The Southern capitol of Richmond, Virginia was vulnerable to Northern ships sailing up the James River from the Chesapeake Bay. The main defensive position against a naval assault on Richmond was a place known to the Confederates as “Drewery’s Bluff”, while the Union called it “Fort Darling.”
Fort Darling was a series of earthworks surrounding the encampment, a barracks and artillery emplacements, and three large seacoast guns (one 10 inch Columbiad and two 8 inch Columbiads.)
Imagine a squadron of five Union ships, including the ironclads Monitor and Galena, sailing up the river to face the guns of Drewery’s Bluff. The 10 inch Columbiad recoiled so badly that it broke it’s carriage on the first shot and was out of commission for most of the fight. A visitor commented that the Galena “looked like a slaughterhouse” after the four hour battle ended.
We chose to visit the fort on a weekend when a group of Civil War re-enactors were encamped. Unfortunately for them, the area had some of the heaviest rains of the season during the night. They posted “No Fishing” signs in the area to the right.
They had several tents and boxes of gear scattered about. The parking area for the Bluff is almost a mile away from the fort itself. We didn’t ask if they cheated and drove in, or packed all the gear in by foot.
The men in camp looked the part of Civil War soldiers and sailors. The tents were dried out, but all the boxes and their contents were still drying when we arrived. They did manage to get a fire lit that morning.
They had a display of naval artifacts on hand. This is a torpedo about three feet long that floats just under the surface of the water. It is constructed of a small, ironbound cask with the ends made of wooden cones.
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