B. Porter & Son, 23 December 1864; converted into a gunboat and commissioned at Mound City, Illinois, Acting Volunteer Lt. W. R. Wells in command.

Kate's first duty was patrolling the Mississippi River from Mound City to Memphis, Tennessee, during the closing days of the Civil War.

The tinclad gunboat was ordered downstream 28 April 1865 to intercept Confederate President Jefferson Davis in his flight toward freedom in exile.

One of the last vessels in the Mississippi River to remain on naval duty, she decommissioned at Mound City 25 March 1866 and was sold at public auction there 4 days later.

The gunboat was redocumented James J. Trover 12 April 1866 and stranded 300 miles below Fort Benton, Montana, 21 June 1867.