The naval guns were manned by the crews of the _Patrick Henry_, _Jamestown_ and _Virginia_--the crew of the _Virginia_ arriving at the bluff soon after she had been destroyed by Flag Officer Tatnall, to prevent her from falling into the hands of the enemy. It is not always possible for a sea captain to preserve the vessel he commands; but it is always possible to act with firmness, skill and judgment under trying and adverse circumstances, and this Flag Officer Tatnall seems to have done. A court-martial, composed of officers of high professional attainments and acknowledged personal merit, acquitted him of all blame for the loss of the _Virginia_. The following naval officers may be named as participating in the engagement of Drewry's Bluff, though there were others whose names are not at this time procurable: Of the _Patrick Henry_, Commander John Randolph Tucker, Lieutenant James Henry Rochelle, Lieutenant Francis Lyell Hoge, and others; of the _Jamestown_, Lieutenant Commanding J. Nicholas Barney, Acting Master Samuel Barron, Jr., and others; of the _Virginia_, Lieutenant Catesby Roger Jones, Lieutenant Hunter Davidson, Lieutenant John Taylor Wood, Lieutenant Walter Raleigh Butt, and others. Commander E. Farrand was the ranking and commanding officer present, having been sent down from Richmond to command the station. It was on the 15th of May, 1862, that the Federal vessels _Galena_, _Monitor_, _Naugatuck_, _Aroostook_, and _Port Royal_ made the well-known attack on the Confederate batteries at Drewry's Bluff, which was the only obstacle barring the way to Richmond, the capital of the Confederate States. The _Galena_ and _Monitor_ engaged the batteries at short distance, the other three Federal vessels keeping just within long range of the Confederate guns. The _Monitor_, after the action commenced, finding that her position was too near the bluff to allow of her guns being elevated sufficiently to throw their shot to the crest of the cliff, retired to a more favorable position. The Confederates wasted but few shot on her, knowing they would not pierce her armor.