"Dai Ching" joined in the search for the Confederate States Navy raider CSS "Tacony" in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northeastern coast of the United States between 14 and 20 June 1863. After putting into Norfolk, Virginia, for coal and engine repairs, she arrived off Charleston, South Carolina, on 23 July and the following day joined other vessels of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron in the attack on Fort Wagner. On 25 July 1863 and again on 13–14 August 1863 she participated in assaults on Forts Wagner and Sumter, followed by a series of assaults on the other Confederate fortifications in Charleston Harbor between 17 and 22 August 1863. She also took part n the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America, and on 14 November 1863 she captured the schooner "George Chisholm", a blockade runner with a cargo of salt, off the Santee River in South Carolina.