"North Star" towed her escort to Port Royal, South Carolina, where the two ships arrived on 28 November, and then proceeded on north alone. Cdr. Corbin was unable to arrange for a tow until the afternoon of 8 December when the Army transport "Arago" undertook the task. Bad weather plagued both ships as they fought their way northward, but they reached Hampton Roads safely on the evening of 12 December. There, General Butler forbade the master of the "Arago" to continue towing "Augusta" to New York, probably because he felt that she would be needed in the impending attack upon Fort Fisher. Somehow, Cdr. Corbin managed to arrange for a vessel which towed his ship to Baltimore. After she finally reached that port, "Augusta" was decommissioned on 6 January 1865.