was hauled out in a floating drydock to repair hull damage from her encounter with the Confederate ironclads. Her engines were overhauled. North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, 1863–1865 Keystone State was recommissioned on 3 October 1863, Commander Edward Donaldson in command, and stood out to sea on 27 October. Three days later she joined the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron at Wilmington, North Carolina. Sometime around the turn of the year, Donaldson yielded command of the ship to Commander Pierce Crosby. By this point in the war, Wilmington was the last major Confederate port, concentrating both blockaders are blockade runners alike. Keystone State participated in the capture of six ships during her final year of blockade duty including the steamer Margaret and Jessie in 1863, and Caledonia, Rouen, Lilian, Elsie, and Siren in 1864. The ships captured by Keystone State not only helped the war effort, but were profitable for the ship's crew as well. Under the laws of the day, special courts evaluated whether ships were captured legally, which ships had participated in their capture, and how much the captured ships were worth, net of expenses. Prize courts then awarded cash in the form of prize money to ship's crews. Keystone State was lucky in prize money: In addition to participating in the capture of sixteen ships listed above, Keystone State also plucked from the sea almost 300 bales of cotton thrown overboard by blockade runners seeking to destroy valuables that would fall into the hands of their captors. These generated almost $200,000 pf prize money for Keystone State. First Battle of Fort Fisher, December 1864 In order to finally close Wilmington to blockade runners, the Union determined to take the forts on the Cape Fear River, starting with Fort Fisher. Admiral David Porter assembled a fleet at Fortress Monroe for the offensive. Porter commanded Keystone State, now captained by Commander Henry Rolando, to lead the reserve line of battle. At 7:30 am on 24 December 1864 Rolando signalled the reserve division to get underway, and by 8:00 am the ships were steaming westward towards Fort Fisher in line of battle. At 2:52 pm Keystone State began firing over and between the ships in the first echelon, to support Army troops as they landed and fought to take the fort. She ceased firing at approximately 5:00 pm. During this action she fired 56 rounds from her 30-pounder Parrott rifle, 24 rounds