As capital of the Confederate States of America, Richmond, Virginia, became a constant target of Northern armies and was vulnerable by water as well as by land because gunboats could navigate the James River all the way to the city. Drewry’s Bluff, named for local landowner Captain Augustus H. Drewry, rose 90 feet above the water and overlooked a sharp bend in the river, making it a logical place for defensive fortifications. By May 1862, workers had built earthworks, dug artillery emplacements, and mounted three large seacoast guns there. After retreating Confederates abandoned Norfolk on May 10-11, 1862, and destroyed the CSS Virginia, the James River was open to the U.S. Navy. Five well-armed ships, including the ironclads Galena and Monitor, then moved up the James River under Commander John Rodgers on a mission to shell Richmond into submission. The city’s fate rested with 300 or 400 Southern troops manning the large cannon at this small earthen fort seven miles south of the capital, where the opening shots were fired in a series of campaigns to capture Richmond that lasted from 1862 to 1865.