mer returned to her
anchorage off Mulberry Island, continued her guard of the river, and
waited for some opportunity for more active employment.

In February, 1862, the ladies of Charles City, a county bordering on
James river, desired to present to the _Patrick Henry_ a flag which
they had made for her as an evidence of their appreciation of her
services in keeping boat expeditions and the enemy's small steamers
from ascending the river. But the presentation of this flag did not
take place; the C.S. steamers _Jamestown_, 2, and _Teaser_, v, had
reinforced the _Patrick Henry_, and such incessant preparations were
going on that no time could be spared for the ceremony. The occasion
of these preparations was the expectation of being soon engaged in the
attack which it was understood that the Confederate iron-clad
_Virginia_ was about to make on the Federal batteries and men-of-war
at Newport News. No care or preparation could make the _Patrick Henry_
as well fitted for war as a vessel of the same size built especially
for the military marine service; but the best that could be done to
make her efficient was done, and not without success, as the part the
vessel took in the closely following battle of Hampton Roads
conclusively demonstrates.

On the 7th of March, 1862, the James river squadron, consisting of the
_Patrick Henry_, 12, Commander J.R. Tucker; _Jamestown_, 2, Lieutenant
Commanding J.N. Barney, and _Teaser_, 1, Lieutenant Commanding W.A.
Webb, proceeded down the river, and anchored at nightfall off Day's
Neck Point, some six miles distant from Newport News. This movement
was effected in order to be near at hand when the _Virginia_ made her
expected attack on the Federal forces.

The 8th of March, 1862, was a bright, placid, beautiful day--more like
a May than a March day. About 1 o'clock in the afternoon, the
_Virginia_ came steaming out from behind Craney Island, attended by
the gunboats _Beaufort_ and _Raleigh_. As soon as the _Virginia_ was
seen, the James river squadron got underway under all the steam the
boilers would bear, and proceeded to join her in her attack on the
enemy. As Tucker's small squadron approached the Newport News
batteries he formed it in line ahead, the _Patrick Henry_, 12,
leading; next the _Jamestown_, 2, and lastly the _Teaser_, 1; this
order being maintained until the batteries were passed. The batteries
were run with less loss than was anticipated; the enemy probably
expected the