Operating With The North Atlantic Blockade
In March 1862, the Treasury Department ordered the gunboat to steam south from New York to Hampton Roads. It did so with a crew of boatswain, gunner, carpenter, steward, cook, two quartermasters, 14 seamen, and a “servant.” The crew also included some of Stevens’ associates, including William W. Shippen, from the Hoboken Land and Improvement Company. Shippen commanded the vessel, and Lieutenants J. Wall Wilson and E.L. Morton (USRCS) serving under him. Thomas Lingle, who installed the gunboat’s machinery, served as chief engineer and remained in that position into 1863.
On April 9, E.A. Stevens reached Hampton Roads to join the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron’s James River Squadron. On April 11, under command of Captain Shippen, Stevens exchanged fire with CSS Virginia when the ironclad emerged from its anchorage near Craney Island. Virginia’s primary target, USS Monitor, declined action, so the hostilities proved inconclusive.
On April 29, Lt David Constable, USRCS relieved Shippen and took command of the gunboat and its crew of two dozen. By May 10, Confederate land forces evacuated Norfolk, leaving the deep-draft Virginia with neither a defensible homeport nor a feasible escape route. On the evening of May 10, commanding officer Josiah Tattnall ran the ironclad aground near Craney Island and set it on fire. When the fire reached the ship’s magazine, the Virginia was completely destroyed. With the destruction of the Virginia, the Confederate Navy retained only a few lightly armed gunboats to counter the superior forces of the Union Navy.
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