and she remained in the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. Service on the James River During most of the remainder of her service, the tug acted as a dispatch and picket boat on the James River. She also made occasional runs to the sounds of North Carolina with messages. During these operations, Confederate forces in the waters she frequented were constantly endeavoring to seize Union warships or to destroy them by guile. For instance, on 12 November 1862, Captain Thomas Turner, the senior Union naval officer in the Hampton Roads-Norfolk area, warned Alert that . . . the enemy is preparing ... an expedition of armed launches [to be] sent down close inshore in the darkness of the night until they get abreast of you. The admonition for ". . . the officers and men to be constantly on the watch ..." was especially important since Alert often served as tender to , the flag steamer of Acting Rear Admiral Samuel Phillips Lee who commanded the Union squadron. Union warships on the James also cooperated with Army forces. In mid January 1863, Major General John Adams Dix notified Admiral Lee that there were "... indications of activity on the part of the enemy . . ." in the Dismal Swamp-Suffolk area. Since a major Confederate movement in that vicinity could jeopardize the entire Union hold on the south bank of the James, Admiral Lee ordered Alert and her sister warships to ready themselves to help turn back the Southern thrust should it come. Nansemond River expedition Almost three months passed before that particular threat materialized. Early in April, General Lee detached Lieutenant General James Longstreet's corps from the Army of Northern Virginia to forage for supplies. Longstreet, apparently hoping to improve the South's strategic position while finding food for General Lee's soldiers, headed for Suffolk. When the Union Army called on the Navy for help, Admiral Lee ordered Lieutenant William B.Cushing to lead a group of gunboats up the Nansemond River – a tributary of the James – to assist Major General John J. Peck's troops as they tried to stop Longstreet's advance. Alert ascended the Nansemond with Lt. William B.Cushing on 12 April, and for the next three weeks participated in almost daily duels with Confederate shore batteries. Because of her light draft, she moved above the bar of the river into the narrower, shallower, and more dangerous part of