As the two great armies began to stir at first light so to did the US Navy’s three ironclads. These three ships, each mounting two 100-pound Parrott cannons, began their long journey up the James at dawn. A fourth gunboat, the USS Aroostook, remained behind at Varina’s Landing to support the arrival of the I Corps later in the day. The USS Lincoln, Galena, and Mahaska steamed upriver towards the imposing Confederate fortifications atop Drewry’s Bluff. The CSS Patrick Henry, mounting a two 8-inch Columbiads, stood near the bluffs to contest the Yankee gunboats on the water. Drewry’s Bluff itself mounted five 9-inch Dahlgren’s with a 32-pound smoothbore upriver a quarter-mile in support. It was these guns, and those of the CSS Patrick Henry, which fired some of the first long-range shots of the battle against Hooker’s advancing columns from Varina’s Landing.

 

The Union objective was straightforward – to drive past the Confederate defenses, destroy the enemy ship, and provide close support for the Union infantry along the James River. Throughout the morning the Union guns blasted away at Drewry’s Bluff and the CSS Patrick Henry without any appreciable affect. “The gunboats are dismally ineffective,” Hooker wrote to Porter as he awaited the support of the naval guns for his attackers. The Confederate defenders, never slackening their fire, managed to disable one Federal cannon aboard the Mahaska before the Federals began to run past their guns. The Patrick Henry could do little to stop them and swung to the shore to unleash some broadsides as they steamed past. Commander John Rodgers sent a message to Hooker as they cleared the guns of Drewry’s Bluff that “Our gunboats have passed the Rebel gun emplacements with the loss of just one gun. We are currently targeting the Rebel gunboat that continues to stubbornly resist. It was good for us that the Rebel gunboat didn’t bottle us up in the narrows in front of Drewry’s Bluff or we may have been bottlenecked there in a close-quarters battle.” Indeed, the Patrick Henry had failed to hold their position in the narrow channel in front of Drewry’s Bluff and the Union gunboats were now free to sail north almost unopposed. Porter urged Rodgers on writing him that, “I'd much rather have you use your gunboats against the Reb infantry on our left flank.” Rodgers complied and continued north leaving Drewry’s Bluff and the Patrick Henry in his wake.

 

But all of this had taken time. While Rodgers moved as quickly as he could upriver the army moved faster on land and by the time Rodgers had finally arrived within maximum range for his artillery the time was just after 2 PM. Hooker and Porter had already been repulsed and Berry’s brigade had just been pinned against the James River and captured for the want of support by either the army or navy. Rodgers cursed as he realized he was either too late or the army had jumped off too soon. Either way there was little he could do now except turn his guns on the Confederate units nearest the river and blast away to keep them from counterattacking the regrouping Federal corps.