Florence Miller ("tinclad" gunboat No. 1.), a wooden side wheel steamer built at Cincinnati in 1862, was renamed Rattler 5 December 1862; and commissioned 19 December 1862 at Cairo, Ill.

September 1863, Rattler's commanding officer, Acting Master E. H. Fentress, and 16 crewmen were captured by Confederate cavalry while attending church at Rodney.

Shortly after the church service began, in walked Lieutenant Allen of the Confederate States Calvary, backed up by a group of fifteen horsemen. He apologized to Rev. Baker and demanded that the Union men surrender. It seems that only Engineer Lt. A. M. Smith carried a weapon to the church. Smith fired about four times and some Confederate shots when through the windows and into the ceiling, but no one was seriously hurt. Of the twenty-three that attended, six slipped back to the ship and 17 were captured.

When word of the capture reached the ship, shelling of the town commenced. One cannon ball stuck in the front of the church. The Confederates sent word and promised to hang all of the captives if the town received further damage and the shelling stopped. After this incident, the gunboat patrolled the river near Rodney for over a year.

The captain and sailors were eventually taken to Virginia. Captain Fentress was taken to Libby Prison in Richmond. His name appears on a playbill for a ”Libby Prison Minstrels” on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1863. He is shown as “Scenic Artist.” Seven of his men were brought to the prisons in Danville and are shown on hospital and National Cemetery records: