In a daring attempt to attack the Federal supply base at City Point, 11 warships of the James River Squadron ventured downriver on the night of January 23, 1865. Confederate land batteries fired against Fort Brady as the darkened warships steamed past, and one incoming shell disabled a gun in the fort. The operation failed when the Confederate vessels encountered the Federal fleet downriver. On their return upriver on January 25, Fort Brady's gunners stood ready and shelled the Confederate squadron. Although bloodied, Fort Brady’s defenders survived their first and only major combat test of the war, firing about 125 solid shot while enduring terrific fire that sent ten to fifteen hundred heavy shells in and around the battery, killing three men inside the work and knocking down upward of forty men by splinters.