In the resulting Battle of Plum Point Bend, 4 miles (6.4 km) above Fort Pillow, General Sumter, with Raphael Semmes in command, steamed within 20 yards (18.3 meters) of the Union Navy Mortar Boat No.

16, whose projectiles were threatening the fort, and fired everything she had, including a rifle volley; two 32-pound (14.5-kg) shot pierced the iron blinds of the Union mortar boat.

[3] Then the sidewheel steamer CSS General Sterling Price and General Sumter cooperated in a well-executed coordinated attack, one after the other, ramming the casemate gunboat USS Cincinnati at full speed so that she lost her rudder and much of her stern; Cincinnati (which Montgomery reported as the ironclad gunboat Carondelet) had to be run ashore to avoid sinking.

General Sumter rammed and seriously damaged the sidewheel paddle steamer USS Queen of the West, but eventually most of the Confederate vessels were destroyed or surrendered.

While in Union service, she grounded again on 14–15 August 1862 downriver from Memphis off Bayou Sara, Louisiana, and was abandoned except for spare-part raids on her machinery by the rest of the squadron at periods of low water.