USS Fort Hindman, a 286-ton side-wheel "tinclad" river gunboat, was built in 1862 at Jeffersonville, Indiana, as a civilian steamer. Purchased by the Navy in March 1863, she commissioned the following month as USS James Thompson. She was twice renamed, becoming USS Manitou in June 1863 and USS Fort Hindman in November 1863. In July 1863, she participated in an expedition up the Little Red River which captured the Confederate steamer Louisville (later USS Ouachita). Fort Hindman engaged enemy artillery in early March 1864, during operations on Louisiana's Black and Ouachita Rivers. During the next few months, she was part of the Red River expedition, then patrolled in the lower Mississippi River area for most of the remainder of the Civil War. USS Fort Hindman was sold in August 1865. As a merchant steamer, she was renamed James Thompson and remained in use until about 1874.

This page features our only views related to USS Fort Hindman (1863-1865, Tinclad # 13), formerly named James Thompson and Manitou.

Photo #: NH 61569 USS Fort Hindman (1863-1865) Photographed during her Civil War service on the Western Rivers.

The following images depict crewmen of USS Fort Hindman who were awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism:

Photo #: NH 79922 James K.L. Duncan, Ordinary Seaman, USN Artwork by Bacon, published in "Deeds of Valor", Volume II, page 54, by the Perrien-Keydel Company, Detroit, 1907. It depicts 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. James K.L. Duncan was born at Frankfort, PA, in 1845.

Photo #: NH 79921 Hugh Molloy, Ordinary Seaman, USN Post-Civil War photograph, published in "Deeds of Valor", Volume II, page 63, by the Perrien-Keydel Company, Detroit, 1907. Ordinary Seaman Molloy was awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism in serving a gun from an exposed position on the forecastle of USS Fort Hindman during an engagement with an enemy battery near Harrisonburg, Louisiana, on 2 March 1864. Note: The birth date given on this image differs from that published in the book "Medal of Honor -- The Navy", which gives Molloy's date of birth as 1832.