USS Fort Hindman (1862)

USS Fort Hindman (1862) was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was placed in service and used by the Navy to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries.

USS Fort Hindman photographed during her Civil War service on the Western Rivers.
History
United States
Name: USS Fort Hindman
Namesake: A fortification in the Arkansas River near Saint Charles, captured from the Confederates in January 1863.
Ordered: as James Thompson
Yard number: Tinclad #13
Laid down: date unknown
Launched: in 1862 at Jeffersonville, Indiana
Acquired: 14 March 1863
Commissioned: circa 14 March 1863
Decommissioned: 3 August 1865 at Mound City, Illinois
Stricken: 1865 (est.)
Fate: sold 17 August 1865
Status: renamed James Thompson and remained in use until about 1874
General characteristics
Type: river gunboat
Displacement: 286 tons
Length: 150 ft (46 m)
Beam: 37 ft (11 m)
Draught: 28 ft (8.5 m)
Propulsion:
Speed: not known
Complement: not known
Armament:
  • two 8" smoothbore guns
  • four 8" guns
Armor: tinclad

Assigned to the Mississippi Squadron

Fort Hindman, a side wheel steamer, was purchased 14 March 1863 as James Thompson; she was converted into a river gunboat by the addition of timber bulwarks and thin iron plate: a style of warship commonly referred to as a "tinclad". She joined the Mississippi Squadron in April 1863, Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Thomas O. Selfridge, Jr. in command; was renamed Manitou 23 March 1863; and renamed Fort Hindman 8 November 1863. The USS Fort Hindman was designed to patrol in shallow waters and small tributaries where heavier ironclads could not enter. Her light armor was only intended to stop small arms fire.

Patrolling the Mississippi and adjacent rivers

In July 1863, the steamer headed an expedition up the Little Red River, a tributary of the Black River, and captured quantities of ordnance and Confederate Government provisions, as well as the heavier Federal ironclad Louisville.

Ordinary Seaman Duncan throwing a burning cartridge overboard on USS Fort Hindman, after it was set afire by an exploding shell. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism in this incident, which took place during an engagement with an enemy battery near Harrisonburg, Louisiana, on 2 March 1864.

She continued to patrol the central Mississippi River and its tributaries, taking a Confederate merchantman prize in the Red River 1 March, engaging Confederate sharpshooters and a battery ashore in the Black and later that day in the Ouachita River. During the expedition, Fort Hindman transported troops and prisoners of war, over and over again engaged Confederate batteries, and took part in the passage of the falls off Alexandria, Louisiana, on 8 May.

Moving to a more southerly patrol area, Fort Hindman operated in the rivers and bayous of Louisiana, occasionally returning to Natchez, Mississippi.

Post-war decommissioning and sale

She arrived at Mound City, Illinois, 1 August 1865. There she was decommissioned 3 August 1865, and sold 17 August 1865.

See also

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

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