Richmond Ironclads at Trent's Reach
Detail from Library of Congress
photo: LC-DIG-cwpb-01513
The USS Onondaga, Trent's Reach
The Onondaga’s captain said that he had gone downriver for fighting room. His commander felt it best to keep an enemy fleet trapped in a narrow channel. If the captain had been at the obstructions at dawn, he would probably have become the man who took out three Confederate ironclads in one fight. Instead, on March 18, 1865, he was judged guilty by a court martial. With victory in the air, however, the Secretary of the Navy found technical errors by the court and rejected the conviction.
The USS Onondaga, Trent's Reach
The Onondaga’s captain said that he had gone downriver for fighting room. His commander felt it best to keep an enemy fleet trapped in a narrow channel. If the captain had been at the obstructions at dawn, he would probably have become the man who took out three Confederate ironclads in one fight. Instead, on March 18, 1865, he was judged guilty by a court martial. With victory in the air, however, the Secretary of the Navy found technical errors by the court and rejected the conviction.