delivered. Subsequently, the side-wheeler received orders to proceed without delay to New Berne, North Carolina, to cooperate with Army forces of General Forrest Sherman in the movement up the Chowan River toward Winton, North Carolina. Arriving on 2 April with dispatches from Admiral Porter, Wilderness resumed her operations in the sounds of North Carolina, performing general utility duties for the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron through the end of the Civil War. Revenue cutter Decommissioned on 10 June 1865, Wilderness was acquired by the Treasury Department at the Boston Navy Yard on 6 September 1865 and sailed for Baltimore, Maryland, on the 17th. There, the side-wheeler was fitted put for her new duties as a revenue cutter and, following repairs and alterations, was ordered to Florida waters on 28 November. Reaching Key West on 8 December, Wilderness operated out of that port for a year, before she shifted up the east coast to Charleston, South Carolina, on 14 December 1866 for repairs. Wilderness subsequently operated in the Gulf of Mexico, ranging from New Orleans to Veracruz, Mexico. She apparently operated out of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the gulf, through the summer of 1872. Renamed John A. Dix Ordered to New York for repairs on 2 September 1872, Wilderness reached New York City on the 19th. Records indicate that the ship was to be dismantled. The orders, dated 3 January 1873, are recorded as "carried into effect, 11 January." Now, whether or not this means that the name was retained and an entirely new ship was built is not entirely clear. In any event, she is listed as being ordered to New Orleans for duty on 3 July. Sailing on the 7th, she arrived at her new duty station on the 19th. During the ship's period in a "limbo" of sorts, she was renamed John A. Dix''' on 11 June 1873. She apparently then operated in the Gulf of Mexico, out of New Orleans, through the autumn of 1879, when she was temporarily stationed at Mobile, Alabama. The cutter operated in the Florida Keys in the spring of 1880 and into the early 1880s. Ordered to New York City for replacement of her boilers in the autumn of 1883, she arrived there on 30 October. Ordered back to Florida waters upon completion of those repairs on 1 February 1884, she departed New York City on 13 March and arrived at Key West