_Patrick Henry_ and _Jamestown_ were
ordered to run by the Newport News batteries at night, and resume
their old duty in James river. The _Jamestown_ ran up the river on the
19th and the _Patrick Henry_ on the 20th of April; the _Beaufort_,
_Raleigh_ and _Teaser_ were also sent up the river; the headquarters
of this detached squadron, of which Tucker was the senior officer, was
at Mulberry Island, on which point rested the right flank of the
Confederate Army of the Peninsula.

Up to this time the _Patrick Henry_ was brigantine rigged, but to fit
her better for running by batteries without being discovered, both of
her masts were now taken out and short signal poles substituted for
them.

When the Confederate authorities determined upon the evacuation of
Norfolk, the James river squadron was employed to remove what public
property could be saved from the Navy Yard to Richmond. The hulls of
several uncompleted vessels were towed past the Federal batteries at
Newport News. The running past the batteries was always done at night,
moonless nights being chosen whenever it was practicable to select the
time of making the trip. So far as known, the vessels employed on this
service were never detected by the enemy; at least they were never
fired upon.

Soon after the evacuation of Norfolk, whilst the Confederate forces
were retiring from the Peninsula to the lines around Richmond, a
Federal squadron, consisting of the _Monitor_, _Galena_, _Naugatuck_,
_Aroostook_ and _Port Royal_, entered James river. The _Monitor_ alone
could with ease and without serious injury to herself have destroyed
in fight all the Confederate vessels in James river, and no course was
open to Tucker but to take his squadron up the river and make a stand
at the place below Richmond best adapted for defense. The place most
wisely selected was Drewry's Bluff, where the river had been
obstructed by rows of piles, and the piles defended by four army guns
mounted in a breastwork on the crest of the bluff, about two hundred
feet above the river. When the Confederate squadron arrived at
Drewry's Bluff, the defenses which had been constructed at the place
were not in a condition to have prevented the Federal squadron from
passing on to Richmond; but in the day which the Federal vessels
wasted in silencing the fire of the half-deserted Confederate
batteries on the lower river, the works at Drewry's Bluff were
materially strengthened. The _Jamestown_ and several