 She operated under the direction of the Confederate War Department and was attached to the Mississippi River Defense Fleet, commanded by Commodore J. E. Montgomery, a former river steamboat captain.On 10 May 1862, while operating off Fort Pillow, Tennessee, in defense of the river approaches to Memphis, "Colonel Lovell", in company with seven of Montgomery's vessels, attacked the ironclad gunboats of the Federal Mississippi Flotilla.The action of Plum Point Bend which followed witnessed successful ramming tactics by the Confederates, though each of their vessels mounted at least four 8-inch guns.