From June to November,, the Montgomery blockaded Apalachicola,Florida, and captured the ship Finland on 29 August when found to be lacking proper papers. In November, she began blockading the Atlantic coast from Maryland to the Cape Fear River in North Carolina.
THIS PART IS A BIT CONFUSING. On the 8th, she had a running fight with the Tallahassee. After temporary duty off Ship Island 2 December, she was attacked off Horn Island Pass two later by the Florida and Pamlico but was not damaged. (The Tallahassee did not become a Confederate ship until 1864. If the Florida mentioned here is the CSS Florida cruiser, this ship was not off the Alabama coast until August 1862.)
Joining the East Gulf Blockading Squadron 20 January 1862, the Montgomery reported to Ship Island three days later. She took schooner Isabel off Atchafalaya Bay 1 February, then carried dispatches to Tampa, Florida, before joining the West Gulf Blockading Squadron to hunt for the schooner Columbia off San Luis Pass, Texas, 5 April.
They found the schooner abandoned and burned her, then captured a large sloop. Cruising the Mexican and Texas coasts, she helped free American citizens held in Mexico the latter part of April and took the British schooner Will o' the Wisp off the Rio Grande on 3 June. (There was a later another Will-o-the-Wisp sidewheel steamer sunk off Galveston in 1865. I'm not sure if they were one and the same.)
--Old B-Runner
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