Her new orders were to proceed to the Mediterranean Sea to “show the flag” and protect American shipping from any foreign power willing to take advantage of the disunion of the country. Here the ship was refurbished and command was given to Commodore Henry Thatcher. However, since the home port of Gosport Virginia was now in Confederate hands, the ship was ordered to proceed to Kittery Maine. This two-year mission was shortened by a few months in 1861 with the news that the country was now at war. While in this capacity more slaves were freed than at any other time in enforcing the stop of the slave trade. When the war erupted USS Constellation was the flagship for the North Atlantic Squadron intercepting slave ships off the coast of Africa. Little did either side know that this “war of rebellion” would become the bloodiest and most costly war in American history. Meanwhile the armies would invade to capture the southern capital of Richmond at the same time advancing southward through the western states.

The overall northern plan was to use the navy to blockade the Atlantic and Gulf coasts while also using riverine forces to choke off the South. The northern states, finding that declaring war would give recognition to the Confederate Sates of America that the South had organized as a sovereign nation, instead declared the southern states in rebellion and carried out the war, nonetheless.

In April of 1861 the separation of the southern states from the United States Finally erupted into open warfare.

Civil war navy