On 15 February, after a shell exploded in USS Harriet Lane's paddle box, disabling her as she passed Shipping Point, Satellite assisted the damaged revenue cutter.

The next day, the Union ships shelled fortifications along the shore and landed boat parties to destroy Fort Lowry which Southern troops had abandoned.

On the 26th, while the ship was being repaired at the Washington Navy Yard, most of her crew traveled to Harper's Ferry, Virginia, to help defend that strategic post which was threatened by General T. J.

On 9 June, after repairs had been completed and her crew had returned, Satellite got underway for Fort Monroe to join Union naval forces on the James River in supporting McClellan's drive toward the Confederate capital.

The shallowness of the Appomattox, he felt, would prevent her from reaching the bridge submerged; and a surface approach would expose the vulnerable craft to destruction or capture.

However, if the submarine should succeed in destroying the hulks, their cargoes of stone would remain to obstruct navigation and would be almost impossible to remove while covered by Confederate guns.

When efforts to refloat the grounded sidewheeler, Island Belle, proved futile, a party from Satellite stripped the tug and set her afire.

In this series of battles, the Northern soldiers beat their way across the peninsula from the York River to the James where Rodgers' floating firepower could prevent Lee from closing his pincers.

After he learned of the disposition of the Federal ships, Lee reported: "As far as I can see there is no way to attack him (McClellan) to advantage; nor do I wish to expose the men to the destructive missiles of his gunboats ...

During McClellan's retreat to Harrison's Landing, the Union Army's gunboat-protected haven on the James, Satellite and USS Delaware ascended the Chickahominy River to strengthen his right flank.

On 27 July, boats from Satellite and USS Yankee ascended Chippoak Creek and captured schooner, J. W. Sturges, and a schooner-rigged lighter laden with wood.

In mid-September, at Antietam Creek, Maryland, Gen. McClellan relieved the pressure on Washington, D.C., when he stopped Lee's thrust into the North and forced the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia to retreat south of the Potomac.

The following spring, the ship resumed activity on the Rappahannock hoping to support the Union Army's new offensive; but again Lee adroitly bested the Northern commander, now General Joseph Hooker, and won an all-but-decisive victory at Chancellorsville.

A week later, she captured schooners, Sarah and Arctic, up the eastern branch of the Great Wicomico River, an estuary between the Rappahannock and the Potomac.