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 Kinsman 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.