[3] On the evening of 26 February 1863, armed boats commanded by acting Master Robert B. Smith from the Union sidewheel steamer USS Fort Henry captured Anna while that schooner was attempting to slip through the blockade and enter the Suwannee River with a widely varied cargo from the Bahamas.

A schooner called La Criolla had been captured by the Union sidewheeler USS Bienville some 25 miles (40 km) southeast of the Charleston, South Carolina, bar and, subsequently, had been condemned and sold by the Federal prize court at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Anna was condemned by the Key West, Florida, prize court and the Union Navy purchased her on 11 March 1863 for service in the East Gulf Blockading Squadron.

About half an hour before noon on 28 April, Annie sighted, chased, and fired upon Dream before that British schooner escaped into Spanish territorial waters off Cuba.

This action prompted a protest by the English master and added to the already large list of incidents that kept relations between the Federal Government and the United Kingdom tense throughout the Civil War.

Another prize came Annie's, way on the afternoon of 20 October when she captured the British schooner Martha Jane, outward-bound from Bayport, Florida, laden with cotton.

Ten days later, Annie joined the armed launch of the screw gunboat USS Sagamore—which she was then tending—in chasing Meteor and caught that British schooner which was attempting to slip into Bayport, with an assorted cargo from Havana.

Its sole passenger, a man who "identified himself as Allen A. Stephens"[This quote needs a citation] and reported that he was one of a group of 20 men "about to rise against the rebel government ... and requested arms for his company.