 She was pressed into service at the start of the Civil War by the Confederacy, but was captured by the 76th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment on 18 August 1862, during a joint expedition to Milliken's Bend on the Mississippi.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.