as you informed me in one of your letters, and could not probably with honor decline to serve in it. I sincerely hope that Henry and Richard may never meet in any battle during this unhappy war, and by duty and honor be obliged to shed each other’s blood”. Maury, however, did not allow separation from his family and depression of spirits to interfere with the performance of what he considered his duty, but made an enthusiastic endeavor to make the most possible out of conditions as he found them. He first assisted in fortifying Jamestown Island in the James River and Gloucester Point on the York River, early in May, 1861, for the defense of Richmond. Besides he sat almost daily with the Governor’s Executive Council to consider the many problems which confronted the State in her time of great need. In the summer of 1861 he was appointed Chief of the “Naval Bureau of Coast, Harbor, and River Defense”, and began to plan the construction of submarine mines to be placed in the rivers and harbors of the South. These were to be exploded under enemy ships by electricity, and insulated wire was needed for this purpose. He accordingly sent a Richmond merchant to New York to secure a large quantity of such wire. The merchant failed in his mission, but Maury undismayed set about devising mines which could be exploded in a different way. Each mine consisted of an oak cask filled with 200 pounds of powder, in the head of which was a trigger attached to a fuse. The casks were joined together in pairs by 500 feet of rope, and when in a favorable position were let go to be carried by the tide down upon an enemy ship in such a way as to have the rope catch across the cable of the vessel. As the mines drifted near the ship, the strain on the rope would release the triggers, ignite the fuses, and explode the mines. Early in July, 1861, Maury himself commanded an expedition from Sewell’s Point near Norfolk, which made an attempt to destroy the Union vessels _Minnesota_, _Roanoke_, and _Cumberland_, then off Fortress Monroe. The attacking party in five boats set off about ten o’clock. Maury was in the first boat with the pilot and four oarsmen; while each of the others carried an officer and four men, together with one of the mines. It was a very quiet Sunday evening, and as the enemy had no guard boats, the attacking party was able, under muffled oars, to take up a position near enough for their purpose just as seven bells struck on board the intended victims. The mines were immediately set adrift, and the boats rowed away. But no explosions followed, for something had gone wrong with the mechanism of the mines. Afterwards it was found that the type of fuse which had been used would not burn in a pressure of twenty feet of water, the depth at which the mines had been floated. Later, the torpedoes, as they were then called, were discovered by the Federals, taken out of the water, and carried away as relics.