University of Virginia Library

HISTORY OF VIRGINIA.

VIRGINIA IN THE CONFEDERATE STATES NAVY.

When President Davis formed his Cabinet, he called to the Navy department,
as secretary, the Hon. Stephen Mallory, of Florida. Mr.
Mallory, born on the island of Trinidad, 1813, died at Pensacola,
Florida, November 9, 1873, was admitted to the bar in Florida in
1839; served in the war against the Seminoles; was some years inspector
of customs and collector of customs at Key West; represented
Florida in the United States Senate for the ten years preceding the
secession of that state, and was chairman of the senate committee on
naval affairs most of the time; served as secretary of the Confederate
States Navy until that government ceased to exist; was arrested
at La Grange, Georgia (where his family was then residing), May 20,
1865; confined at Fort Lafayette until released on parole in March,
1866; returned to Florida in July, 1866, and practiced law in Pensacola
until his death.

Upon those to whom was confided the conduct of Confederate naval
affairs devolved first the task of creating a navy for a section of country
without ships or seamen, unsupplied with iron or with skilled
workmen to fashion it; having no mills or shops capable of turning out
such work. The Tredegar Ironworks, at Richmond, Virginia, was the
only establishment south of the Potomac where a large gun could be
cast. There was not in the southern country a mill that could cast a
two and one-half inch plate. The Confederacy had no naval arsenal, no
naval stores, no natural resources available for the creation of a navy.
Of the woods needed for such purpose there was, indeed, a bountiful
supply in the pine belts and live-oak groves from Georgia to the Gulf;
but the supply of wood was of no use without facilities for construction,
and these were lacking.

The people of the south were an agricultural people, and not manufacturers,
nor devoted to commercial pursuits. Private shipyards
were few, and of no value in the emergency. The only public dockyards
within Confederate limits were at Norfolk, Virginia, and Pensacola,
Florida. The latter was never of first-class position, being used for
purposes of shelter and repairs. Only one vessel had ever been completely
constructed at the Pensacola yard, the third-class screw steamer

Seminole. The hull of the Pensacola, a second-class screw steamer, was
built there, but the steamer was completed at the Washington yards.

THE NORFOLK NAVY YARD IN APRIL, 1861.

The yard at Norfolk was, on the contrary, one of the oldest and perhaps
the most valuable and important naval establishment the United
States Government possessed. It had a magnificent granite dry dock,
foundry and machine shops; two complete shiphouses and one unfinished;
officers' houses and naval barracks; tools and machinery of all
kinds; material, ammunition and provisions of every description.
From its stock had been launched two sloops-of-the-line, one frigate,
four sloops-of-war, one brig, four screw steamers, and one side-wheel
steamer. A vast amount of rebuilding and refitting was done there
every year.

On the night of April 20, 1861, this stronghold was laid waste and
abandoned by the United States troops stationed there, eight hundred
marines and seamen with officers, under command of Commodore C. S.
McCauley. Shiphouses, storehouses and offices were fired, guns in the
parks were spiked, machinery broken up. The sloop-of-war Cumberland,
flagship of the Home squadron, United States navy, was lying off
in the Elizabeth river. To this were carried such stores as could be
transferred, and the remainder destroyed. Ships at the docks were set
on fire and scuttled; the most of them burned. The ships were: Line-of-battle
ships Pennsylvania and Delaware, the first in commission as a
receiving ship, the second carrying seventy-four guns; line-of-battle
ship Columbus, eighty guns; frigates Raritan and Columbia, fifty guns
each; sailing sloops Plymouth and Germantown, twenty-two guns each;
brig Dolphin, four guns, and the steam frigate Merrimac, which alone
was valued at $1,200,000. The line-of-battle ship New York was in
shiphouse A, and was also burned. The old frigate United States escaped
destruction, and soon after the evacuation was taken down the river
and sunk at its mouth by Virginia troops.

The Pawnee, United States navy, had left Washington the day previous,
under command of Commodore Hiram Paulding, whose orders
were to bring off the vessels lying at the Norfolk yard. He was two
hours too late. The work of destruction had begun, and the Pawnee
was put to use to tow the Cumberland down the river with the departing
Federal troops on board. The loss to the Federal Government in
the destruction was incalculable. The direct value of the property destroyed
was estimated by the Unites States Naval Department as $9,760,181;
but a greater loss to that government resulted from allowing
such valuable and much needed stores to fall indirectly into the hands
of those upon whom it was about to wage war.

Immediately on the departure of the Federal forces the citizens of Norfolk
and the two military companies then in the city broke into the
yard and devoted themselves to saving the property, heedless of personal
risk from flying firebrands and igniting powder. The dry dock
was saved, although twenty-six barrels of powder had been distributed
in the culvert north of the dock, and a train laid to a lighted fuse.
Two thousand guns were found practically uninjured, a large portion
of them the new Dahlgren guns of various caliber. Small arms, machinery,
steel plates, castings, construction materials, ordnance and
equipment stores, were saved from the flames. Later the spiked cannon
were restored to use. The fire on the Merrimac was quenched
when she had burned to the water line, her hull and boilers, and the
heavy and costly part of her engine, but little injured. Restored to
service at a later date, she took her place in the history of the war as
the famous ironclad ram Virginia. The hull of the Germantown,
with her battery of ten large guns, was raised in June following. The
Plymouth was also found worthy of repairs, and put to service.

All this the devotion of Virginians saved to the Confederacy. On
Monday morning, April 22d, the flag of Virginia, raised by Lieutenant
C. F. M. Spotswood, formerly of the United States navy, floated over
the yard.

VIRGINIA CREATES A NAVY.

Ordinance No. 9, passed by the Virginia State Convention on the same
day that convention passed the Ordinance of Secession, April 17,
1861, empowered the Governor of Virginia to call for volunteers for
state defense, and to "invite all efficient and worthy Virginians and residents
of Virginia in the army and navy of the United States to retire
therefrom, and to enter the service of Virginia," where they would be
given "the same rank as that held in the United States service or its
equivalent." April 22d, Robert E. Lee, late colonel United States
army, was appointed commander-in-chief of the army and navy of
Virginia. April 27th, an ordinance was passed creating the navy of
Virginia, to consist of two thousand marines and seamen with their
proper officers. The constitution of the Confederate States was ratified
and proclaimed binding upon the people of Virginia by Ordinance
No. 56, when all military and naval affairs in the state were transferred
to the control of that government.

DEFENSES ALONG THE POTOMAC, YORK AND RAPPAHANNOCK RIVERS.

One of the first official acts of General Lee as commander of the Virginia
forces was to provide for the construction of batteries to guard
Virginia waters against the passage of hostile vessels. In May, 1861,
a battery was erected at Acquia creek, on the Potomac, under supervision

of Confederate States naval officers, Captain William C. Lynch,
Commander Robert D. Thorburn, and Lieutenants H. H. Lewis and
John Wilkinson. This protected the terminus of the railroad to Richmond,
guarded the approaches to Fredericksburg from the Potomac,
and at the same time menaced Federal navigation of that river. Enlistments
for the navy not having fairly begun, the battery was
manned by infantry volunteers, Captain Lynch in command.

The Federal authorities sent the newly organized Potomac flotilla to
destroy the battery, three ships, Commander James H. Ward: the
Freeborn, three guns, the Resolute, two guns, the Anascostia, two guns.
On May 31st and June 1st, these ships shelled the battery without effect.
Captain Lynch, in his official report, dated June 2, 1861, says:
"On Friday two out of three steamers abreast of the battery opened
fire on us, and continued the cannonade for three hours, when they
withdrew. * * * Upon our part no one was injured. Yesterday the
steamers, which had laid off during the night, were reinforced by the
Pawnee, and at 11:30 they commenced a brisk cannonade, which continued
with little interruption until about 4:30 p. m., during which the
Pawnee fired 392 shot and shell, and the other steamers 207, the
greater portion of the latter being rifled shell." The firing from the
battery damaged the Freeborn so much she was obliged to put back to
Washington for repairs. The only casualty on the Confederate side
was one man wounded in hand, losing a finger.

A battery of ten heavy guns was recommended for Mathias Point,
that bluff headland commanding the waters of the Potomac for more
than a mile. Before work was begun, June 26th, Commander Ward
detailed a party from the Resolute, which he accompanied, to seize
and hold the Point, and erect a Federal battery. The detail landed,
but were met by Virginia troops under Colonel R. M. Mayo, and driven
back to the boats with heavy loss, Commander Ward among the killed.
The Virginia troops held the Point, and a heavy battery was erected
there. In September and October four heavy batteries, mounting in
all twenty guns, were constructed at Evansport, near the mouth of
Quantico creek. These swept the Potomac, which was but a mile and a
half wide at this point, and with channel near the Virginia shore.

The batteries at Acquia creek, Mathias Point and Evansport were
practically a blockade of the Potomac waters, and the blockade was
maintained through the entire winter following. This was not only a
serious inconvenience to the Federal authorities at Washington, and to
the residents of that city, but also had its effect at the North. The
New York Tribune, of March 1, 1862, said: "There has been no safe
communication by water between this city and the capital of this
nation during all this time—a period of six months. This is one of the

most humiliating of all the national disgraces to which we have been
compelled to submit. It has been most damaging to us in the eyes of
the world," etc.

