Laurent Millaudon ( 1856 ) Laurent Millaudon was a wooden side - wheel river steamboat launched at Cincinnati , Ohio , in 1856 operating in the New Orleans , Louisiana area , and captained by W . S . Whann . At the beginning of the American Civil War she was taken into service by the Confederate Navy as CSS " General Sterling Price . On 6 June 1862 , she was sunk at the Battle of Memphis . She was raised and repaired by the Union army , and on 16 June 1862 was moved into Union service as USS " General Price and served until the end of the war . ( Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships 1968 p525 ) CSS General Sterling Price . CSS " General Sterling Price , often referred to as " General Price " or " Price " , was built as Laurent Millaudon " , ( or " L . Millandon " or " Milledon " ) at Cincinnati , Ohio , in 1856 . She was acquired for Confederate service and fitted out at New Orleans , Louisiana , for the River Defense Fleet ( See DANFS appendix II ) and was renamed after the Confederate general Sterling Price . On 25 January 1862 , Captain Montgomery began to convert her into a cottonclad ram by placing a 4 - inch oak sheath with a 1 - inch iron covering on her bow , and by installing double pine bulkheads filled with compressed cotton bales . ( This evidently increased her displacement from the 483 tons specified for the Laurent Millaudon to the 633 tons specified for the " General Price " . ) On 25 March , " General Price " commanded by Captain J . H . Townsend , sailed from New Orleans to Memphis , Tennessee , where she stayed until 10 April having her ironwork completed . She was then sent to Fort Pillow , Tennessee , where she operated in defense of the river approaches to Memphis . On 10 May 1862 , off Fort Pillow , " General Price " under First Officer J . E . Henthorne ( or Harthorne ) , in company with seven other vessels under Captain Montgomery attacked the ironclad gunboats of the Union Mississippi River Squadron . In the action of Plum Point Bend , which followed , the Confederate ram CSS " General Bragg " struck halting her retreat . This allowed " General Price " to violently ram the Federal gunboat , taking away her rudder , stern post , and a large piece of her stern , decisively disabling her . At the same time " General Price ' s " well directed fire silenced Federal Mortar boat No . 16 , which was being guarded by " Cincinnati " . " General Price " was heavily hit in this action . Her upper works were severely damaged , and she was struck by a 128 - pound shell which cut off her supply pipes and caused a dangerous leak . The Confederates quickly repaired " General Price " and later she participated with Montgomery ’ s force in holding off Federal vessels until Fort Pillow was successfully evacuated on 1 June . The Confederate vessels then fell back on Memphis to take coal . Following the Federal capture of Fort Pillow , Flag Officer Charles H . Davis USN , commanding the Mississippi River Squadron , pressed on without delay and appeared off Memphis with a superior force on 6 June . Montgomery , unable to retreat to Vicksburg , Mississippi because of his shortage of fuel , and unwilling to destroy his boats , determined to fight against heavy odds . In the ensuing Battle of Memphis , " General Price " charged the Federal ram USS " Monarch " but instead collided with the Confederate ram CSS " General Beauregard " , also attacking " Monarch " . " General Price " lost her wheel and was disabled . While the two Confederate vessels were entangled , Federal rams attacked them mercilessly . " General Price " collided with the Federal ram USS " Queen of the West " under Col . Charles Ellet , Jr . , USA , commander of the two rams of the Davis Flotilla . As " Queen of the West " captured her crew , " General Price " sank slowly onto a sand bar . She was later raised by the Union army and taken into Federal service . USS General Price . USS " General Price was a cottonclad river ram and gunboat in the United States Navy during the American Civil War . She was formerly a Confederate ram named CSS " General Sterling Price that was sunk and captured during the battle of Memphis on 6 June 1862 by Union naval forces under Flag Officer Charles H . Davis . After the Union victory , she was raised by the Union army and taken to Cairo , Illinois for repairs . She was moved into the Union service under Lt . LeRoy Fitch on 16 June 1862 and was moved to Cairo for repairs . The ram was formally transferred to the Navy by Quartermaster H . A . Wise at Cairo on 30 September 1862 . Although at that time she was renamed USS " General Price " , she continued to be referred to as " General Sterling Price " in Union dispatches . Completing repairs and conversion at Cairo on 11 March 1863 , " General Price " departed for duty with the Mississippi River Squadron , arriving at Black Bayou a few days later , to join in the Union ' s Vicksburg campaign . The commander of the squadron , Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter was at that time attempting to move up the shallow and overgrown Steele ' s Bayou on the Mississippi river in a move to cut off Vicksburg , Mississippi from the rear , and " General Price " joined the expedition . After several days of slow and difficult progress , harassed by Confederate troops , the gunboats were forced to withdraw on 22 March 1863 . General Ulysses S . Grant and Admiral Porter then conceived a plan to attack Vicksburg from the south . This would require the Mississippi squadron to slip past the Confederate blockade of the river at Vicksburg in order to defend and transport Grant ' s army across the Mississippi south of the city . As a member of Admiral Porter ' s flotilla , " General Price " ran the Confederate blockade at Vicksburg on 16 April 1863 . Lashed to the starboard side of the ironclad USS " Lafayette " during the run , she suffered little damage , and arrived safely at New Carthage , Louisiana early the next day with the rest of the fleet . Porter was then in a position to assault Grand Gulf , Mississippi , and , during the heavy engagement with the batteries there on 29 April and 3 May 1863 , " General Price " , under the command of Commander Selim E . Woodworth , carried troops across the river and conveyed transports under fire . The Confederacy was forced to evacuate this vital point on the river , and the fate of Vicksburg was sealed . " General Price " departed Grand Gulf for the Red River on 3 May and took part in the capture of Alexandria , Louisiana , and assisted in the partial destruction of Fort De Russy , Louisiana between 3 May and 17 May . During this period , " General Price " acted briefly as Admiral Porter ' s flagship , and on 10 May she was sent on a reconnaissance up the Black River , where she engaged strong Confederate batteries at Harrisonburg , Louisiana . On 22 June 1863 the Sterling price received 8 replacements to augment the 12 aboard that were fit for duty , the remainder of the crew being ill . As Union pressure against Vicksburg mounted , " General Price " played a major part in the continuing bombardment of the city and in gunfire support of the Union troops until the Confederacy ' s river stronghold finally surrendered on 4 July . She was at Bayou Sara , Louisiana below Vicksburg on 7 July 1863 and was in Memphis on 16 July and left there for Cairo and much - needed repairs , which were not completed until about 19 November . " General Price " rejoined the squadron at Memphis on 2 December 1863 and soon became part of Rear Admiral Porter ' s planned expedition up the Red River . Before joining Porter , she accidentally rammed the on 8 March 1864 after a confusion in whistle signals , causing the latter ship to sink quickly as a total loss . Accompanying the Red River expedition as far as Alexandria , Louisiana , " General Price " returned to the mouth of the river on 6 April convoying transports . She then took up regular cruising station on the lower Mississippi River , protecting transports , landing reconnaissance parties , and keeping the river free from Confederate guerrillas . While on this duty , she engaged a Confederate battery off Tunic Bend , Louisiana on 19 May forced it to withdraw , and landed a shore party which burned the Confederate headquarters . " General Price " continued her patrol duties between New Orleans , Louisiana and Donaldsonville , Louisiana until the end of the war . She decommissioned at Mound City , Illinois on 24 July 1865 and was sold on 3 October 1866 to W . H . Harrison .