Lioness then joined other rams and three gunboats, convoying and covering army troops under Colonel Woods in a joint expedition from Helena to the Yazoo River, capturing the USS Fairplay, and destroying newly constructed Confederate batteries 20 miles up the Yazoo.

On 6 February, she formed part of the expedition to Yazoo Pass and Greenville, operating there until 12 April.

Then she and three other rams supported Colonel Charles R. Ellet's marine brigade in the Tennessee.

After Southern naval power on the rivers had been wiped out, Lioness was laid up at Mound City until sold in 1865.

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.