Shortly after these batteries were unmasked, a small steamer, the
George Page, which had been captured by the Confederates, was armed
and renamed the City of Richmond. The Federal authorities, apprehending
an invasion of Maryland from the vicinity of Acquia creek,
sent a division from the Army of the Potomac to the Maryland shore
of the Potomac. These troops camped a mile or so back from the
river, from Port Tobacco, opposite Acquia creek, to within about
twenty miles of Washington. During the winter of 1861-2 the saucy
little City of Richmond made several dashes across the river, shelling
these camps, keeping up the fears of a Confederate landing in Maryland,
aiding also in checking navigation of the river. This boat was burned
by Confederate orders in March, 1862, in Quantico creek, when the
troops and guns were removed from the batteries of the lower Potomac
to Fredericksburg.

Other fortifications erected in the summer of 1861 and winter of
1861-2 were: batteries at Harper's Ferry, covering Bolivar, and approaches
by the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers; batteries at Lowery's
and Accoheek Points (Fort Lowery), Gray's Point, Cherry Point, guarding
the Rappahannock river; batteries at Gloucester Point, West Point
and Yorktown, guarding the York river. These, and other batteries
constructed to guard the Potomac, York and Rappahannock rivers,
were manned mainly by infantry troops and commanded by naval
officers. In the spring of 1862 the Confederate base was changed from
the Potomac to the Rappahannock; from York river to the Chickahominy.
The troops and guns were transferred, and batteries along the
Potomac and York abandoned.

THE ST. NICHOLAS.

The St. Nicholas, of Baltimore, was a sidewheel steamer of about
twelve hundred tons, plying regularly between Baltimore and Georgetown,
D. C., and carrying supplies to the Pawnee, of the Potomac flotilla.
Its capture for Confederate service was planned and executed by
Richard Thomas, of St. Mary's County, Maryland, a young gentleman
in sympathy, as were so many residents of that state, with the cause of
the South. The capture was thus effected: Mr. Thomas, in female attire,
and personating a French lady, took passage on the St. Nicholas on
Friday, June 28, 1861. Of medium height and light weight, and
speaking French with a good accent, he was able to carry his disguise
without awakening any suspicion. At different landings of the boat,
the few whom he had trusted with his plans, and who were to assist

him, came on board as passengers. Among these was Captain Geo. N.
Hollins, who had resigned from the United States navy, and was to
command the St. Nicholas if her capture was made. When the steamer
had left Point Lookout landing a mile or so behind, and was headed
for Georgetown, Mr. Thomas threw off his disguise, appearing armed,
and in Zouave costume. Surrounded by about twenty-five "passengers,"
who also were transformed into armed Zouaves, he demanded
the surrender of the boat. Its officers, the crew being unarmed, accepted
the situation, and Mr. Thomas took possession of the steamer.
The alarm of the genuine passengers was quieted with the assurance
that they should be treated with every courtesy and landed at the
earliest moment possible; the officers and crew were confined in the
hold, the lights were extinguished, and the steamer headed for the
Virginia shore.

At 3:30 the next morning she stopped at the wharf at mouth of Cone
river, where she took on board some Confederate States naval officers,
part of the First Tennessee Infantry, and sailors from Yorktown, waiting
there by previous arrangement. Captain Hollins then took command
of the boat. The intention was to bear down from that point
on the Pawnee, and with these reinforcements take possession of that
boat with or without a fight, as might be. This capture was feasible,
as the St. Nicholas was allowed to come alongside the Pawnee with
supplies unchallenged every trip. But a delay at Cone river for the
arrival of the infantry gave time for the Pawnee to receive notice of the
capture of the St. Nicholas, and the plan of surprise and capture was
frustrated, the Pawnee retreating toward Washington.

On June 29th, Captain Hollins, with the St. Nicholas, captured three
vessels: the brig Monticello, from Brazil to Baltimore, cargo 3,500
bags of coffee; the schooner Mary Pierce, Boston to Washington with
200 tons of ice on board; schooner Margaret, Alexandria to Staten
Island, with cargo of 270 tons of coal. On the Monticello was also
found important mail and dispatches revealing the plans of the United
States squadron off Brazil, which was promptly forwarded to Richmond.
Lieutenant Simms, Confederate States navy, took the Monticello
up the Rappahannock river, where she was unloaded, after which
her former crew were permitted to take her back to her owners in
Baltimore. Lieutenant R. D. Minor, Virginia navy, took the Mary
Pierce to Fredericksburg, where her cargo of ice sold for eight thousand
dollars. Lieutenant Robert D. Thorburn, Virginia navy, took temporary
command of the Margaret. The St. Nicholas and the two
schooners were a valuable addition to the Confederate naval force, the
captured cargoes were highly appreciated, and, altogether, the service
rendered in the two days by Mr. Thomas and Captain Hollins, with

their assistants, was not only brilliant and inspiriting, but of great
value. The St. Nicholas remained in Confederate service until burned
with many other vessels at Fredericksburg, when that city was evacuated.
Captain Hollins was transferred, July 10, 1861, to command of
the naval defenses of the James river.

On July 1, 1861, Governor Letcher, in recognition of Mr. Thomas'
services, issued a commission as colonel of Virginia volunteers to him,
under the name of Richard Thomas Zarnova, and enlistments were begun
for a regiment of Zouaves to be commanded by him. Colonel Thomas-Zarnova,
elated by his success and the resultant praise, conceived the
idea of repeating the exploit. He returned to Baltimore and took passage,
July 7th, on the Mary Washington, with friends who were to assist
him in her capture. He was recognized and made prisoner on the boat,
near Annapolis, and confined at Fort McHenry, where he was treated
with great rigor, and made several unsuccessful attempts to escape. On
December 3, 1861, he was transferred to Fort Lafayette, and held prisoner
in close confinement there until released by exchange in April, 1863.
It was the first intention of the Federal Government to refuse him recognition
as a prisoner of war, General Dix having officially recommended
that he be treated as "a traitor and a spy." Only the vigorous protest
of Governor Letcher and of the Virginia legislature against such
treatment of one holding commission as a Virginia officer, accompanied
by threat of retaliation, saved him from this fate. He returned to Richmond
after his release, but took no further active part in the war, having
suffered in mind and body from his long and close confinement.

DEFENSES ALONG THE JAMES, NANSEMOND AND ELIZABETH RIVERS.

On April 18, 1861, Governor Letcher appointed Major-General William
B. Taliaferro, of the state militia, to the command "of the state
troops which are now or may be assembled at the city of Norfolk."
Robert B. Pegram and Catesby apR. Jones were appointed captains in
the navy and ordered to Norfolk, Captain Pegram to "assume command
of the naval station, with authority to organize naval defenses,
enroll and enlist seamen and marines, and temporarily appoint warrant
officers, and to do and perform whatever may be necessary to preserve
and protect the property of the commonwealth and of the citizens
of Virginia." The land and naval forces were instructed to cooperate.
These three repaired to Norfolk on the same day, General
Taliaterro accompained by Major Nat. Tyler and Captain Henry Heth,
of his staff.

The only troops then, or until after the evacuation, in Norfolk, were
two companies, the "Norfolk Blues" and the "Portsmouth Grays."
On Saturday evening, the 20th, after the Federal troops had abandoned

the navy yard, some four hundred state volunteers arrived from
Petersburg; the next day the "Richmond Grays" reported to General
Taliaferro, and on Monday three companies from Georgia.

After the evacuation Commodore French Forrest took command of
the navy yard, and General Walter Gwynn succeeded General Taliaferro
in command of the land forces. Preparations for coast defense were
at once begun, naval officers superintending the construction of batteries,
all available state force detailed to the work. The necessity for
this was obvious. The estuary of Hampton Roads, receiving the waters
of the James, Nansemond and Elizabeth rivers, and their outlet
to Chesapeake bay, was protected by the guns of Fortress Monroe.
Its safe and commodious harbor was sure to become a rendezvous
for Federal vessels, and vessels commanding Hampton Roads
waters would not only blockade Virginia ports, but could at any time,
if unopposed, descend upon her coast, ascend her rivers, and lay waste
or invest her coast and river cities. Upon the James was Richmond,
the capital of the state, soon to be the Confederate States capital.
Upon opposite banks of the Elizabeth were Portsmouth and Norfolk,
and, just above Portsmouth, nearly opposite Norfolk, the navy yard.
Up the Nansemond was Suffolk, the point where the Norfolk. & Petersburg
railroad crossed the river, which, if seized by Federal troops,
would isolate Norfolk and enable the Federals to regain the navy yard
they had just abandoned.

The work of fortifying was pushed with all possible expedition and
with all available means. Before the winter of 1861-2 was over a line
of river batteries and forts for coast defense was established. Along the
Elizabeth, from the guns mounted at Fort Norfolk and a battery
between the fort and the wharf, were batteries at Lambert's Point, Tanner's
Creek, and extending to Sewell Point on one bank of the river; on
the other, batteries at the Naval Hospital, at Penner's Point, and
twenty guns on Craney island, off Wise's Point. Bushy Point and Soller's
Point had batteries also. Near the mouth of the Nansemond were
batteries at Town Point and Pig Point on one side, at Cedar Point and
Barrel Point on the other; also at Pagan Creek. James river was defended
by batteries at Jamestown, Jamestown Island, Mulberry Point,
Harden Bluff. Fort Powhatan guarded the ascent of the Appomattox
river. The Federals, in addition to the commanding defense of Fortress
Monroe, had Fort Wool at the Rip Raps and powerful land batteries at
Newport News.

On May 1, 1861, Captain Pendergrast, commanding the Home
squadron, United States navy, reported to the Federal authorities
that he had sufficient naval force off Fortress Monroe to blockade
Virginia ports, and from that date open communication between

Virginia and Northern States ceased. May 24th, Brigadier-General
Benjamin Huger succeeded General Gwynn in command of infantry
troops in and around Norfolk. May 21st, Colonel J. B. Magruder, of
the Provisional Army of Virginia, was placed in command of military
operations and forces on the peninsula, with instructions to provide
for the safety of Yorktown and Jamestown.

