 "Barataria", an ironclad gunboat, was seized by the Union Army at New Orleans, Louisiana, shortly after Flag Officer David Farragut's task force from the West Gulf Blockading Squadron captured that city on April 25, 1862.The Union Army used the steamer through the end of the year and transferred her to the Navy on January 1, 1863.The steamer was outfitted at New Orleans and armed with two 24 pounder howitzers so that she might serve as a gunboat in the shallow inland waters of Louisiana—such as Lake Borgne, Lake Pontchartrain, and Lake Maurepas.