The Hunchback's first assignment was to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, which had plans to launch an attack to capture Roanoke Island.

After steaming to the Hatteras Inlet in late January where the squadron was staging its amphibious operation, the Hunchback and other ships departed for Fort Barrow.

[1] In early October 1862, the Hunchback received an urgent request for assistance near the city of Franklin, Virginia, where Confederate forces were gathering.

[3] During the rest of the Hunchback's time on patrol, she was involved in a reconnaissance mission to Hamilton, North Carolina, and the defense of Fort Anderson which came under Confederate attack.

[1] With the end of the Civil War imminent, on 17 March 1865, the Hunchback returned to its original patrol on the sounds of North Carolina.

After one final mission in April up the Chowan River, the Navy sent the ship back to New York Harbor, where it was decommissioned on 12 June 1865.