Battle of Drewry’s Bluff

On May 15, 1862, Federal gunboats rounded the bend and entered a shooting gallery as Confederate soldiers and marines along the riverbanks raked their decks with musket fire. Batteries ninety feet above the water were perched too high for the ships' guns to strike accurately. Richmond, the Union target, lay only seven miles upriver, but after four hours of fighting, the gunboats withdrew downstream, ending the last major naval threat to the Confederate capital.

Virginia · United States