July 10th, the defenses of the James river were assigned to Captain
George N. Hollins, Confederate States navy. At the close of 1861 the
principal forts and batteries in charge of naval officers were commanded
as follows: Sewell's Point, Commander W.L Maury; Fort Nelson, Commander
Charles F. McIntosh; Fort Norfolk, Commander R.F. Pinkney;
Penner's Point, Lieutenant George W. Harrison; Pig Point, Lieutenant
R. R. Carter. Batteries at Cedar Point, Barrel Point and Pagan Creek
were in charge of Commander R. L. Page until he was sent to Gloucester
Point. Lambert's Point battery was commanded by Lieutenant J. S.
Taylor, Confederate States army.

The first vessels available for Confederate service in these waters were
gathered in the James river: The Yorktown (formerly the Patrick
Henry of the New York and Old Dominion steamship line); the Jamestown
(of the same line), renamed the Thomas Jefferson, but persistently
called the Jamestown; the Teaser, a river tug. These, in the winter of
1861-2, were under command of Captain John R. Tucker, and stationed
off Mulberry Island, where the battery at Harden's Point closed James
river to the enemy. The Jamestown carried two guns, the Teaser one,
the Yorktown (or Patrick Henry) six. The latter was fitted for naval
service by her executive officer, Lieutenant William Llewellyn Powell,
who had her cabins taken off, her deck strengthened, and one-inch iron
plate (all she could bear) put abreast her boiler and engines, extending
a few feet beyond each way and below the water line. This boat ran
out toward Newport News and skirmished with the enemy's vessels on
September 13th, and again on December 2d.

THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE VIRGINIA.

The steam frigate Merrimac was built at the Charlestown (Mass.)
navy yard in 1855, of thirty-five hundred tons burden, and to carry
forty guns. Her last service in the United States navy was in the
Pacific squadron. As already recorded, she was lying at the Norfolk
yard when it was abandoned by the Federal troops, and was scuttled
and set on fire. After burning to the water's edge she sank with guns,
boilers and engine practically uninjured. Six days later her guns were
raised by Virginia naval officers, and sent to Sewell's Point and other
defenses of Norfolk. On May 30th the frigate was raised and pulled
into the dry dock.

Early in June, 1861, Lieutenant John M. Brooke, Confederate States
navy, a former officer of the United States navy who had resigned
to enter the Virginia naval service, submitted to Secretary Mallory a plan
for protecting ships with iron cladding, and suggested the remodeling
of the Merrimac in accordance with the plan. Upon request of Secretary
Mallory, John L. Porter, naval constructor at Norfolk, submitted a
model for an iron-clad, and Secretary Mallory instructed Lieutenant
Brooke and Mr. Porter to investigate the condition of the Merrimac,
with William P. Williamson, chief engineer, Confederate States navy,
and to "report the best method of making her useful."

These officers after careful investigation reported: "In obedience to
your orders, we have carefully examined and considered the various
plans and propositions for constructing a shot-proof steam
battery, and respectfully report that, in our opinion, the steam frigate
Merrimac, which is in such condition from the fire as to be useless for
any other purpose without heavy expense in rebuilding, etc., can be
made an efficient vessel of that character, mounting * * heavy guns,
and from the further consideration that we cannot procure a suitable
engine and boilers for any other vessel without building them, which
would occupy too much time. * * * The bottom of the hull, boilers,
and heavy and costly parts of the engine, being but little injured, reduce
the cost of construction to about one-third of the amount which would
be required to construct such a vessel anew." The report was accepted,
the plan adopted, Mr. Porter was put in charge of repairs and construction
on the vessel, Mr. Williamson in charge of the engineer's department,
and to Lieutenant Brooke was assigned the duties of superintending
the manufacture of the iron plates at the Tredegar works, and
the preparation of the ship's ordnance

To whom should be given the honor of devising the plan on which the
Virginia was constructed—that novel combination of iron-sheathed,
bomb-proof battery and battering ram, destined, with the still more
startlingly novel Monitor, to revolutionize the naval warfare of the
world?

It is accorded to Lieutenant Brooke in Secretary Mallory's report, by
President Davis in his "Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government,"
by Pollard in his "Lost Cause," by John Taylor Wood, who was a
lieutenant on the Virginia, and contributed the record of her services to
to the Century war papers. Yet Mr. Porter claimed the honor, and that
"great injustice" had been done himself and Engineer Williamson in
Secretary Mallory's report. Scharf, in his history of "The Confederate
States Navy," sides with Mr. Porter. It is certain the model submitted
by Mr. Porter, and by which Secretary Mallory's official orders show
the Merrimac was rebuilt into the Virginia, was distinctively the conception

of Mr. Porter, worked out by him before he ever heard of Lieutenant
Brooke's plans or saw his drawings. It is equally certain that
Lieutenant Brooke's plans and drawings were made with no knowledge
of Mr. Porter's model, that his drawings and the model offered practically
the same results, and that it was by his plans the secretary's attention
was first called to this innovation on accepted methods of construction.
It is a singular coincidence, worthy of note in this connection,
that before the Virginia was constructed the iron-cladding of
boats was put to practical test, and by neither Lieutenant Brooke nor
Mr. Porter. Lieutenant Powell had originated the theory also, and
put it in operation on the little Yorktown.

However the honor of the plans of the Virginia should be awarded,
the three officers to whom her construction was entrusted are entitled
to great praise for the energy with which they performed their work
under discouraging circumstances. Not the least of these was the conflict
of views and of authority between the constructor at Norfolk and
the Bureau of Construction at Richmond; a conflict that ultimately
resulted in those imperfections of the Virginia which so greatly detracted
from her serviceableness. In addition to this unnecessary drawback,
were others against which no provision could have been made. Experienced
workmen were few, and in many instances these had to make
their tools before they could use them. There were no patterns to follow
in constructing the boat, no guide for the workmen except the
drawings and calculations. Errors were made, and work had to be
done over again. At the Tredegar works was the same paucity of
workmen. These works, turned from common iron workshops into a
manufactory of every kind of munition of war for the entire Confederacy,
were taxed to their utmost capacity. The work on the Virginia went
on but slowly, though even "blacksmiths, finishers and strikers performed
extra work gratuitously, in order to expedite the completion,"
as Flag-Officer Forrest reported on January 11, 1862. Begun in
June, 1861, the Virginia was not ready for service until the close of
February, 1862.

On February 27, 1862, Captain Franklin Buchanan was ordered to
the command of the James River squadron. In addition to the Patrick
Henry (or Yorktown), the Jamestown and the Teaser, already
mentioned, the Raleigh and Beaufort, each small vessels carrying one
gun only, were now a part of this fleet. To these the Virginia was now
to be added as the flagship of the squadron. Its officers were: Flag-officer,
Captain Franklin Buchanan; lieutenant, Catesby apR Jones;
executive and ordnance officers, Charles C. Simms, R. D. Minor, Hunter
Davidson, John Taylor Wood, J. R. Eggleston, Walter Butt; midshipmen,
R. C. Foute, H. H. Marmaduke, H. B. Littlepage, W. J. Craig, J.

C. Long, L. M. Rootes; paymaster, James Semple; surgeon, Dinwiddie
Phillips; assistant surgeon, Algernon S. Garnett; captain of marines,
Reuben Thorn; engineers, H. A. Ramsey, acting chief; assistants, John
W. Tynan, Loudon Campbell, Benjamin Herring, C. A. Jack, R. Wright;
boatswain, C. H. Hasker; gunner, C. B. Oliver; carpenter, Hugh Lindsey,
clerk, Arthur Sinclair; aide (volunteer), Lieutenant Douglas Forrest,
Confederate States army, Captain Kevil, commanding detachment of
Norfolk united artillery; Sergeant Tabb, signal corps. The crew of three
hundred men were a few seamen from Norfolk, eighty sailors whom Lieutenant
Wood found in a New Orleans regiment under General Magruder
on the peninsula, and other volunteers from the army.

The following is Lieutenant Wood's description of the Virginia and
her armament: "She was cut down to the old berth-deck. Both ends
for seventy feet were covered over, and when the ship was in fighting
trim were just awash. On the midship section, one hundred and seventy
feet in length, was built, at an angle of forty-five degrees, a roof of
pitch-pine and oak twenty-four inches thick, extending from the water
line to a height over the gun deck of seven feet. Both ends of the
shield were rounded so that the pivot guns could be used as bow and stern
chasers or quartering. Over the gun deck was a light grating, making
a promenade about twenty feet wide. The wood backing was covered
with iron plates, rolled at the Tredegar works at Richmond, two inches
thick and eight wide. The first tier was put on horizontal, the second
up and down—in all four inches, bolted through the woodwork and
clinched inside. The prow was of cast iron, projecting four feet, and
badly secured, as events proved. The rudder and propeller were entirely
unprotected. The pilot house was forward of the smoke stack, and
covered with the same thickness of iron on the sides. Her motive
power was the same that had always been in the ship. * * * Her armament
consisted of two seven-inch rifles, heavily reinforced around the
breech with three-inch steel bands, shrunk on; these were the first heavy
guns so made [their construction was under Lieutenant Brooke's direct
supervision, and every gun was tested by him] and were the bow and
stern pivots; there were also two six-inch rifles of the same make, and
six nine-inch smooth bore broadside—ten guns in all."

THE SERVICE OF THE VIRGINIA.

