page_title: Battle of Trent's Reach
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Trent's Reach / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: English: "The Blowing up of the James River Fleet, on the night of the Evacuation of Richmond." Painting by Allen Christian Redwood showing the sinking of CSS Virginia II, CSS Fredericksburg and CSS Richmond on April 3, 1865 during the American Civil War. Hampton Roads Naval Museum collection, Hoen and Co. Note: Allen C. Redwood was influenced by existing illustrations of City-class Union ironclads of the Mississippi River Squadron. In fact, the depicted ironclads bore little resemblance to the ironclads Virginia II, Fredericksburg, and Richmond, as even today some details of their design and construction remain wrapped in conjecture.
context_page_description: The Battle of Trent's Reach was one of the final major naval battles of the American Civil War. Beginning on January 23, 1865, a powerful flotilla of Confederate warships bombarded Fort Brady along the James River and engaged four Union Navy ships with the intention of breaking through the blockade to attack City Point, the base of General Ulysses S. Grant who was besieging Petersburg, Virginia. After two days of fighting the rebels withdrew back up the river without completing their objectives.
context_section_description: Three Union troops were known to have been killed in the battle and more than forty were slightly wounded by splinters. The Onondaga was only slightly damaged in the action and none of her crew are known to have been harmed. According to official records the rebels lost four killed on the Drewry and the Scorpion plus fifteen wounded. However, some sources cite the rebels as having lost at least six men on the Virginia II alone. Ultimately the Confederate force failed in its main objective of attacking City Point and they had to return to Chaffin's Bluff with nothing to show for the advance other than a mess for ships, most of which sustained some type of battle damage. Commodore Mitchell was relieved of command and replaced by Admiral Raphael Semmes, who commanded CSS Alabama in her battle with USS Kearsarge off Cherbourg, France. Exactly two months after the battle, the Petersburg Campaign ended with General Robert E. Lee's final decision to evacuate the city. When the Southern capital of Richmond fell on April 3, the James River Squadron was scuttled to prevent their falling into enemy hands. The battle of Trent's Reach was the last important naval engagement of the Main Eastern Theater.
caption: "The Blowing up of the James River Fleet, on the night of the Evacuation of Richmond." By Allen C. Redwood.
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "100", "Image YResolution": "100", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2010:10:21 11:10:05", "Image ExifOffset": "172", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "310", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5036", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "740", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "456"}