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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

She was formerly a Confederate ram named CSS General Sterling Price that was sunk and captured during the First Battle of Memphis on 6 June 1862 by Union naval forces under Flag Officer Charles H. Davis.

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.

Lashed to the starboard side of the ironclad USS Lafayette during the run, she suffered little damage, and arrived safely at New Carthage, Louisiana,[2][3] early the next day with the rest of the fleet.

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.

Before joining Porter, she accidentally rammed USS Conestoga on 8 March 1864 after a confusion in whistle signals, causing the latter ship to sink quickly as a total loss.