the batteries on the bluff. Thereupon, the Southerners abandoned their guns in haste, and Water Witch participated in the unopposed occupation of the former Confederate positions late on the 3rd. Over the next few days, the warship participated in a foray farther up the river to destroy shipping and river barges. On 17 October, she returned to Port Royal to resume her role as a dispatch vessel again. She continued to serve with the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron until February 1863 when she broke down and had to be towed north for repairs. She completed repairs late that spring and returned to Port Royal on 14 June. She performed blockade duty at several points along the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and northern Florida, but most frequently at Ossabaw Sound between Ossabaw Island and the Georgia mainland about 15 miles due south of Savannah, Georgia. That remained her primary duty station well into 1864. On the night of 3 June of that year, a Confederate Marine boat force under the command of First Lieutenant Thomas P. Pelot, CSN, succeeded in boarding and capturing Water Witch in Ossabaw Sound after a brief scuffle which cost the Union ship two killed and 12 wounded. (13 officers and 49 men were captured). Confederate losses were 6 killed and 17 wounded. African-Americans were killed on both sides, Confederate river pilot Moses Dallas and Union landsman Jeremiah Sills. The only Union man to escape was a "contraband" named Peter McIntosh. The prize was subsequently taken into the Confederate Navy in which she retained the name Water Witch. Lt. W. W. Carnes, CSN, commanded the ship during her service for the South. Plans were being made to move her to Savannah for some special assignment, but she remained at White Bluff, Georgia, until 19 December 1864 when the Confederates burned her to prevent recapture. Carnes was later ordered to Columbus, Georgia to take command of the CSS Jackson. Reproduction In 2009, the National Civil War Naval Museum completed construction of a full-scale reproduction of the USS Water Witch using her original plan drawings at their facilities in Columbus, Georgia. The museum is also home to the Water Witch'''s original bell, one of her flags, and an original Bible taken from the ship. The museum's Water Witch recreation and exhibit was on display for visitors until October 2019, by which time the reproduction had deteriorated from weathering