CSS Appomattox was a small propeller-driven steamer used early in the war by the Confederate Navy to defend the sounds of northeastern North Carolina.

In May 1861, she was chartered by the Virginia State Navy under Captain Milligan, towing blockships into position to obstruct the channels of the Elizabeth River around Norfolk.

[1] In that same month, she twice sailed as a flag-of-truce boat under Captain Thomas T. Hunter of the Virginia Navy to arrange exchanges of wounded Union prisoners and passage north from Norfolk of certain families wishing to return to their Northern friends.

[2] Renamed Appomattox, she was armed with two guns and assigned to the waters along the North Carolina coast under the command of Lt. C. C. Simms, CSN.

[3] She retreated with the surviving gunboats to Elizabeth City, N.C. On February 9, the Appomattox and the Sea Bird steamed back to Roanoke Island to see if any further assistance could be given to the defenders, and to evacuate the garrison at Fort Forrest on Redstone Point.