CSS Patrick Henry

In June 1861, shortly after the Civil War began, the Confederate States Navy (CSN) captured the commercial steamship SS Yorktown in the James River and commissioned it as a gunboat.  It was named CSS Patrick Henry for the 18th-century Virginia lawmaker and governor whose 1775 "Give me liberty or give me death" speech convinced the Virginia government to support the American Revolution, and who later joined Thomas Jefferson and other Anti-Federalists in opposing the creation of a strong national government.  CSS Patrick Henry was assigned to the James River Squadron, which was fighting the United States Navy (USN) for control of the Hampton Roads area.  It failed to lure Federal warships into a trap near Newport News, and took heavy damage in March 1862 while helping the CSN sink USS Cumberland and USS Congress.  The next day, March 9, saw CSS Patrick Henry provide long-range support to CSS Virginia (ex-USS Merrimack) in the "Battle of the Ironclads" against USS Monitor.  The battle resulted in an overall draw, though it did make the public aware of the effectiveness of ironclad warships, and CSS Patrick Henry later had to help the rebels evacuate their property from the Norfolk Navy Yard before Federal forces recaptured the base.  It sailed up the James River and was used as a training ship at Drewry's Bluff until April 1865, when the U.S. Army took Richmond, forcing the Confederacy to evacuate their capital to Danville.  CSS Patrick Henry was burned to prevent its capture by the Federals, and its crew were each paid forty dollars in gold to deliver half a million Confederate dollars' worth of treasuries to Danville.  This model of CSS Patrick Henry shows how the ship looked during the Civil War, when it was decorated with a portrait of its namesake over each paddlewheel.  It is on display at the Mariners Museum in Newport News, Virginia.