On this date in Florida CW Naval History

On 17 September 1862, five Union Navy gunboats (Paul Jones, Cimarron, Uncas, E.B. Hale, and Patroon), under the command of Cdr. Charles Steedman, engaged a Confederate earthworks on the St. Johns River at St. Johns Bluff. The battle lasted for several hours and succeeded in temporarily driving the rebels from the battery, but ultimately it took a combined Navy/Army land assault to take the fortification in early October.