fire because of the positions in which their ships were stuck, Mitchell wrote; "During the whole time while aground, neither the Richmond nor the Virginia [II] could get a gun to bear upon the enemy." By 11:00 am the tide had been lifting for hours and just when it seemed that the Confederates were helpless to resist, their ironclads began to float again and their guns were brought to bear. Onondaga fired around seven rounds at Virginia II and when she was refloated a single shot was returned that, according to Mitchell, was "observed to take effect" upon the monitor. The naval duel did not last long compared to the other actions and it ended as the Confederates withdrew up river a short distance. The Union ships did the same and they pulled off heading down stream but the batteries kept firing all day and night. At 9:00 pm Commodore Mitchell ordered his men to make the final cruise to City Point but it was found that the Virginia II was unmanageable. She had been struck by cannon fire seventy times already and it caused steam to leak from the ironclad's deck which impaired the pilots visibility. The Drewry and the Scorpion were lost and one other torpedo boat was disabled by the federals. Union troops had also erected "Drummonds lights" that illuminated the area around the mine field, allowing the batteries to fire nearly as accurately at night as they had in the daytime. It finally became apparent to Mitchell that the mission was lost so on the next morning, at 2:45 am, the rebel fleet was turned around and went back up the James. The battle at Trent's Reach was over but in order for the rebels to get back to friendly waters they had to pass Fort Brady and the Signal Hill battery. When the time came another exchange of artillery ensued but this time the rebels stayed a while to try to silence the Union gunners. Colonel Pierce expected the ironclads to return so while they were engaging at Trent's Reach, the garrison of Fort Brady and the surrounding batteries focused on improving the defenses of their positions. Pierce placed pickets down the river and at 3:00 am one of them returned and told the colonel that the rebels were coming back. When the fighting began again it was described as being very intense but at