The USS Montaul immediately joined the South Atlantic Blockading Squadrom for operations off Charleston, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia.
There was some difference of opinion of how well the monitors would be able to stand up against the strong Confederate guns at Charleston before the planned attack on that place, so several monitors, including the Montauk, had a trial against Fort McAllister, on the Ogeechee River in Georgia, protecting Savannah. On January 27, 1863, they engaged. The Montauk was hit 13-14 times but sustained no damage. There was a second attack against the same position on February 1st and this time the Montauk sustained 48 hits.
On February 28th, the Montauk and other ships destroyed the blockade-runner Rattlesnake (former CSS Nashville) off Fort McAllister, but in backing away, had a torpedo go off under it.
It was repaired and on April 1st, joined in with the monitor fleet for a major attack on Charleston, called off because of heavy damage to the monitors. On July 10th and 16th, the Montauk joined in operations against Fort Wagner, resulting in the capture of that place.
The ship remained in operations off Charleston until July 1864, when it was moved to the Stono River. In February 1865, it went to the Cape Fear River and helped with the attack on Fort Anderson, guarding Wilmington, NC.
In April, several Lincoln assassination conspirators were held on the Montauk and an examination of John Wilkes Booth's body took place on board.
The ship was decommissioned in 1865 and remained in ordinary until the Spanish-American War when it was crewed by reservists and protected the port of Portland, Maine.
Decommissioned again in 1899, it was sold for scrapping in 1904.
Too Bad They Didn't keep This Ship and Turn It Into a Museum. --Old B-R'er
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