 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.In August 1862 "Fairplay" was recaptured by the Union navy while it was transporting military supplies during the Vicksburg Campaign.On 3 February 1863, "Fairplay" was steaming up the Cumberland from the Smithland base to Nashville, Tennessee, guarding a convoy of transports during a lengthy campaign.