The USS St. Louis was a City Class ironclad stern-wheel casemate gunboat built by James B. Eads in 1861 at St. Louis, Missouri; commissioned on January 31, 1862, St. Louis, under the command of Lieutenant L. Paulding, was assigned to the Western Gunboat Fleet.

St. Louis served as the flagship for the gunboat squadron when it assisted the army in the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson in February 1862 and operations against Fort Pillow between April and June 1862. On September 8, 1862, the USS St. Louis was renamed the USS Baron De Kalb.

Barron De Kalb participated in the capture of Fort Hindman (Arkansas Post) on January 10-11, 1863, and in other operations on the Mississippi until mid-summer of that year. On July 13, 1863, while operating on the Yazoo River, the USS Barron De Kalb was sunk by a Confederate mine (“torpedo”), one mile below Yazoo City, Mississippi.

Albumen by Unknown Photographer

Image Courtesy Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield; WICR 30184-J