The new gunboat departed Boston on 5 February and joined the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. She captured British blockade runner "Don" off Beaufort, North Carolina, on 4 March, and helped the Army beat back a Confederate attack on Wilson's Wharf, James River, Virginia, on 24 May. Blockade duty occupied her until she participated in the first and the second battles on Fort Fisher which protected Wilmington, North Carolina, on 24 February 1864 and 13 January 1865, closing that last major Confederate port. She followed this victory by helping capture Fort Anderson, North Carolina.