She was originally CSS Lady Stirling, a blockade runner built by James Ash at Cubitt Town, London in 1864 for the Confederate States Navy.

She was badly damaged and captured by the United States Navy on 28 October 1864 off Wilmington, North Carolina.

In October 1865, Hornet escorted the Confederate ironclad CSS Stonewall from Cuba to the United States.

After the war Hornet was involved in several filibustering expeditions to Cuba under the names Hornet and Cuba, including an unsuccessful mission in January 1871 to deliver weapons and ammunition to Cuban rebels during the Ten Years' War.

This article about a specific ship related to the American Civil War is a stub.