Hastings, a small wooden gunboat, was built as Emma Duncan in 1860 at Monongahela, Pennsylvania, and operated as a river transport out of Cincinnati, Ohio.

While steaming upriver to report for duty, she received her baptism of fire when attacked by Confederate guerrillas near Green Bottom Bar 24 April.

She arrived in Eastport, Mississippi, 26 October 1863 to assist General William Tecumseh Sherman's troops in crossing the river during operations culminating in the Third Battle of Chattanooga, and steamed to Paducah, Kentucky, when that city was threatened by Confederate cavalry 8 November.

Hastings resumed active patrolling in April 1864, and was detailed to convoy General Thomas Kilby Smith's transports from Springfield Landing to Grand Ecore, Louisiana.

Union troops had suffered defeat at the Battle of Pleasant Hill, and the land portion of the Red River Campaign was deemed a failure.

Covering the withdrawal of Smith's troops, Hastings took part 12 April in an engagement with Confederate cavalry and artillery near Blair's Landing.