At noon on Saturday, March 8, 1862, the Virginia, accompanied by
the tugs Beaufort and Raleigh, steamed down the Elizabeth river,
cheered by the men at the Confederate batteries along the shores.
Without a preliminary trial to test her speed and manageableness, she
was about to offer battle to the formidable Federal fleet in Hampton
Roads. Her defects were at once manifested. Not more than five miles

an hour could be got out of her. Her boilers and engines, not improved
by sinking, could not be depended on. Her draft was twenty-two feet,
and she could not be maneuvered in shoal waters. She was so unwieldy
it took from thirty to forty minutes to turn her.

In the open water she was joined by the rest of the James River boats,
the full fleet as follows: The Virginia, flag-ship, Captain Franklin Buchanan,
ten guns; the Patrick Henry, twelve guns, Commander John R.
Tucker; the Jamestown, two guns, Lieutenant-Commanding J. N. Barney;
the Teaser, one gun, Lieutenant-Commanding W. A. Webb; the
Beaufort, one gun, Lieutenant-Commanding W. H. Parker; the Raleigh,
one gun, Lieutenant-Commanding J. W. Alexander. Total armament,
twenty-seven guns.

The Federal fleet off Fortress Monroe was: The Minnesota, forty
guns; the Roanoke, forty guns; the St. Lawrence, fifty guns; the gunboats
Dragon, Mystic, Whitehall, Oregon, Zouave and Cambridge.
Behind these frowned the heavy guns of the fort. Off Newport News,
seven miles above, the point itself strongly fortified and held by a large
Federal garrison, were two steam frigates: The Congress, fifty guns;
the Cumberland, forty guns. At the Rip Raps was Fort Wool, with its
heavy gun.

Off Sewell Point the Virginia and her escorts turned toward Newport
News. The hurried preparations on board the Congress and Cumberland
seemed to indicate that the attack was unlooked for. When the
Virginia came within three-quarter mile range, the guns of the Cumberland
and Congress and the shore batteries opened on her. Answering
fire was reserved until the range was shortened, then the forward pivot
gun on the Virginia was fired by Lieutenant C. C. Simms. The effect
showed what terrible work the ironclad could be counted on to do with
her guns. Nearly every one of the crew of the Cumberland's after pivot
gun were killed or wounded. The next test was of her ability to disable
an antagonist by a blow. The Virginia steered straight for the Cumberland,
giving the Congress a broadside fire in passing, which was
returned. The Cumberland was struck under the forerigging, nearly at
right angles, and her side went in like an egg shell. The blow was
hardly felt on the Virginia, though her ram was left in the Cumberland
as she backed off, and the side of the Cumberland, Lieutenant Wood
says, "was opened wide enough to drive in a horse and cart."

As the Virginia backed clear of her, the Cumberland began to list to
port, and fill rapidly. Her guns were manfully served as long as
they were above water, and when her crew were driven to the spar
deck they continued to fire her pivot guns until she went down with
colors flying. She sunk in three-quarters of an hour from the time
she was struck, and when her hull rested on the sands fifty-four

feet below the water, her pennant was still above water, flying from
her topmast.

The Virginia was headed so as to give her space to turn in. As she
swung round, the Congress came in range again, and Lieutenant Wood
raked her with three shots from the Virginia's after pivot guns. In
trying to get out of range she grounded, but in water where the unfortunate
draft of the Virginia would not permit her to follow. The Virginia
headed for her, and took position two hundred yards off, where
every shot told. For an hour the guns of the Congress answered
bravely, but her loss was terrible and her position hopeless. At about
half past three she ran up the white flag and lowered her colors. Most
of her guns were then disabled, more than half her crew killed or
wounded, and her hull had been several times on fire.

Among the killed on the Congress was her commanding officer, Lieutenant
Joseph B. Smith, and the surrender was made by Lieutenant
Pendergrast to Lieutenant Parker, of the Beaufort, that boat and the
Raleigh having been ordered alongside by Captain Buchanan. The
orders were to take off the crew and men on the Congress and then set
her on fire. But firing from the shore batteries did not cease, although
the white flag on the Congress could be seen as plainly on the shore as
on the Virginia. This cruel and continuous fire wounded friend and
foe alike. Lieutenant Tayloe and Midshipman Hutter, of the Raleigh,
with many of the crew, were killed while taking Federal wounded from
the Congress. The Raleigh and Beaufort then hauled off, with about
thirty prisoners. Of those left on the Congress such as were able escaped
to the shore by swimming or in small boats. That those unable
thus to escape perished with the ship is to be laid to the charge
of their own troops, who, safe on the shore, disregarded the white
flag that otherwise would have protected these unfortunate ones.
Among those who escaped to the shore was Lieutenant Pendergrast.
After surrendering the colors and his side arms on board the Beaufort,
he was permitted to return to the Congress to assist in removing
the wounded. Violating his parole, he escaped by swimming to the
shore.

Captain Buchanan ordered hot shot to be fired into the Congress
which was done until she was on fire, fore and aft. While directing this he
was severely wounded, as was also his flag-lieutenant, Robert D. Minor
Command of the Virginia then devolved upon Lieutenant Catesby
apR. Jones. Several shore batteries had been silenced by the firing
from the Virginia, and from her little consorts of the James River
squadron. These smaller boats had been active and serviceable all day.
The Patrick Henry was temporarily disabled by a shot through her
boiler, which scalded four to death, wounding others.

THE VIRGINIA RAMMING THE CUMBERLAND

When the engagement opened, the St. Lawrence, Roanoke and Minnesota
left their anchorage off Fortress Monroe to come to the assistance
of the Cumberland and Congress. The two first grounded a short
distance from Fortress Monroe. The Minnesota grounded half way
between Old Point and Newport News, but in position to be actively
engaged. Lieutenant Jones would have moved on her after the Congress
was disposed of, but the pilots of the Virginia would not undertake
the necessary management of her with approaching night and ebb
tide upon them. The Virginia anchored off Sewell Point for the night.
As the night wore away, the booming of the exploding guns of the
Congress was heard. Then followed the explosion of her powder magazine,
scattering her last fragments, and by her expiring light could be
seen all that was left of the Cumberland, the pennant on her sunken
mast. It had been a good day's work for the Confederacy.

The Virginia had gone to anchor apparently uninjured, for though,
under the concentrated fire of more than a hundred guns, everything
above deck that could be shot away was gone, her iron armor appeared
uninjured. The damage done by the wrenching off of her ram (causing
her to leak in next action) was not then apparent. Her entire loss
in killed and wounded was only twenty-one. Few that witnessed that
day's battle, Confederates or Federals, doubted that the morrow would
see the destruction, not only of the Minnesota, but of every Federal
boat riding in Hampton Roads. Lieutenant Jones, however, watching
on the Virginia, knew that no such victory was assured. In his very
interesting contribution to the history of these engagements, published
in the Southern Magazine, of Baltimore, prepared at the request of the
Southern Historical Society, he says: "One of the pilots chanced, about
11 p. m., to be looking in the direction of the Congress, when there
passed a strange looking craft, brought out in bold relief by the burning
ship, which he at once proclaimed to be The Ericsson. We were
therefore not surprised in the morning to see the Monitor at anchor
near the Minnesota. The latter ship was still aground." That the
commanding officer of the Virginia knew the Monitor was in the field
at 11 p. m. on the 8th, should, it would seem, forever dispose of the
oft-repeated assertion that it created "the utmost consternation" on
the Virginia to see the Monitor on the morning of the 9th.

THE MEETING OF THE VIRGINIA AND THE MONITOR.

The construction of the Monitor had been watched at the North with
the same interest that in the South had been felt concerning the Virginia,
and her appearance afloat was even more novel. The Monitor
was a small iron hull, upon which rested a large raft, surmounted by a
revolving circular iron turret. The hull was 124 feet long, and thirty-four

feet wide at the upper end. The raft projected at bow and stern,
and was fifty feet longer than the hull. The turret was eight inches
thick, nine feet high, and twenty feet inside diameter. In the turret
were two eleven-inch Dahlgren guns. Her draft was ten feet. This was
her first great advantage over the Virginia, that she could run into
shoal water. Her second point of superiority for the work before them
was, that she could turn anywhere, without appreciable loss of time.
No more accurate, dispassionate and interesting account of the
meeting of these two strange crafts can be given than that which
Lieutenant Jones gives in the paper already alluded to, which is as
follows:

"At 8 a.m. we got under way, as did the Patrick Henry, Jamestown
and Teaser. We stood towards the Minnesota, and opened fire on her.
The pilots were to have placed us half a mile from her, but we were not
at any time nearer than a mile. The Monitor commenced firing when
about a third of a mile distant. We soon approached, and were often
within a ship's length; once while passing we fired a broadside at her
only a few yards distant. She and her turret appeared to be under
perfect control. Her light draft enabled her to move about us at pleasure.
She once took position for a short time where we could not bring
a gun to bear on her. Another of her movements caused us great
anxiety; she made for our rudder and propeller, both of which could
have been easily disabled. We could only see her guns when they were
discharged. We wondered how proper aim could be taken in the very
short time the guns were in sight. The Virginia, however, was a large
target, and generally so near that the Monitor's shot did not often
miss. It did not appear to us that our shell had any effect upon the
Monitor. We had no solid shot; musketry was fired at the lookout
holes. In spite of all the care of our pilots we ran ashore, where we
remained over fifteen minutes. The Patrick Henry and Jamestown,
with great risk to themselves, started to our assistance. The Monitor
and Minnesota were in full play on us. A small rifle-gun on board the
Minnesota, or on the steamer alongside of her, was fired with remarkable
precision.

