which "amply authorized" the creation of a Confederate States Naval Academy. By December of that year, the Confederate States Congress instructed Secretary Mallory to establish "some form of education for midshipmen." 1862 Secretary Mallory, overwhelmed with the duties of standing up the CS Navy in the midst of a war, finally responded to the dictate from Congress in a letter to President Davis on February 27, 1862, in which he recommended the creation and establishment of a naval academy as the best form and means of educating midshipmen. On April 21, 1862, by an act of Congress, the naval academy was approved with a total manpower level for midshipmen at 106 and that of passed midshipmen 20. In that same month, the CS Naval Academy started taking appointments for the school. On May 5, 1862 five Union gunboats, including the USS Monitor and the USS Galena, sailed up the James to test the Richmond defenses at Fort Darling on Drewry's Bluff which commanded a strategically powerful location on the cliffs overlooking the James River. Engaging in battle with Fort Darling's guns the ships received heavy damage and were forced to withdraw on May 15. The crew of the CSS Patrick Henry, flagship of the James River Squadron were commended for their service during this battle, and the same day the flagship was selected to be withdrawn from combat service for conversion to house the new naval academy "without interfering with her effciency as a vessel of war.". The CSS Patrick Henry, a 1,300 ton sidewheel steamer, partially and lightly ironclad amidships, was pulled into Rockets Navy Yard in Richmond for refitting as a school ship, and then stationed near Drewry's Bluff where cabins were constructed ashore for the mishipmen, when they were needed to man the naval batteries there. Drewry's Bluff also became an important training ground for the Confederate States Marine Corps Camp of Instruction. The organization and stand up of the school was performed by LT Parker and Commander John Mercer Brooke, CSN. CDR Brooke was serving as the head of the Office of Ordnance and Hydrography for the CS Navy department in Richmond and both Parker and Brooke were graduates from among the first classes of the United States Naval Academy. They were well qualified for the organization of the school and Parker had, in fact, been an instructor at the US Naval Academy for six years.