Naval Actions on Wilton Creek and the Rappahannock River

In Aug. 1863, Confederate Navy Lt. John Taylor Wood, moving overland with boarding cutters carried on modified wagons and a contingent of 82 men, embarked on an expedition to attack Union ships. At Wilton Creek, Wood and his men repulsed forces from the Union gunboat General Putnam in a skirmish on 17 Aug. Shifting operations north to the Rappahannock River, his boarding parties surprised and captured Union gunboats, Reliance and Satellite, anchored off Windmill Point in a daring early morning raid on 22 Aug. The third raid of its kind by Wood, a grandson of Pres. Zachary Taylor, it was also the most successful.