USS FORT HINDMAND

Fort Hindman was a sidewheel steamer purchased in March 1863 as James Thompson. She was converted into a river gunboat by the addition of timber bulwarks and thin iron plate: a style of warship commonly referred to as a "tinclad" which was only intended to stop small arms fire.

Designed to patrol in shallow waters and small tributaries where heavier ironclads could not enter, the USS Fort Hindman joined the Mississippi Squadron in April 1863, with Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Thomas O. Selfridge, Jr. in command.   

In July 1863, the steamer headed an expedition up the Little Red River, a tributary of the Black River, and captured quantities of ordnance and Confederate Government provisions, as well as the heavier Federal ironclad Louisville.

Fort Hindman continued to patrol the central Mississippi River and its tributaries, taking a Confederate merchantman prize in the Red River 1st March, engaging Confederate sharpshooters and a battery ashore in the Black and later that day in the Ouachita River. During the expedition, Fort Hindman transported troops and prisoners of war, over and over again engaged Confederate batteries, and took part in the passage of the falls off Alexandria, Louisiana, on 8th May.

Moving to a more southerly patrol area, Fort Hindman operated in the rivers and bayous of Louisiana, occasionally returning to Natchez, Mississippi. She was decommissioned 3 August 1865 in Mound City, Illinois.

This waterline Fort Hindman model was one of the six different models that we built for a railroad model company.