Detail from Library of Congress photo:
LC-DIG-cwpb-00018
Trent’s Reach from the Howlett Heights
With dawn approaching, the view from Confederate Battery Dantzler on
Howlett Heights would have revealed the C.S. Navy sprawled across
the river below. The
Virginia II and
Richmond,
which had waited in 30 feet of water while the
Scorpion
opened the gap, had swung on their anchors and run aground. The
Fredericksburg,
the only ironclad to have cleared the gap, had returned to help her
sister ships but was unable to do so, and the
Scorpion and gunboat
Drewry
were
stuck near the
Richmond. The seven Confederate vessels still
afloat took cover behind Farrar's Island, the point that juts out on
the left. (The Union obstructions in this image are just below the
distant height
s,
which were dotted with U.S. guns.)