In 1864, when Washington, D.C. appeared under threat after Lt Gen. Jubal Early’s Confederate army crossed the Potomac River, Bibb was commandeered and armed by the Union Navy.

Bibb was laid down for the Unnired States Coast Survey at the Charlestown Navy Yard on February 24, 1853, by a private contractor;[1] launched on May 12, 1853; and got underway on August 11 for her first cruise.

The engines for this vessel came from the USRC Bibb (1843), built for the Revenue Cutter Service at Pittsburgh in 1845, and transferred to the Coast Survey in 1847, following blockade duty during the war with Mexico.

At the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861, Bibb was transferred to the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service, but returned to the Coast Survey in November.

Early in 1865, Bibb rejoined the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, and worked along the Southern coast through the end of the war.