Major General and, effective May 1, 1861, Virginia Provisional Army Brigadier General Walter Gwynn, a former U.S. Army engineering officer and former railroad engineer and surveyor, sited and supervised the construction of batteries to defend Norfolk, Virginia in late April and early May 1861, including the battery at Sewell's Point. Gwynn commanded the defense of Norfolk until he was relieved by regular Confederate forces on May 23, 1861. Battle As part of the Union blockade of Chesapeake Bay during the American Civil War, the Union gunboat USS Monticello, commanded by Captain Henry Eagle with Lieutenant (later Rear Admiral) Daniel L. Braine second in command, exchanged cannon fire with Confederate batteries on Sewell's Point, Virginia, in Norfolk County, Virginia (present day City of Norfolk, Virginia), in an attempt to enforce the blockade of the Hampton Roads area in southeastern Virginia. The two sides did each other little harm. On May 18, 1861, the Monticello fired on the unfinished Confederate battery at Sewell's Point, which commanded the entrance to the Elizabeth River and the harbor at Norfolk, Virginia but which had no guns yet in place, with little effect. By 5:00 p.m. on May 19, 1861, the Confederates had installed three 32-pound guns at the Sewell's Point battery. When the Monticello began to fire on the works at about 5:30 p.m., the battery returned fire, which drove off the Monticello. Captain Peyton H. Colquitt of the Columbus Light Guard from Georgia commanded the battery. Captain Colquitt raised a Georgia state flag at the battery since he did not have a Confederate flag. On May 21, 1861, the Monticello fired two shots at the battery but again drew off when the battery returned fire. Aftermath After the battle, the USS Thomas Freeborn joined the Federal Potomac Flotilla. Under the command of Commander James H. Ward, the Thomas Freeborn attacked the Confederate batteries at the confluence of the Potomac River and Aquia Creek in the Battle of Aquia Creek on May 29 and 30 and June 1, 1861, to little effect. The Sewell's Point battery and other batteries in the area engaged Union vessels on other occasions over the next 12 months, including engagements of Union vessels or supporting fire against them during the clash of the ironclads (the Union's USS Monitor and the Confederacy's CSS Virginia, formerly USS Merrimack) during the Battle of Hampton Roads on March 9, 1862. Union Navy gunboats, including