Era No. 5 — a shallow-draft steamer built in 1860 at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania — was chartered by the Confederates early in 1863 to transport corn from the Red River to Camden, Arkansas. As the steamer — laden with 4,500 bushels of corn — proceeded to her destination on 14 February 1863, she rounded a sharp bend above the mouth of the Black River, came upon and was captured by the USS Queen of the West. After a loss of the Queen of the West the same day, her crew fled to Union positions in the Era No.5. Era No. 5 was then assigned to Colonel Charles R. Ellet's river fleet, fitted out with protective cotton baling and used by the Union as a dispatch boat and transport in the Mississippi River.