The following naval officers may be named as participating in the engagement of Drewry's Bluff, though there were others whose names are not at this time procurable: Of the _Patrick Henry_, Commander John Randolph Tucker, Lieutenant James Henry Rochelle, Lieutenant Francis Lyell Hoge, and others; of the _Jamestown_, Lieutenant Commanding J. Nicholas Barney, Acting Master Samuel Barron, Jr., and others; of the _Virginia_, Lieutenant Catesby Roger Jones, Lieutenant Hunter Davidson, Lieutenant John Taylor Wood, Lieutenant Walter Raleigh Butt, and others. Commander E. Farrand was the ranking and commanding officer present, having been sent down from Richmond to command the station.
It was on the 15th of May, 1862, that the Federal vessels _Galena_, _Monitor_, _Naugatuck_, _Aroostook_, and _Port Royal_ made the well-known attack on the Confederate batteries at Drewry's Bluff, which was the only obstacle barring the way to Richmond, the capital of the Confederate States.
The _Galena_ and _Monitor_ engaged the batteries at short distance, the other three Federal vessels keeping just within long range of the Confederate guns. The _Monitor_, after the action commenced, finding that her position was too near the bluff to allow of her guns being elevated sufficiently to throw their shot to the crest of the cliff, retired to a more favorable position. The Confederates wasted but few shot on her, knowing they would not pierce her armor.
The _Galena_ was managed and fought with great skill and daring. Approaching to within about six hundred yards of the Confederate batteries, she was deliberately moored, her battery sprung and a well-directed fire opened upon the Confederate works. From half past six o'clock in the morning until about eleven, when the action ceased, she kept this position, receiving nearly the whole of the Confederate fire. The most effective gun on the Bluff was the eight-inch solid shot gun of the _Patrick Henry_. Knowing by previous experience the power of the gun, Tucker gave it his personal supervision. At 11 o'clock A.M. a shot from this gun passed into one of the bow posts of the _Galena_, and was followed by an immediate gushing forth of smoke, showing that the vessel was on fire or had sustained some serious damage, a conclusion confirmed by her moving off down the river, accompanied by the other four vessels of the Federal squadron. It was at Drewry's Bluff that Midshipman Carroll, of Maryland, was killed. He was struck by a projectile whilst standing by Tucker's side, whose aide he was.