She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat with orders to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries.

On December 27, 1862, a joint expedition composed of officers and men of Potomac and troops of the 91st New York State Volunteers, led by Lieutenant James H. Stewart took possession of her and delivered her to the Pensacola Navy Yard where she was repaired and armed.

Redocumented as Emma on April 5, 1866, the vessel served a private owner until 1868 when she was sold to a foreign purchaser and disappeared from American shipping records.

[1] The Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies of the War of the Rebellion (ORN) lists the Bloomer both as a sidewheeler and, later, as a sternwheeler.

For Elias Bruner's version of the raid, see: Official records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion.