taken captive and moved to the ships USS Cimarron and USS Oleander. These travelled to Fort Lafayette, in New York Harbor, and arrived in late June at Fort Warren on Georges Island in Boston Harbor. Fort Warren was a relatively modern jail where the prisoners were registered and photographed. However, they were deprived of blankets, food, and clothing. Among the captive sailors, there were 12 deaths due to injuries, as well as death by pneumonia and dysentery, caused by the poor conditions in which they were held. Three healthy crew members escaped. Webb was the first to gain parole, in September 1864, and was later exchanged in October of the same year. CSS Richmond Webb was paroled on September 28, 1864, and exchanged at Cox's Wharf, Virginia on October 18, 1864. He was then again fighting on the James River, as Commander of the CSS Richmond from October through November 1864. Webb was in command of the Richmond, when the James River Squadron, of which Richmond was a member, during a routine patrol of the James River, were surprised on the morning of October 22, 1864, when the Union Army revealed their new battery at Boulware House, two miles from Chaffin's Bluff. To cover the retreat of the wooden vessels of the fleet, the flagship Virginia II approached the battery, followed by the Richmond and Fredericksburg, and effected the retreat upstream to Chaffin's Bluff. Though they were caught by surprise, this small action helped determine the effectiveness of the ironclads' casemates against close rifled fire, and in the case of the Richmond the results were favorable: her armor withstood the fire, though her smokestack was shot off. Retirement William A. Webb subsequently relinquished command of the CSS Richmond because of declining health. For this reason, as well as unspecified business matters, he left the Confederacy, in December, 1864, for England. While in London, he took the Oath of Allegiance before Francis A. Adams, the U.S. Consul in that city, on 31 May 1865, and left England the next month, to return home to his native state of Virginia. By mid-1865, after the close of the war, he was already back in Richmond, Virginia, and requested a pardon from President Andrew Johnson, which was approved shortly afterwards. He died at his home in Goochland County on December 1, 1881. Notes References Teaser Confederate States Navy commanders People from Virginia United States