Commissioned in August 1864, Kewanee served out the last eight months of the war on convoy and patrol duty along the East Coast of the United States.
In the postwar period, she participated in the usual duties of a revenue cutter, including patrolling for contraband and aiding vessels in distress.
[6] On 9 September, Kewanee arrived at Holmes Hole, Massachusetts,[7] after which she spent some time cruising for privateers, before putting in to coal at New London, Connecticut in mid-November.
[6] In the postwar period, Kewanee was assigned to the usual revenue cutter duties of boarding ships to check papers and searching for contraband.
In August 1865, the vessel was operating in the vicinity of Holmes Hole, New Bedford and Boston, Massachusetts, where her duties included boarding ships and the inspection of lighthouses.
[6] By December, Kewanee was operating once again off Charleston, South Carolina, where on the 18th she rescued fifteen people "in a famished condition", including women and children, from a shipwreck in Bulls Bay.
[15] In March 1867, Kewanee towed to sea the brig Active, which had run aground on the Florida Reef in the vicinity of Pavanier Key some days earlier.