ground at Aquia Creek, and selected Split Rock Bluff as the best point for a battery, as the channel there could be commanded from that point by guns of sufficient caliber. On April 27, 1861, President Lincoln ordered the Union blockade of the Confederacy extended to the coasts of Virginia and North Carolina since those states were already in the process of joining the Confederate States of America. Both the Union and Confederacy then wanted to deny use of the Potomac River to the other side. On May 8, 1861, Major Williamson began construction on fortifications at the Aquia Creek landing, mainly to protect the terminus of the Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad, which had its northern terminus at the landing, from seizure by Union Army forces. About May 14, 1861, Captain Lynch and Lieutenant Lewis, along with Commander Robert D. Thorburn and Lieutenant John Wilkinson of the Virginia State Navy, had erected at Aquia a battery of thirteen guns to protect the railroad terminal. The battery also was a threat to close the navigation of the Potomac River in line with the original mission to site guns to command the river. On May 10, 1861, Confederate authorities appointed General Lee to command Confederate troops in Virginia. Brigadier General Daniel Ruggles assumed overall command of the batteries although they remained under the immediate command of Captain Lynch at Aquia. The Confederate battery at Aquia Landing was first spotted by the USS Mount Vernon on May 14, 1861, but the Mount Vernon made no attack on the position. Since the first battery at Aquia was at the river level and intended mainly to protect the railroad terminal, the Confederates strengthened defenses at Aquia before May 29, 1861 by the addition of a second battery atop the bluffs to the south of the confluence of the Aquia Creek with the Potomac River as originally selected by the scouting party. Battle On May 29, 1861, a converted 250-ton paddle-wheel steamer mounting 3 guns, the of the Federal Potomac Flotilla under the command of Commander James H. Ward attacked the Confederate batteries at Aquia to little effect. Confederate Captain Lynch reported that the Thomas Freeborn fired 14 shots and only wounded one man in the hand. On the following day, May 30, 1861, the Thomas Freeborn returned with the , a 200-ton vessel with 2 guns, and , which was half the size of the