been made at any moment, the Federal batteries at Newport
News and the vessels stationed there, the frigate _Savannah_, sloop
_Cumberland_, and steamer _Louisiana_, being about fourteen miles
distant.

To relieve the monotony of the irksome duty on which the _Patrick
Henry_ was employed, Tucker determined to take her down the river,
feel of the enemy, and warn him of what might be expected if boat
expeditions should attempt to ascend the river. On the afternoon of
Friday, September 13th, 1861, the _Patrick Henry_ weighed her anchor
at Mulberry Island, and steamed down James river towards Newport News.
Choosing her distance from that point, she opened fire upon the
Federal squadron, which was promptly returned, principally by the
_Savannah_, _Louisiana_, and a battery of light artillery, which had
been moved up the left bank of the river. After giving the crew a good
exercise at their guns, the _Patrick Henry_ was steamed back to her
anchorage off Mulberry Island.

About the last of November, Tucker received information that one or
two of the Federal gunboats came up the river every night and anchored
about a mile and a half above their squadron at Newport News. Hoping
to be able to surprise and capture these boats, the commander of the
_Patrick Henry_ got her underway at 4 o'clock A.M. on December 2d,
1861. The morning was dark and suitable for the enterprise, and all
lights on board the _Patrick Henry_ were either extinguished or
carefully concealed. No vessel of the enemy was met with in the river,
but at daylight four steamers were discovered, lying at anchor near
the frigate _Congress_ and sloop _Cumberland_, off the batteries of
Newport News. As the _Patrick Henry_ could not have returned unseen,
Tucker took a position about a mile distant from the batteries, and
opened on the Federal vessels with his port battery and pivot guns.
The fire was promptly returned, many of the shots from the rifled guns
passing over the _Patrick Henry_, and one, going through her
pilot-house and lodging in the starboard hammock-netting, did some
injury to the vessel, besides wounding slightly one of the pilots and
a seaman by the splinters it caused. The skirmish, if such a term can
be applied to a naval operation, lasted about two hours, during which
time the _Patrick Henry_ fired twenty-eight shells and thirteen solid
shots, but with what effect on the enemy is not known. From this best
kind of drill practice, the Confederate stea