Assigned to the Gulf Blockading Squadron, the new gunboat arrived off Pass a l'Outre, Louisiana, on 13 February, and a week later was ordered to take station off Mobile, Alabama, where she soon distinguished herself for vigilance.

She drew first blood with a vengeance on 10 April by capturing four blockade-running schooners in a single day: Southern Independence, Victoria, Charlotte, and Cuba.

Dawn of 12 October disclosed the steamer Alice aground under the guns of Fort Morgan and an unidentified Confederate tug attempting to pull her free.

The loss of ships carrying the products of Southern fields and forests to foreign markets undermined the South's financial structure and increased her difficulty in purchasing war material abroad.

The loss of incoming ships deprived Southern armies of a growing proportion of the shrinking supplies and equipment persuasive Confederate agents did manage to procure.

On 9 September, after Union troops had been withdrawn from the area, Kanawha reinstituted the blockade of Brownsville, Texas, which had been lifted by Presidential proclamation in mid-February.