USS Kineo, a 691-ton Unadilla class screw steam gunboat, was built at Portland, Maine. Commissioned in February 1862, she was sent to join the forces then gathering to attack the defenses of New Orleans. On 24 April 1862, Kineo was one of the ships that battled their way past Forts Jackson and Saint Philip. Though hit by enemy cannon fire, she was able to continue up the Mississippi River and participate in the capture of the Confederacy's largest seaport.

Kineo continued her operations on the lower Mississippi for more than a year. She took part in engagements at Grand Gulf on 26 May, Baton Rouge in early August, Donaldsonville in October and Port Hudson in December of 1862. On 14 March 1863, Kineo was tied alongside USS Monongahela for a run past enemy fortifications at Port Hudson. Their efforts were thwarted when Monongahela's rudder was disabled, but the gunboat was able to pull her larger consort out of danger. In August 1863, following further actions along the river, Kineo was sent north for repairs.

Returning to the Gulf of Mexico in March 1864, Kineo spent most of that year off the Texas coast, capturing one blockade running schooner during that time. In December, she went back to the Mississippi, where she was stationed until April 1865. USS Kineo was decommissioned in May 1865, as the Civil War was coming to an end, and was sold in October 1866. She later became the merchant schooner Lucy H. Gibson.