In late June 1861, Commander James H. Ward, commander of the Union Potomac Flotilla, learned that the Confederates were installing a battery on a wooded promontory at Mathias Point in King George County, Virginia, that would effectively control traffic on the Potomac River at that point.
Ward initially had accompanied the landing party, but he quickly returned to the Thomas Freeborn in order to direct more firing of the ship's cannon at the location of the Confederate force when they began their counterattack.