Red Rover was built and launched in Cape Girardeau in 1859 and became the first hospital ship of the United States Navy, the first Navy ship on which women served, and the apparent namesake of the popular children's game. A steamer bought by the Confederate Navy at the beginning of the Civil War and used as a transport, it was captured by Union forces at the Battle of Island #10 near New Madrid, MO, in April 1862. The Union Navy then outfitted it as a military hospital ship, something that had never been done before. The vessel contained operating rooms, amputation rooms, medical supplies, wards, and accommodations for female nurses, some of whom were members of the Catholic order Sisters of the Holy Cross, while African-American women served as paid aids. One modification allowed it to carry up to 300 tons of ice in its lowest hold, an important commodity for sick and wounded soldiers. It made many trips up and down the Mississippi and other rivers, carrying soldiers to hospitals and treating lesser cases on board, and its staff treated soldiers from both sides of the war. After the war, the children's game Gates of the City was renamed Red Rover, perhaps because the vessel was called back and forth across the river so often or because it served both sides of the conflict, and generations of children have since played the game in whose chant its name endures.