Confederate forces were under the direction of Commodore John K. Mitchell who commanded the James River Squadron in his flagship, the ironclad CSS "Fredericksburg". Weighing an estimated 2,500 tons, the "Fredericksburg" was a formidable opponent armed with one 11-inch smoothbore cannon and three smaller rifled guns. The ironclad rams CSS "Richmond" and CSS "Virginia II" also participated in the attack. "Richmond" weighed an estimated 800 tons and carried six guns. The 650 ton "Virginia II" was armed with four guns and had a crew of about 150 officers and men, the same complement as the other two ironclads. Confederate forces deployed eight other vessels, three of which were lashed to the sides of the ironclads and the torpedo boat CSS "Scorpion" was towed down river by the gunboat "Drewry". The other vessels were the gunboats "Nansemond", "Hampton", "Beaufort" and "Torpedo", each armed with one or two guns and displacing 100 to 200 tons. The torpedo boats CSS "Wasp" and CSS "Hornet" were the last two ships in the fleet. All three of the torpedo boats carried only one spar torpedo and they were not used in the engagement at Trent's Reach. Commodore Mitchell's orders were to take his squadron down the James River to attack a supply base at City Point which belonged to General Grant's Union Army that had recently taken over the area as part of the Petersburg Campaign. However, to get to the base, the rebels had to fight their way past multiple obstacles in and along the river, including warships, a naval mine field and net, Fort Brady, and four shore batteries.