Colonel Kinsman

Colonel Kinsman

Former name retained.

( SwGbt)

Colonel Kinsman, a sidewheel steamer, was captured by the Army at New Orleans, and fitted out as a gunboat at the direction of Major General B. F. Butler for service in the rivers and bayous of Louisiana. At Butler's request, Rear Admiral David G. Farragut assigned naval officers to command the Army gunboats; Acting Volunteer Lieutenant George Wiggins was given command of Colonel Kineman in October 1862.

On 3 November 1862 in Bayou Teche, La., 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 2 killed and 4 wounded.

~ 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 CSS J. A. Cotton. This time the Confederate gunboat was damaged so severely that she had to be destroyed.

Colonel Kinsman's career ended on 23 February 1863 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, La. Five of her crew were lost.