"When we saw that our fire made no impression on the Monitor, we
determined to run into her if possible. We found it a very difficult feat
to do. Our great length and draft, in a comparatively narrow channel,
with but little water to spare, made us sluggish in our movements,
and hard to steer and turn. When the opportunity was presented all
steam was put on; there was not, however, sufficient time to gather
full headway before striking. The blow was given with the broad
wooden stem, the iron prow having been lost the day before. The
Monitor received the blow in such a manner as to weaken the effect,

and the damage to her was trifling. Shortly after an alarming leak in
our bow was reported. It, however, did not long continue.

"Whilst contending with the Monitor, we received the fire of the
Minnesota, which we never failed to return when our guns could be
brought to bear. We set her on fire, and did her serious injury, though
much less than we then supposed. Generally the distance was too
great for effective firing. We blew up a steamer alongside of her.

"The fight had continued over three hours. To us the Monitor
appeared unharmed. We were, therefore, surprised to see her run off
into shoal water where our great draft would not permit us to follow,
and where our shell could not reach her. The loss of our prow and
anchor, and consumption of coal, water, etc., had lightened us so that
the lower part of the forward end of the shield was awash.

"We for some time waited the return of the Monitor to the Roads
After consultation it was decided we should return to the navy yard,
in order that the vessel should be brought down into the water and
completed. The pilots said that if we did not then leave, that we could
not pass the bar until noon of the next day. We, therefore, at 12 m.
quitted the Roads and stood for Norfolk. Had there been any sign of
the Monitor's willingness to renew the contest we should have remained
to fight her. We left her in the shoal water to which she had withdrawn,
and which she did not leave until after we had crossed the bar
on our way to Norfolk.

"The official report says: `Our loss is two killed and nineteen
wounded. The stem is twisted and the ship leaks; we have lost the
prow, starboard anchor, and all the boats; the armor is somewhat
damaged, the steam-pipe and smoke-stack both riddled, the muzzles of
the two guns shot away; the colors were hoisted to the smoke-stack,
and several times cut down from it.' None were killed or wounded in
the fight with the Monitor. The only damage she did was to the
armor. She fired forty-one shots. We were enabled to receive most of
them obliquely. The effect of a shot striking obliquely on the shield
was to break all the iron, and sometimes to displace several feet of the
outside course; the wooden backing would not be broken through.
When a shot struck directly at right angles, the wood would also be
broken through, but not displaced. Generally the shot was much
scattered; in three instances two or more struck near the same place,
in each case causing more of the iron to be displaced, and the wood to
bulge inside. A few struck near the water-line. The shield was never
pierced; though it was evident that two shots striking in the same
place would have made a large hole through everything.

"The ship was docked, a prow of steel and wrought iron put on and
a course of two-inch iron on the hull below the roof extending in length

180 feet. Want of time and of material prevented its completion.
The damage to the armor was repaired; wrought-iron port shutters
were fitted, etc. The rifle guns were supplied with bolts of wrought and
chilled iron. The ship was brought a foot deeper in the water, making
her draft twenty-three feet.

"Commodore Josiah Tatnall relieved Admiral Buchanan in command.
On the 11th of April he took the Virginia down to Hampton
Roads, expecting to have a desperate encounter with the Monitor.
Greatly to our surprise the Monitor refused to fight us. She closely
hugged the shore under the guns of the fort with her steam up. Hoping
to provoke her to come out, the Jamestown was sent in, and captured
several prizes, but the Monitor would not budge. It was proposed
to take the vessel to York river, but it was decided in Richmond
that she should remain near Norfolk for its protection.

"Commodore Tatnall commanded the Virginia for forty-five days,
of which time there were only thirteen days that she was not in dock
or in the hands of the navy yard. Yet he succeeded in impressing on
the enemy that we were ready for active service. It was evident that
the enemy very much overrated our power and efficiency. The South
also had the same exaggerated idea of the vessel.

"On the 8th of May, a squadron, including the Monitor, bombarded
our batteries at Sewell's Point. We immediately left the yard for the
Roads. As we drew near, the Monitor and her consorts ceased bombarding,
and retreated under the guns of the forts keeping out of range
of our guns. Men-of-war from below the forts and vessels expressly
fitted for running us down joined the other vessels between the forts.
It looked as if the fleet was about to make a fierce onslaught on us.
But we were again to be disappointed. The Monitor and the other
vessels did not venture to meet us, although we advanced until projectiles
from the Rip-raps fell more than half a mile beyond us. Our
object, however, was accomplished; we had put an end to the bombardment,
and we returned to our buoy."

Captain Buchanan was promoted to be Admiral in the Confederate
States Navy, and temporarily relieved from command on account of
wound received in the engagement of the Virginia March 8th. On March
25th Commodore Josiah Tatnall was ordered to command of the naval
defenses of Virginia waters, and he assumed command March 29th.
From the 8th to the 29th the Virginia was ably commanded by Lieutenant
Jones, who for this service was promoted captain. (This promotion
was to captain in the Confederate States Navy; the promotion
previously noted when he was sent to Norfolk was in the Virginia
Navy.) The Confederate authorities entertained the belief that the
Virginia would be able to drive the entire fleet of the enemy from

Hampton Roads. Virginians were confident that the blockade of their
shores would be raised by the ironclad. The people of the Northern
coast cities anticipated seeing their harbors laid waste by it. Secretary
Mallory sent Commodore Tatnall a communication on April 1st,
in which he said: "The enclosed note, sent me by friend in Baltimore,
will inform you of some interesting points about the Monitor. This
vessel has achieved a high reputation by her recent combat with the
Virginia; and the enemy, no less than our own people, look forward to
a renewal of it as a matter of course, and with deep interest. I confess
to a very deep interest in your success over her, for I am fully convinced
that the result of such a victory may save millions of dollars
and thousands of lives." The information conveyed by the note
enclosed was certain points in the construction of the Monitor, a
knowledge of which might be serviceable to the Virginia in meeting her
again.

Again on April 4th Secretary Mallory instructed Commodore Tatnall:
"Do not hesitate or wait for orders, but strike when, how and where
your judgment may dictate. Take her [the Virginia] out of the dock
when you may deem best, and this point is left entirely to your discretion."
Commodore Tatnall in his defense before court-martial said.
"Aware that Hampton Roads furnished me no field for important
operations, I early turned my thoughts to passing the forts and striking
unexpectedly at some distant point, say New York, or Port Royal,
or Savannah, and in a letter of the 10th of April to the Secretary, I
conveyed my views." At a meeting of the Federal Cabinet called after
the fight in Hampton Roads, Secretary of War Stanton said: "The
Merrimac [Virginia] will change the whole character of the war; she
will destroy, seriatim, every naval vessel, she will lay all cities on
the seaboard under contribution. I shall immediately recall Burnside,
Port Royal must be abandoned. I will notify the governors and municipal
authorities in the North to take instant measures to protect
their harbors."

But hopes and fears were unfounded. No further victory was to be
won by the Virginia. No victory at sea, for she had not one seagoing
qualification, and could only be used for harbor defense. No victory in
Hampton Roads, for her fighting qualities had been tested, and the
enemy were not minded to meet her again. As Lieutenant Jones testifies,
whenever she came out of the Elizabeth, all Federal boats fled to
shallow water where she could not follow; and the Monitor, while her
officers loudly claimed a victory for March 9th, was kept close under
the guns of Fortress Monroe, and could not be tempted into another
engagement.

The movements of the two opposing armies on the peninsula, in

March and April, 1862, resulted in the change of base of Gen. Joe E.
Johnston's army from the Yorktown lines to the west bank of the
Chickahominy, and from this change resulted the, perhaps, unnecessary
order for the Confederate evacuation of Norfolk. On May 10th the
Confederate land forces fell back from the vicinity of Elizabeth river, the
batteries at Craney Island, Sewell Point and all along the river were
abandoned. General Huger with his troops withdrew from Norfolk,
the mayor of the city negotiated its surrender to General Wool, and
once more the navy yard was given over to the flames. The smaller
vessels of the Confederate fleet had in April withdrawn to James river,
and after Norfolk was abandoned moved up the river to positions
behind the fortifications at Drewry's and Chapin's bluffs. Commodore
Tatnall ordered the Virginia lightened and run up James river to the
protection of Richmond. After the crew had worked five or six hours
lightening the boat, and she was lifted so that she could not be
defended where she lay, the pilots announced their inability to carry
her up the James (where the draft was eighteen feet) beyond Jamestown
Flats, at which point it was reported the enemy held both banks
of the river. Only one course could then be pursued to keep her out of
the enemy's hands. She was put on shore and fired, and her crew
landed as near Craney Island as possible, the only way of retreat open
to them. She burned about an hour, and blew up a little before five
o'clock on the morning of May 11th.

This unlooked for end to the career of the ironclad, whose victories
had been exaggerated, whose defects were then not known, and from
which so much was expected, created great dissatisfaction throughout the
Confederacy. Commodore Tatnall was severely censured for destroying
the Virginia, not only by those ignorant of the facts in the case,
but also by those whose knowledge of the situation should have led
them to endorse his action. He called for a Court of Inquiry, which
reported, in substance, that the Virginia ought not to have been destroyed
at the time and place it was done. As soon as this finding was
made known, the Commodore promptly and very properly called for
a court-martial, which was convened on July 5, 1862, composed of
the following officers: Admiral Franklin Buchanan; Captains Lawrence
Rousseau, Sidney S. Lee, George N. Hollins; Commanders Robert G.
Robb, Murray Nelson, Eben Farrand, A. B. Fairfax, M. F. Maury,
George Minor; Lieutenants W. L. Maury, Robert B. Pegram; Judge
Advocate Robert Ould. By this court Commodore Tatnall was honorably
acquitted, the court finding:

"That after the evacuation of Norfolk, Westover on James river
became the most suitable place for her [the Virginia] to occupy; that
while in the act of lightening her for the purpose of taking her up to

that point, the pilots for the first time declared their inability to take
her up. That when lightened she was made vulnerable to the attacks
of the enemy. The only alternative, in the opinion of the court, was
to abandon and burn the ship then and there, which, in the judgment
of the court, was deliberately and wisely done."

