Battle of Drewry's Bluff, Bellwood, Chesterfield County, Virginia

Significance: 1) Union Navy Commodore John Rodgers thought it feasible to reach Richmond by following the James River. On May 15, 1862, about 8 A.M., Rodgers led five warships—U.S.S. Galena, Monitor, Aroostook, Port Royal, and Naugatuck—upstream to open fire on Fort Darling, the fort that contested passage of the river.

2) The Confederate garrison of the Fort Darling atop Drewry's Bluff, directed by naval Commander Ebenezer Farrand and local landowner Augustus Drewry, delivered a heavy and accurate artillery fire against the Union warships at a range of from 600 to 1,300 yards. Many of the Union gunners found themselves at a disadvantage because they could not elevate their guns enough to strike the fort. A big hundred-pounder Parrott rifle on the Naugatuck exploded, putting the ship out of action. Confederate sharpshooters lining the bank harassed sailors on the Union ships, picked off gunners, and wounded the captain of Port Royal.

3) After three hours, Commodore Rodgers recognized that he could not pass the fort or the sunken ships and other obstacles placed in the river and ordered his ships to drop back downstream out of range. Rodgers' flagship, U.S.S. Galena, was struck by shot and shell forty-five times with losses of fourteen sailors killed and ten wounded. The Monitor was struck numerous times but its heavier armor deflected serious damage. The defenders of Fort Darling were celebrated in the Confederate capital for repulsing the powerful U.S. Navy with losses of seven killed and eight wounded. The U. S. Navy did not again attempt the river passage to Richmond.
Survey number: HALS VA-27