March 1862. It was the basis for much of his strategic planning for the opening of that campaign. Naval intelligence Black Americans provided equally valuable intelligence to the Union Navy. Mary Louvestre, a freed slave, worked in Norfolk as a housekeeper for an engineer who was involved in the refitting and transformation of the USS Merrimack into the Virginia, the first Confederate ironclad warship. Overhearing the engineer talking about the importance of his project, she recognized the danger this new type of ship represented to the Union navy blockading Norfolk. She stole a set of plans for the ship which the engineer had brought home and fled North. After a dangerous trip, she arrived in Washington, DC and arranged a meeting with officials at the Department of the Navy. The stolen plans and Touvestre's verbal report of the status of the ship's construction convinced the officials of the need to speed up construction of the Union's own ironclad, the USS Monitor. The Virginia destroyed two Union frigates, the USS Congress and the USS Cumberland, and ran another, the USS Minnesota, to ground before the Union ironclad was completed and reached forces for the war. If Touvestre had not given her intelligence, the Virginia may have had several more unchallenged weeks to destroy Union ships blockading Hampton Roads. The risk was that the Confederates could have opened the port of Norfolk to urgently needed supplies from Europe. Robert Smalls The strategic Confederate port of Charleston, South Carolina was one of the few in the south with railroad lines capable of speedy transportation of supplies to Richmond and other key Confederate manufacturing and supply centers. In March 1862, Robert Smalls, a free black, rowed out to a Union warship that was part of a large fleet assembled to attack the seacoast town of Fernandina, Florida. He reported that Confederate troops were preparing to evacuate the town as well as Amelia Island, which guarded the approach to Fernandina. Smalls, a harbor pilot, had observed Confederate preparations to destroy the town's harbor facilities during the withdrawal. Smalls understood the importance of keeping the Fernandina harbor operable as a logistics facility and base for Union operations against Charleston. Based on the intelligence he provided, Union forces attacked Fernandina and routed the enemy's rear guard before the Confederates could sabotage the harbor. The intelligence provided by Smalls was considered so significant that the Secretary of the