 The Union Army took possession of the ship, and on 6 September 1862, "Fairplay" was commissioned into Federal service with Lieutenant Commander LeRoy Fitch in command.She was transferred to the Union Navy on 1 October 1862.From the base at Smithland, Kentucky, "Fairplay" operated with other gunboats in cooperation with the Army, patrolling the Cumberland, Tennessee, and Ohio rivers, convoying troop transports and Army supply ships, and searching out and shelling concentrations of Confederates ashore.