In one sense, the Confederate's James River flotilla had performed its task too well. The Northern navy was hesitant to challenge the daunting combination of warships and shore batteries guarding the James. Therefore, by early 1865, the Confederate naval force assembled to defend Richmond sat virtually idle while Northern ground forces closed in on the Confederate capital. With General Robert E. Lee's Army of the Northern Virginia besieged at Petersburg, however, pressure grew to use the Southern naval force to help lift the Federal siege.

Subscribe Today

• Did you enjoy our article?
• Read more in America's Civil War magazine
• Subscribe online and save nearly 40%!!!
 

In January 1865, the opportunity to mount just such an operation presented itself. Despite the river's strategic importance to Union operations, Northern naval forces on the James were badly depleted. The North's largest naval operation of the war, the attack upon Fort Fisher, the guardian of North Carolina's Cape Fear River and the largest fortification in the Confederacy, was no underway. Federal naval units throughout the South had been stripped to the bare minimum to provide the ships for the massive naval armada that accompanied the expedition, and the James River force was no exception. This was exactly the kind of opportunity the Confederates had been seeking, and they moved quickly to take advantage of it.

The plan was a straightforward one. The naval force would move downriver to destroy the Union supply depot at City Point, an ideal target for offensive Southern operations. The supplies that maintained U.S. Grant's army at Petersburg passed through the depot at the mouth of the Appomattox. If Northern supply lines could be broken there, the planners reasoned, they could break Grant's siege. One obstacle, however, stood between the Southern ironclads and their objective. To prevent just such a move, the Northerners had built obstructions and had fortified a stretch of the river known as Trent's Reach.

The Confederate fleet left its anchorage at Chaffin's Bluff, just after dark on the evening of January 23, 1865. Federal forces witnessed the flotilla's progress down the river. First the Confederate fleet passed the Northern artillery batteries and sharpshooters stationed at Signal Hill. Union artillery batteries at Fort Brady, about four miles upstream from Trent's Reach fired about 25 rounds as Southern warships passed the Northern artillery batteries and sharpshooters stationed at Signal Hill. Union artillery batteries at Fort Brady, about four miles upstream from Trent's Reach, fired about 25 rounds as the Southern warships passed. Such token resistance, however, did little damage to the naval force.

By 10:30 p.m., the Confederate flotilla had reached Trent's Reach. There, two of the ironclads, Virginia II and Richmond, anchored about half a mile above the obstruction. While this maneuver was taking place, the third ironclad, Fredericksburg, with Confederate squadron commander John K. Mitchell on board, continued downriver with some of the flotilla's smaller vessels to clear a way through the barrier.

It was not an easy task even though the obstructions had been damaged by recent high water in the river. The Federals had mounted a spar between two hulks to prevent passage through the barrier. While men from Fredericksburg worked to remove the barrier, the Southern torpedo boats, under the command of Lieutenant C.W. Read, made a reconnaissance of the channel, preparing the way for the passage of the larger ironclads.

Union fire from the shore heated up as the flotilla approached the obstruction. In all, three Federal artillery batteries commanded Trent's Reach, and each kept up a steady fire on the Confederates. Northern riflemen deployed along the shore also opened up on the Southerners.

The fire was particularly hazardous for the Confederates working in the open to clear a passage through the obstructions. Lieutenant Read described the situation as 'a perfect rain of missiles.' Nonetheless, this superior, squadron commander Mitchell, was fearless in the face of the Northern fire, and his leadership inspired his men to clear a way through the barrier.

Help HistoryNet by bookmarking to