A Short Service

A side wheel merchant steamer was captured by the Union Navy April 27^th 1862, becoming the USS Diana.

The Union Navy captured a side wheel merchant steamer on April 27^th 1862 at New Orleans, Louisiana.  The side wheeler was named the USS Diana and was turned over to Union General Benjamin F Butler.  The Diana had been built in 1858 in Brownsville, Pennsylvania and was a 239 ton side wheeler.  She went to work for the Union Army as a transport ship until November 1862, when she returned to Union naval service.  During the time the Diana was in service with the navy she assisted in the capture of 2 blockade runners, an attack on the Confederate hold of Bayou Teche, Louisiana, and the destruction of the CSS J A Cotton in January 1863.

On March 28^th 1863 while preforming reconnaissance in Grand Lake, Louisiana the Diana was recaptured by the Confederates.  A few weeks letter a Union force destroyed her.

A Short Life As A Union Ship

The USS Diana was a part of the Union engagement at Brashear City and Bayou Teche, Louisiana on January 14^th 1863.

The USS Diana was built in 1858 in Brownsville, Pennsylvania.  She was a 239 ton side wheeled steamship.

On April 27^th 1862 Diana was captured from the Confederacy at New Orleans, Louisiana.  She was turned over to Union General Benjamin Franklin Butler.  For the next few months she was used as a Union transport ship.  In November 1862 the USS Diana was transferred to the Union Navy.  On January 14^th 1863 Diana took part in an attack on Confederate forces at Bayou Teche, Louisiana, and the demolition of the CSS J A Cotton.

The USS Diana was doing reconnaissance on Grand Lake, Louisiana and the Atchafalaya River when she was captured by the Confederates March 28^th 1863.  A few weeks later the Diana was destroyed by Union forces.

A Side-wheeler

The steamer the USS Kinsman a Union Navy gunboat was run aground February 23rd 1863.


Built in Elizabeth, Pennsylvania in 1854 as the Gray Cloud, the USS Kinsman operated on the Mississippi River. Union General Benjamin Franklin Butler commandeered her in 1862 after the capture of New Orleans, Louisiana. The 245 ton steam side-wheeler was fitted out as a gunboat and renamed the USS Kinsman and place under the command of Acting Master George Wiggen in the Union Army. The Kinsman along with the Calhoun, Diana, and Estrella engage the Confederate ironclad the CSS Cotton on November 3rd 1862. The Kinsman was struck in her port bow, but the CSS Cotton was forced to retire. She was involved in several captures during the next few days.

On January 1st 1863 the USS Kinsman was transferred from the Army to the Union Navy. She was now under the command of Lieutenant Commander Thomas McKean Buchanan. On February 23rd 1863 the Kinsman was transporting troops when she struck a snag and sank near Brashear City, Louisiana in the Berwick Bay. There were six men missing.