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 Confederate vessels to pass in the usual channel, about eight hundred yards from the guns of the Federal works, but by Tucker's directions the _Patrick Henry_ was run by much nearer the batteries, and the _Jamestown_ and _Teaser_ followed her closely. Probably in consequence of this deviation from the middle of the channel the Federal guns were not well aimed, and most of the shot from the batteries passed over the Confederate vessels. As the James river squadron ranged up abreast of the first battery, the vessels delivered their fire, and the flash from their guns had scarcely vanished when the Federal works were wrapped in smoke, and their projectiles came hissing through the air. The _Patrick Henry_ was struck several times during the passage; one shot passing through the crew of No. 3 gun, wounding two men and killing one, a volunteer from the army, who had come on board to serve only for the fight. His last words as he fell were, "Never mind me, boys!"