Battle
As part of the Union blockade of Chesapeake Bay during the American Civil War, the Union gunboat USS Monticello, commanded by Captain Henry Eagle with Lieutenant (later Rear Admiral) Daniel L. Braine second in command, exchanged cannon fire with Confederate batteries on Sewell's Point, Virginia, in Norfolk County, Virginia (present day City of Norfolk, Virginia), in an attempt to enforce the blockade of the Hampton Roads area in southeastern Virginia. The two sides did each other little harm. On May 18, 1861, the Monticello fired on the unfinished Confederate battery at Sewell's Point, which commanded the entrance to the Elizabeth River and the harbor at Norfolk, Virginia but which had no guns yet in place, with little effect.
By 5:00 p.m. on May 19, 1861, the Confederates had installed three 32-pound guns at the Sewell's Point battery. When the Monticello began to fire on the works at about 5:30 p.m., the battery returned fire, which drove off the Monticello. Captain Peyton H. Colquitt of the Columbus Light Guard from Georgia commanded the battery. Captain Colquitt raised a Georgia state flag at the battery since he did not have a Confederate flag.
On May 21, 1861, the Monticello fired two shots at the battery but again drew off when the battery returned fire.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Sewell's Point
Famous quotes containing the word battle:
“One may confidently assert that when thirty thousand men fight a pitched battle against an equal number of troops, there are about twenty thousand on each side with the pox.”
—Voltaire [François Marie Arouet] (1694–1778)
“The thundering line of battle stands,
And in the air Death moans and sings:
But Day shall clasp him with strong hands,
And Night shall fold him in soft wings.”
—Julian Grenfell (1888–1915)
“I know no East or West, North or South, when it comes to my class fighting the battle for justice. If it is my fortune to live to see the industrial chain broken from every workingman’s child in America, and if then there is one black child in Africa in bondage, there shall I go.”
—Mother Jones (1830–1930)