acquired 1 January 1863 Out of service 23 February 1863 | |
USS Colonel Kinsman (1862) was a gunboat captured by the Union Army during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Army with Navy officers as a gunboat until transferred to the Union Navy, when she continued her work as a gunboat until she hit a snag and sank.
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Capture
Colonel Kinsman — a sidewheel steamer — was captured by the Union Army at New Orleans, Louisiana, and fitted out as a gunboat at the direction of Major General Benjamin F. Butler for service in the rivers and bayous of Louisiana. At Butler's request, Rear Admiral David Farragut assigned naval officers to command the Army gunboats; Acting Volunteer Lieutenant George Wiggins was given command of Colonel Kinsman in October 1862.
Duel with ironclad CSS J.A. Cotton
On 3 November 1862 in Bayou Teche, Louisiana, Colonel Kinsman joined a vigorous action against Confederate troops and the ironclad gunboat CSS J. A. Cotton. Moving close inshore, Colonel Kinsman dispersed an artillery battery, all the while firing at the gunboat. Colonel Kinsman was hit more than 50 times in this heated engagement, suffering two dead and four wounded.
Official transfer to Union Navy
The gunboat was officially transferred to the Navy on 1 January 1863, Lieutenant Wiggins remaining in command. Colonel Kinsman was damaged in Bayou Teche on 14 January 1863 when with other Union ships, she again fought Confederate shore batteries and J. A. Cotton. This time, the Confederate gunboat was damaged so severely that she had to be destroyed.
Sinking
Colonel Kinsman's career ended on 23 February while on a reconnaissance of Berwick Bay when she struck a hidden snag and ripped open her bottom. Despite being beached, she filled and slid off the steep bank into deep water where she sank near Brashear City, Louisiana. Five of her crew were lost.