The Monitor, of which quite as much was expected in the North as in
the South was expected of the Virginia, had a career almost as brief
and much less serviceable. After some slight service in the James river
in the summer of 1862, she was taken to Washington for repairs in
September, returning to Hampton Roads two months later. On
December 29th, she set out for Beaufort, North Carolina, in tow of the
Rhode Island, and two days later she sunk in a heavy gale off the
North Carolina coast.

UP THE JAMES RIVER.

Virginia was now, as had been foreseen, to become the great battle
ground of the war. To reach the Confederate capital by land or water
was the aim of every movement of the Federal army in the east
Chesapeake bay and James river, the water approaches to Richmond,
were henceforth to be the scene of all naval engagements of any
importance on Virginia waters.

After the abandonment of Yorktown, May 3, 1862, and of Norfolk
(May 10th), the James river squadron moved slowly up that river,
skirmishing with the advancing Federal fleet. The Nansemond and
Hampton, gunboats built at the Norfolk navy yard, were sent to Richmond.
Two other boats nearly finished, and greatly superior to any
in the fleet, were burned with the yard. As McClellan advanced on the
peninsula, the Federal fleet moved from Hampton Roads up the James.
On May 8th the fleet shelled Fort Huger, at Hardy's Bluff, three hours
without driving out its garrison. The defense was conducted by Capt.
J. M. Maury, Confederate States Navy. The next day an engagement
came off between shore batteries and the Federal boats, in which the
Patrick Henry and the Jamestown assisted the batteries.

These and other slight engagements affording only a temporary check
to the advance of the Federal fleet, the anticipation was awakened in
the North that the fleet would reach Richmond without encountering
serious opposition. But the Confederates were using the time to good
advantage, concentrating their forces and strengthening their defenses
at Drewry's Bluff, to give battle there. This bluff, on the right bank of
the James, about seven miles below Richmond, was an admirable point
for defense, having great natural advantages. It has an elevation of
about two hundred feet above the river, which at this point is only
one mile wide. Preparations for defense there had been begun with one

battery mounting three guns. In April the first obstructions were
placed in the river. Piles were driven into the bottom, and filled in with
logs, stones and iron rubbish. On the approach of the enemy's boats,
the Jamestown, Curtis Peck, Northampton, and several smaller boats
were sunk in the channel. The earthworks previously constructed were
extended. In addition to the three guns of the first battery, a number
of heavy navy guns were mounted. Rifle pits for sharp shooters were
dug on the opposite bank of the James. A heavy battery at Chapin's
Bluff, a few miles down on the left bank of the river, was commanded
by Lieut. T. J. Page.

THE BATTLE OF DREWRY'S BLUFF.

Capt. Eben Farrand, Confederate States navy, was senior officer in
command of the naval and military forces at Drewry's Bluff. Capt.
A. Drewry commanded a battalion of artillery. The bluff took its
name from his family, in whose possession the land had been many years.
The naval battery, which had been constructed under supervision of
Capt. John Randolph Tucker, and in which the guns from the Jamestown
and Patrick Henry were mounted, was manned by some of the
officers and the crews of the Patrick Henry, Jamestown and Virginia.
The sharpshooters in the rifle pits on the left bank were under command
of Lieut. John Taylor Wood of the navy. Two companies of
marines, commanded by Capt. John D. Simms, also served as sharpshooters.
The Federal fleet consisted of three ironclads, the Monitor,
the Galena and the Naugatuck, and two wooden gunboats, the Aristook
and Port Royal.

The battle opened at 7:30 on the morning of May 15th, and was
fierce and well conducted on both sides but of brief duration. In three
hours the Federal fleet was in retreat. As the Monitor passed down
close to the left bank, Lieutenant Wood called out to the officer in her
pilot-house: "Tell Captain Jeffers that is not the way to Richmond!"

On the Federal side the loss was fourteen killed, eighteen wounded;
the Brooke rifle balls penetrated the ironcladding of the Galena and
crippled her; the Parrot rifled gun on the Naugatuck burst as she fired
her seventeenth round, and she was compelled to drop out of action
before the others withdrew; the Monitor was not injured. The wooden
boats were not actively engaged, but were put to service in towing the
crippled ironclads to a place of safety. The Port Royal came into range
once, and received a shell. On the Confederate side the loss was seven
killed, nine wounded. No serious damage was done the fortifications.
The Confederate squadron was drawn up above the obstructions, which
the enemy's boats did not reach. Midshipman Carroll, of the Patrick
Henry, was killed while acting as signal officer and aide to Captain

Farrand. Brief and comparatively bloodless as was this engagement
it taught the Federal authorities one lesson: That the "On to Richmond!"
movement for which the North was clamoring was not to be
made by way of the James river. The Federal fleet made no further
attempt to pass Fort Drewry. Captain Sidney S. Lee had been ordered
to relieve Captain Farrand in command at Drewry's Bluff, and arrived
on the 15th, after the battle had begun. Declining then to interfere
with Captain Farrand's command, he acted in co-operation with him,
rendering valuable aid and council through the engagement. Subsequently
the obstruction of the river at this point was completed under
Captain Lee's supervision.

Sidney Smith Lee was of the distinguished Lee family whose public
services are interwoven with the history of Virginia on so many pages
of this work. The second son of "Light-Horse Harry," he was born at
Camden, New Jersey, in 1805, while his father was attending a session
of Congress at Philadelphia. In his fourteenth year he was appointed
midshipman in the United States navy, in which service he remained
over forty years. Among the positions of honor he ably filled in this
service were: Commander of war vessel, Mexican war, and engaged in
siege of Vera Cruz; Commandant of United States Naval Academy at
Annapolis three years; Commandant of Philadelphia navy yard three
years; Captain of flag-ship Mississippi, in Commodore Perry's expedition
to Japan; member of the Naval Board to receive and entertain
Japanese Ambassadors in their visit to this country; Chief of the Bureau
of Coast Survey at Washington. This last position he resigned when
Virginia was forced out of the Union, following the course of his
younger brother, General Robert E. Lee, tendering his service to the
State that reckons him one of her honored sons. At the close of the
war Captain Lee was chief of the Bureau of Orders and Detail at Richmond.
He died at Richland, Virginia, on the 22d of July, 1869. He
was the father of Governor Fitzhugh Lee of Virginia, the "Fitz Lee"
of Virginia cavalry fame, and of S. Smith Lee, jr., of the Confederate
States navy.

THE JAMES RIVER SQUADRON AGAIN.

The Richmond, "the first fully armored ship that the South put afloat
on the James river," was completed in July, 1862. An appeal for funds
to be used to build such a ship, the construction to be under supervision
of naval officers, and the ship to be tendered the government when
completed, appeared in the Richmond Dispatch, March 17, 1862. A
number of wealthy Virginia gentlemen having volunteered a part of
the necessary sum, the remainder was raised by the patriotic ladies of
Williamsburg and Richmond, through committees and by a fair the

Richmond ladies held. The Richmond was described as "a fine vessel,
built on the plan of the Virginia, not so large; her ends not submerged.
She carried a bow and stern pivot and two guns in broadside." Exaggerated
reports of her size and strength reached the North, where she
was called the "Merrimac No. 2." On July 30th she steamed down to
Drewry's Bluff, ready for service. Another boat added to the James
River fleet in 1862 was the Drewry, mounting one large gun. When
McClellan fell back beaten from the peninsula, comparative quiet
returned to James river. At the close of the year the James River
squadron, Captain French Forrest commanding, consisted of the Richmond,
Patrick Henry, Nansemond, Hampton, Beaufort, Raleigh and
Drewry. The Teaser had been captured, July 4th, when she got aground
in Turkey Bend while reconnoitering.

Only one affair of note occurred on James river in 1863. All summer
Federal ironclads remained in the vicinity of Drewry's Bluff, without
again attempting its capture. The Confederate fleet was in daily expectation
of an engagement which the enemy never offered. The river
itself had been well prepared to receive them. In addition to the obstructions
opposite Fort Drewry, Lieutenant Hunter Davidson had
prepared torpedo defenses, which were sunk in the river below that
point, and could be fired by an electric arrangement on shore having
wire connections with the torpedoes. On August 1st a number of Federal
generals left Fortress Monroe for a reconnoissance of Fort Drewry.
Their squadron consisted of the monitor Sangamon, and two gunboats,
the Commodore Barney and the Cohasset. Some five miles below
Drewry's Bluff they reached a line of torpedoes. These did not do all
that was expected of them, only one exploding. That was under the
keel of the Commodore Barney, and lifted her bow high in air, tearing
away the timbers on her sides. So much heavy material went overboard
as she careened that she righted herself; twenty of her crew
were washed off her deck, all but two of whom were picked up by
boats from the other ships. The squadron retreated down the river,
and the next day came in range of a masked force of Confederate
artillery and infantry at Deep Bottom. The Commodore Barney, then
hardly afloat, got a shell in her boiler, and the Cohasset had her
engines damaged by a solid shot. In September, 1863, the Federal
transport John Farron was seriously injured by a torpedo in the
James.

OPERATIONS ON THE JAMES IN 1864-5.

