When Tucker took command at Drewry's Bluff the Confederate cause was at its last gasp. Richmond was evacuated by the Confederate Army and Government on the night of the 2d of April, 1865. Strange to relate, Tucker received no orders to retire with his command, and he held his post steadily until, early on the morning of the 3d, the Confederate iron-clads in James river were burnt by their own commanders. When he knew the troops were marching out of Richmond and saw the Confederate iron-clads burning in the river, Tucker thought it was not only justifiable but necessary for him to act without orders, and he retired with his command from Drewry's Bluff. General R.E. Lee told Tucker, when they met, that of all the mistakes committed by the Richmond authorities he regretted none more than the neglect to apprise the naval force at Drewry's Bluff of the intended evacuation of the city. The naval brigade from Drewry's Bluff, under Flag Officer Tucker, joined the rear guard of the Confederate Army, and was attached to General Custis Lee's division of General Ewell's corps, with which it marched until the battle of Saylor's Creek on the 16th of April, 1865. The naval brigade held the right of the line at that battle, and easily repulsed all the assaults made upon it. A flag of truce was sent by the Federal General commanding at that point to inform Tucker that the Confederate troops on his right and left had surrendered, and that further resistance was useless and could only end in the destruction of the sailors. Tucker, believing that the battle had only commenced, refused to surrender, and held his position until reliable information, which he could not doubt, reached him of the surrender of General Ewell and his army corps. The naval brigade surrendered by Tucker numbered some three hundred sailors, who, the opposing force said, did not know when they were whipped. Tucker's sword, which he rendered to General Keifer, was returned to him some years after the war by that gentleman, then a prominent member of Congress. Tucker was sent North and confined as a prisoner of war until the entire cessation of hostilities, when he was released on parole. On his return to Virginia he found that both the Confederate and State Governments were things of the past, and that he would have to mend his broken fortunes, if mend them he could, by engaging in the business pursuits of civil life. He succeeded, not without difficulty, in obtaining employment as an agent of the Southern Express Company, and was stationed at Raleigh, North Carolina, to take charge of the business matters of the Company in that city. [Footnote 1: The _Keystone State_ did not surrender, rescue or no rescue, and her escape ought probably to be regarded as a rescue.] PART III.