However, later that summer, her duty station was changed to the area around the mouth of the Mississippi River. That duty lasted until the beginning of 1862. During the intervening months, she made several reconnaissance runs into the mouth of the Mississippi, missions for which her shallow draft made her an ideal ship. During one such incursion, ships of the Federal Fleet were attacked by the Confederate ram "Manassas" and the converted gunboat "Ivy". "Water Witch" engaged "Ivy" briefly but never encountered the ram which zeroed in on and damaged "Richmond". The Union ships re-crossed the bar; and the Confederates retired upriver, "Manassas" having suffered damage to her ram.