Two ironclads were added to the James River squadron before operations
opened in 1864. One was a second ironclad Virginia, built in part
like her namesake, and in part like the Richmond, not having submerged

ends. She was plated with six inches of armor on the sides of
her casements, and eight inches on the ends. Her armament was two
six-inch and two eight-inch Brooke rifled guns, so placed that three
could be fired at a broadside. The other ironclad was the Fredericksburg,
having four inches of armor, and carrying four six-inch guns.
Commander John K. Mitchell had succeeded Captain Forrest in command
of the squadron.

General B. F. Butler, after establishing his army at Bermuda
Hundred, detailed gunboats to drag the James river for torpedoes.
On May 6th the Commodore Jones, so engaged, rested near Four and a
Half Mile Creek, directly over one of Lieutenant Davidson's tank
machines, containing four hundred pounds of powder. The torpedo
was connected with a galvanic battery secreted in a pit on shore, with
a detail of three men from the submarine battery service to operate it.
The spark was transmitted, the machine exploded, and the Commodore
Jones was blown into fragments, losing in killed and wounded, seventy-five
out of a crew of one hundred and twenty; fifty were killed outright.
The next day the gunboat Shawsheen was destroyed near Turkey
Bend, and all her crew killed or captured.

When the Commodore Jones was destroyed a boat from an accompanying
gunboat was sent to the shore, and the men operating the galvanic
battery were captured. One of these, placed in the forward boat
searching for the torpedoes, rendered his own position as safe as possible
by communicating to his captors all the information he possessed
relative to the position of the torpedoes. In this way the Federal
boats were able to locate and remove twenty torpedoes. One contained
a charge of 1,900 pounds of powder.

Drewry's Bluff was now threatened with an attack from Butler on
the land side, and was strongly reinforced. The obstructions were
removed from the river opposite the fort, and the James River fleet
passed down to Chapin's Bluff. The Federal fleet below responded by
sinking hulks at Trent's Reach to prevent the Confederate vessels coming
down any further. The river was further closed by stretching
booms and cables between the hulks. When this had been completed,
Commander Mitchell, understanding that the Federal fleet declined to
meet him, took his vessels back to Fort Drewry.

The commander of the James River squadron did not, however,
remain inactive in the summer of 1864, but contrived to keep the
Federal fleet in the James, and away from Southern Ports, by a naval
battery on the hill at Howlett House, from which he shelled the fleet at
long range, and by sending one and another of his boats to harass
that part of Butler's army working on his purposeless canal at Dutch
Gap.

A more serious engagement occurred on October 22d. After the
Federals captured Fort Harrison (September 19th) they erected a
new battery on the left bank of the James, about two miles below
Chapin's Bluff, and fortifications on Signal Hill. These were masked
until the morning of October 22d, when the trees in front of them were
cut away, and they were uncovered with range on the Virginia, Richmond,
Fredericksburg, Hampton and Drewry, then lying near Cox
Landing. The two last moved out of range, the Drewry receiving one
shell which struck one of her gun carriages wounding five men. Commander
Mitchell with the flag ship, Virginia, bore down toward the
battery, signaling Captain Maury to follow with the Richmond, and
Captain Roots with the Fredericksburg. The three gunboats kept up
the duel with the battery until it was silenced, then returned to Drewry's
Bluff. The Fredericksburg had her casement damaged, and six of her
crew wounded. The Richmond had her smoke-stack shot away, but
sustained no other injury. The Virginia was not damaged at all,
though hit by seven 100-pound conical bolts from the enemy's rifles,
not one of which more than dented her iron plating. The four Federal
monitors made no move to come up and participate in the engagement,
although Admiral Lee, commanding the Federal fleet, had assured the
Federal authorities that in putting down the obstructions the work
had been so done the obstructions could be removed quickly at any
time it was desirable for the fleet to go up the river. On December 7th,
the Virginia, Richmond and Fredericksburg came down to Fort Brady,
a Federal fortification on the right bank of the James, and exchanged
a few shots with its garrison.

In December, five boats of the Federal fleet were sent into Roanoke
river, and on December 9th anchored near Jamesville. The gunboat
Otsego, searching for torpedoes, passed over two of them, which
exploded, destroying her. The next day the gunboat Bazely
and Launch No. 5 met the same fate, and the expedition was abandoned.

With the opening of 1865 the one hope that remained of relieving
Lee's beleaguered and enfeebled army rested in the James River squadron.
This was "a forlorn hope," indeed, but the gallant naval force
that had never yet faltered was ready to make the most of it. If the
squadron could get down the James, and disperse the Federal fleet at
City Point, Grant's base of supplies would be destroyed, and Lee might
gain some advantage thereby.

Circumstances favored the attempt. Believing the Confederate boats
would not try to pass the obstructions, all the Federal monitors
except the Onondaga had been sent to Fort Fisher. High water came
on January 22d, carrying great blocks of ice down the river. It was

hoped that the freshet and the ice blocks would carry out the obstructions
at Trent's Reach, so as to let the Confederate ironclads through.
As soon as night fell a reconnoitering party was sent down to examine
the obstructions. The report was that the passage was feasible. Lieutenant
C. W. Read hastened with the intelligence to General Lee at
Petersburg, and was by him sent to Secretary Mallory at Richmond
with it, and to ask for an order that the ironclads be sent down that
night. At three o'clock on the morning of the 23d, such order was
delivered by Lieutenant Read to Commander Mitchell.

The expedition moved as soon as night fell on the 23d, the ironclads
Virginia, Richmond and Fredericksburg; the gunboat Drewry; the
torpedo boat Torpedo, and three torpedo launches under command of
Lieutenant Read, the Wasp, Hornet and Scorpion, which were to be
used against Federal boats. These all passed the upper Federal batteries
undiscovered, and anchored just above the obstructions. Captain
Mitchell then went on board the Scorpion and sounded through the
obstructions, finding a spar lying across the opening, which was
removed. While the sounding was going on a Federal picket boat discovered
the Confederates and a heavy fire was opened from both banks.
Captain Mitchell returned to his fleet and went on board the Fredericksburg,
lightest draft of the ironclads, and himself took her through the
obstructions. Returning on the Scorpion, he found both the Virginia
and Richmond aground. The launches were pulling on them but could
not move them. The Federal batteries had opened all along the line.
This put an end to any possibility of surprising the Federal fleet. The
Fredericksburg was ordered to return. The James River boats would
have to fight for it to get back up the river.

Daybreak disclosed them lying directly under the guns of Fort Parsons,
which opened fire on them. The Drewry was destroyed by a shell;
the Wasp by a solid shot; the other wooden boats went into shelter
under a bank. At nine o'clock the Onondaga came up and began to
fire on the Virginia and Richmond, still grounded. None of the
guns of the Confederate ironclads could be effectually worked. With
the rising tide the grounded ships got afloat, but not until the Virginia
had received a 15-inch solid shot knocking a hole through her
armor and wood backing, killing six and wounding fourteen. After a
council on board the Virginia, Captain Mitchell decided to resume
hostilities after dark, and at nine in the evening again headed down
stream. A blazing calcium light was thrown on his boats from a Federal
battery and firing resumed from all the ports. Reluctantly the
expedition was abandoned and the fleet returned to Chapin's Bluff.
The Federals strengthened the obstructions, and added two monitors
to the guarding fleet.

COMMODORE MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY

The aggressive work of the James River squadron was now ended.
On February 18, 1865, Rear Admiral Raphael Semmes, of Alabama
fame, was appointed its commander. Many of the officers and crew of
the squadron had been detached to the naval brigade, which under
command of Capt. J. R. Tucker, was manning Fort Drewry, and
Batteries Brooke, Wood and Semmes. These were joined by three
hundred officers and men from the vessels destroyed at Charleston and
Wilmington, when those cities were abandoned, making a formidable
force, specially well trained for accurate firing of heavy guns. The only
work left for the fleet was yet a worthy one. Richmond was secure
from approach by water while the three ironclads remained on guard at
Drewry's Bluff.

On the afternoon of April 2d Admiral Semmes received official notice
from Secretary Mallory that Richmond would be evacuated that
night. He was further instructed to arm and equip his men for duty in
the field, and report with his force to General Lee after destroying his
vessels. Between two and three o'clock on the morning of the 3d, the
naval troops were on their way up the James in the wooden boats, and
the ironclads of the James river squadron were on fire. The explosion
of the Virginia, it was said, "shook the houses in Richmond, and waked
the echoes of the night for forty miles around."

THE LAST GALLANT STAND OF VIRGINIA NAVAL FORCES.

At midnight of April 4th, Semmes reached Danville with his forces.
Here he found President Davis and Secretary Mallory, to whom he
reported. He was ordered to form his command as a brigade of artillery
to serve in the defenses around Danville. Only four hundred men
were left him, but these were divided into the regiments which remained
in the Danville trenches until the bitter end.

