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

Wood was purchased at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 21 September 1861 and commissioned there 19 November 1861, Master Anthony Chase in command.

Wood arrived Fort Pickens, Pensacola, Florida, 17 December 1861 to assume patrol duties in the Gulf of Mexico.

She removed obstructions in Blakely Channel and Spanish River, near Mobile, Alabama, in April 1865 and remained in the gulf squadron after its cutback in October.

Wood sailed north early in 1866, decommissioned 22 August and was sold at New York City to W. H. Allen 6 September 1866.