Richmond, Lieutenant Commanding Kell, and Fredericksburg, Lieut. Com. Frank E. Shepperd; the gunboat Drewry, the torpedo boat Torpedo, and three torpedo launches under Lieutenant Read. On the night of the 23d the vessels started. The Fredericksburg went through the obstructions, but the Virginia and Richmond grounded, and could not be got off. The Fredericksburg was recalled, and so the affair failed.
The next month a torpedo expedition of boats, under Lieutenant Read, made another attempt upon the Federal vessels, but failed, owing to the treachery of one of the party.
Rear-Admiral Raphael Semmes relieved Commodore Mitchell of the command of the James river squadron February 18, 1865. The Virginia remained under the command of Lieutenant Dunnington; the Richmond was placed under the command of Lieut. Oscar Johnson; the Fredericksburg, of Commander Glassell; the Hampton, of Lieutenant Wilson; the Nansemond, of Lieut. Walter Butt; the Roanoke, of Lieutenant Pollock; the Beaufort, of Lieutenant Wiatt, and the Torpedo, of Lieutenant Roberts.
When Richmond was evacuated, on the night of April 2, 1865, Admiral Semmes blew up his vessels, marched to Manchester (opposite Richmond), and taking possession of a train, the last one out of the city, proceeded to Danville, Va., where he joined President Davis. After serving ten days in the trenches there, the command, included in General Johnston's surrender, was disbanded.
The naval brigade, under Commodore Tucker, abandoned the batteries on the same night, and joined the division of Gen. Custis Lee, forming the rear guard of Gen. Robert E. Lee's army. On the 6th this division was surrounded, and, after fighting in the battle of Sailor's Creek, it surrendered. In this battle the sailors of Tucker, and the marines under Major Simms, behaved with distinguished valor, and were the last of the division