The naval brigade under Captain Tucker withdrew from Drewry's
Bluff on April 2d, and joined General Custis Lee's division of Ewell's
corps, acting as Lee's rear guard in the retreat from Richmond. It was
a dreary march for four days, without rest, without food, in falling rain
and heavy mud, with the cavalry of the victorious army hovering
about them on every hand. On April 6th a stand was made at Sailor's
Creek, and the last heavy battle on Virginia ground was fought.
Scharf, in his "Confederate States Navy," pays this eloquent tribute to
the Virginia naval force:

"Ewell's depleted ranks were enveloped by the masses of Sheridan's
infantry and cavalry, and came to a stand at the creek for their final
resistance to the overwhelming thousands of the enemy. The naval
brigade held the right of the line, where it repulsed two assaults of
cavalry and one of infantry with its firm formation and rapid, steady

fire, the Federals splitting on its front and going to the right and left
of it. In one of these dashes of cavalry General Ewell and his staff were
captured, and he passed the order of surrender to his troops, whose
line, except that held by the sailors, had been pierced by the Federal
charges. The naval brigade and two hundred marines, under command
of Major Simmons, were holding precisely the same position then which
had been assigned them in the morning. Commander Tucker was
informed that Ewell had ordered a surrender but refused to believe it.
The brigade of infantry on either side of him had ceased flring, but
with the remark `I can't surrender,' he ordered his men to continue the
engagement. General Wright, commander of the Federal Sixth Corps,
had directed the fire of a dozen batteries upon him, and a mass of
cavalry were making ready to ride him down, when he was informed for the
second time of the surrender, and followed the example of the infantry.
He had continued fighting fifteen minutes after they had lowered their
arms, and the naval colors were the last to be laid down. The bravery
of the sailors was observed along the Federal lines, and when they did
surrender the enemy cheered them long and vigorously. The salutations
of the foe to the men who `didn't know when to surrender,'
brought to a close the history of the Confederate States navy upon the
waters of Virginia."

PRIVATEERING AND INDIVIDUAL EXPLOITS.

No annals of war awaken greater interest than those which deal with
gallant feats of individuals and record desperate undertakings against
great odds. While results thus achieved may not be relatively great,
there is something ever inspiriting in dwelling upon such records. The
capture of the St. Nicholas, recorded upon a previous page, was such
an enterprise, and the following are equally worthy of preservation.

On the night of July 25, 1862, a Confederate boat's crew stole in
among the Federal transports and supply ships near Harrison's Landing,
and boarded the schooner Louisa Rives, loaded with army stores.
Making their way to the captain's cabin, they informed him he was
under arrest by order of General McClellan, and conveyed him to their
boat. Some of the party remained behind in the cabin long enough to
set it on fire in several places. Then the boat pulled off, leaving a burning
ship behind them, surrounded by its just awakened consorts, any
one of which could have blown the daring raiders and their boat out of
the water.

A notable exploit was executed in Chesapeake bay by Lieut. John
Taylor Wood with a boat's crew from the Patrick Henry, on the night
of November 28, 1862. Just below the mouth of the Rappahannock
they boarded the Alleghanian, a fine ship from Baltimore bound for

London, that had come to anchor on account of a heavy storm. The
ship's officers were completely surprised, and offered no resistance. In
the darkness one boat's crew escaped; the remainder and the officers
were sent prisoners to Richmond. After a portion of the ship's stores
had been transferred to the boats, she was set on fire and burned. The
ship and cargo were valued at $200,000. The Federal gunboat Crusader
was only a few miles away from the Alleghanian, but when the fire
from the latter brought boats from the Crusader to the rescue, Lieutenant
Wood was gone with his prisoners and supplies, and the fire was
beyond control.

Early in 1863 John Yates Beall was commissioned acting master in
the Confederate States navy. He organized a privateering force which
did not at anytime number more than twenty men. Mathews county,
Virginia, was their place of rendezvous. In July they cut the United
States telegraph cable across the Chesapeake. In August they wrecked
the light-house at Cape Charles. In September they captured the sloop
Mary Anne, and two fishing vessels, and the schooners Alliance, Horseman,
Pearsall and Alexander. In November they captured a schooner
on the Accomac shore of the Chesapeake. Meantime the noise of Beall's
successes had reached the North, and the Federal government sent to
Mathews county to capture him and his twenty men, one regiment of
infantry, two of cavalry, one battalion of artillery and three gunboats.
He was made prisoner on board his last prize with a number of his
men. They were held in irons at Fort McHenry six weeks, subjected to
every indignity. Information of this reaching President Davis he
promptly ordered an equal number of Federal naval prisoners to be
put under the same treatment. As on previous like occasions, this
retaliatory measure secured for Beall and his men proper treatment as
prisoners of war. This was the last attempt of the Federal government
to ignore the customary usage of war, and treat privateersmen as
"pirates." Beall was sent to City Point on March 20, 1864, and
exchanged in May following. The balance of those captured with him
were exchanged in September, 1864.

On March 6, 1864, Lieutenant Wood scored another brilliant success
in a dangerous undertaking. He crossed the Chesapeake bay from
Mathews county with a small party of men in open boats to Cherrystone
Harbor, on the eastern shore. Running in at nightfall and cutting
the telegraph wires they made prisoners the Federal cavalry pickets
there, and during the night captured two United States dispatch boats
from Fortress Monroe, touching there, the Iolas and the Titan. They
then fired the wharf warehouses, containing the commissary stores,
valued at $50,000. Lieutenant Wood ordered the Iolas fired, also, but
upon the representation of her captain that she represented all he

owned in the world he was permitted to bond her for $10,000 and depart
on parole, with a part of his crew. The remainder of the prisoners
were taken away on the Titan, which was run up the Piankatank river
to Freeport, and there burned. The two steamers had just been put in
service, newly built, and were valued at $40,000 each. In retaliation
the Potomac flotilla entered the Rappahannock, and destroyed a large
amount of naval material, including ship timber and boats.

Two dashing privateering feats were executed in Chesapeake bay in
1865. Captain Thaddeus Fitzhugh, of the Fifth Virginia cavalry, who
had accompanied Lieutenant Wood in his foray on Cherrystone Harbor,
crossed into Maryland with a small force of men, and placed all but
about a dozen of them in hiding on the Chesapeake shore near Patuxent
river. With the smaller number he then proceeded in disguise to
Fair Haven, Maryland, where they took passage, April 4th, on the
Harriet Deford for Baltimore. Out in the stream they threw off their
disguise, appearing in Confederate uniform, took possession of the
boat, brought their concealed companions on board, returned to Fair
Haven and landed the passengers and part of the crew, then took the
captured vessel across the bay, and the next day burned her. On April
6th, Lieut. John C. Brain, Confederate States navy, captured the St.
Mary, off the mouth of Patuxent, ran her to the Virginia shore and
burned her.

These are illustrations of the successful work of privateers in Virginia
waters during the war. Their most valuable service was not, however,
in the injury they did the enemy, so much as in the aid they gave the
Confederate government by running the Federal blockade, bringing in
recruits, armament and much needed stores.

VIRGINIANS IN THE MARINE CORPS.

The following Virginia officers resigned from the U. S. marine corps
at the beginning of the war: Major Henry B. Tyler; Brevet-Major
George H. Terrett; Captains, Robert Tansill, Algernon S. Taylor, John
D. Simms; First Lieutenants, George P. Turner, Israel Greene. About
one hundred men left the same service, and constituted the nucleus of
the C. S. marine corps, organization of which was begun at Montgomery,
and continued at Richmond in May, 1861. Lloyd J. Beall, of
Richmond, a former officer U. S. A., was appointed commander, with
rank of colonel; Henry B. Tyler, lieutenant colonel; George H. Terrett,
major; Algernon S. Taylor in charge of quartermaster's and commissary's
departments, with rank of major; Israel Greene, adjutant,
rank of major; John D. Simms, captain. The other officers at organization
were from other States. Richard Taylor Allison, who was
appointed paymaster with rank of major, the office and rank he had

resigned in the U. S. navy, was a Kentuckian, and nephew of President
Taylor.

The corps served in and around Richmond in the summer of 1862.
Its service in the battle of Drewry's Bluff has been already noted.
Soon after, the corps was broken up into detachments, some of which
guarded land defenses, others served on board ship. Their discipline as
veteran marines rendered their service of great value when they were
thus scattered among troops and seamen of less training, but for the
reason they were thus kept in service through the war no records of the
corps were or could have been separately made. A detachment was
engaged in the land and water battles at Mobile; another served in
the defense of Fort Fisher; others on the cruisers Sumter and Alabama;
others on the Atlanta, Tennessee, Gaines and other steamers. The
final stand of that part of the corps left in Virginia was under Captain
Tucker at Sailors Creek.

THE CONFEDERATE STATES NAVAL ACADEMY.

An act providing for a Confederate States Naval Academy was passed
by the Confederate Congress early in 1862, but it was not until March,
1863, that Secretary Mallory began to carry out its provisions. The
steamer Patrick Henry was selected as the schoolship of the academy.
Capt. John M. Brooke had charge of the establishment of the school;
Capt. Sidney Smith Lee was appointed on the board of examiners;
Lieut. Wm. H. Parker was appointed commandant of the school. In
the fall of 1863 it went into operation. The cadets found more fighting
than schooling was before them. The Patrick Henry was most of the
time stationed at Drewry's Bluff, and in the engagements in that
vicinity in 1864 the cadets were oftentimes called on to lay down their
books and take up their arms. There was less of inculcation of theory
than of actual experience of war. Early in 1865 the protection of the
bridge over the James at Wilmot was entrusted to the Patrick Henry,
the school then consisting of sixty cadets and ten officers. On the evening
of April 2d they left Richmond for Danville, guarding the train on
which was being transported the archives of the Confederate government,
and the contents of its treasury. From the 3d to the 9th they
remained in Danville, then went by rail to Greensboro, North Carolina.
For nearly a month longer they moved about, by rail and by wagon
train, to various points in North and South Carolina and in Georgia,
still guarding their charge, and seeking for some one authorized to
receive it. At the close of April they reached Abbeville, South Carolina,
a second time, and there Lieutenant Parker found President Davis and
Secretary Mallory. By their orders he turned over the treasure to the
acting secretary of the Confederate States treasury. The cadet corps
was then disbanded, at Abbeville, on May 2, 1865.