Reassigned To The North Atlantic Blockade
Whitehall was reassigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron in Hampton Roads on 29 November 1861. She departed the Virginia Capes on 6 December 1861, bound for Annapolis, Maryland, to pick up arms and provisions for the squadron and returned to Hampton Roads, On 29 December 1861, Whitehall and eight other steamers engaged CSS Sea Bird in the roads shortly after the Confederate steamer had captured a water schooner and attacked the Army steamer, Express, which had been towing it. After an action lasting one-half hour, Sea Bird withdrew from the battle and retired under the protection of Confederate shore batteries. Whitehall and USS Morse covered Union forces as they withdrew.
Read more about this topic: USS Whitehall (1850)
Famous quotes containing the words north and/or atlantic:
“—Here, the flag snaps in the glare and silence
Of the unbroken ice. I stand here,
The dogs bark, my beard is black, and I stare
At the North Pole. . .
And now what? Why, go back.
Turn as I please, my step is to the south.”
—Randall Jarrell (1914–1965)
“The battle of the North Atlantic is a grim business, and it isn’t going to be won by charm and personality.”
—Edmund H. North, British screenwriter, and Lewis Gilbert. First Sea Lord (Laurence Naismith)