Upon exhausting her coal on blockade duty off that port, the ship sailed for Hampton Roads on 19 August, towing the prize schooner Albion, and arrived off Newport News on the 23rd.

A week later, on 30 August, the Confederate tug Harmony attacked the Union sailing sloop of war USS Savannah there.

After repairs at the Washington Navy Yard, Seminole returned to Hampton Roads on 16 October where she awaited the arrival of Flag Officer Samuel F. Du Pont, commander of the newly established South Atlantic Blockading Squadron.

On 1 December, Seminole seized the sloop Lida off St. Simons Sound, Georgia, attempting to slip into the South laden with coffee, lead, and sugar from Havana, Cuba.

On 25 March 1862, Seminole was ordered to Hampton Roads to strengthen Union naval forces there which were threatened by the dreaded Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia.

Control of these strategic waters was especially important at that time because General George McClellan was about to launch his Peninsula Campaign against the Southern capital, Richmond, Virginia.

She passed the forts guarding the entrance to the bay lashed to USS Lackawanna but, as the action became general, cast off from her consort.