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Battle of Drewry's Bluff
The Battle of Drewry's Bluff, also known as the Battle of Fort Darling, or Fort Drewry, took place on May 15, 1862, in Chesterfield County, Virginia, as part of the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War. Five Union Navy warships, including the ironclads and , steamed up the James River to test the defenses of Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate capital. They encountered submerged obstacles and deadly accurate fire from the batteries of Fort Darling at Drewry's Bluff, which inflicted severe damage on ''Galena''. The Union Navy was forced to turn back.
==Background==
In the spring of 1862, Union Major General George B. McClellan launched an amphibious operation against Richmond by landing troops at Fort Monroe and then marching northwest up the Virginia Peninsula. After the fall of Yorktown and the withdrawal of General Joseph E. Johnston's army up the Peninsula, only the Confederate Navy ironclad CSS ''Virginia'' prevented Union occupation of the lower James River and Norfolk. When the Confederate garrison at Norfolk was evacuated by Maj. Gen. Benjamin Huger on May 10, Flag Officer Josiah Tattnall knew that he could not navigate ''Virginia'' through the shallow stretches of the James River toward Richmond, so she was scuttled on May 11 off Craney Island to prevent her capture. This opened the James River at Hampton Roads to Federal gunboats.
The only obstacle that protected Richmond from a river approach was Fort Darling on Drewry's Bluff, overlooking a sharp bend on the river down river from the city. The Confederate defenders, including marines, sailors, and soldiers, were supervised by navy Commander Ebenezer Farrand and by army Captain Augustus H. Drewry (the owner of the property that bore his name) of the Southside Heavy Artillery.〔Sears, p. 93; Eicher, p. 273, states that it was the 2nd Virginia Artillery.〕 The eight cannons in the fort, including field artillery pieces and five naval guns, some salvaged from the ''Virginia'', commanded the river for miles in both directions. Guns from CSS ''Patrick Henry'', including an smoothbore, were just upriver and sharpshooters gathered on the river banks. An underwater obstruction of sunken steamers, pilings, debris, and other vessels connected by chains was placed just below the bluff, making it difficult for vessels to maneuver in the narrow river.〔Salmon, p. 87.〕
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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