The first Union ship to be engaged by "Virginia" was the all-wood, sail-powered USS "Cumberland", which was first crippled during a furious cannon exchange, and then rammed in her forward starboard bow by "Virginia". As "Cumberland" began to sink, the port side half of "Virginia"s iron ram was broken off, causing a bow leak in the ironclad. Seeing what had happened to "Cumberland", the captain of USS "Congress" ordered his frigate into shallower water, where she soon grounded. "Congress" and "Virginia" traded cannon fire for an hour, after which the badly-damaged "Congress" finally surrendered. While the surviving crewmen of "Congress" were being ferried off the ship, a Union battery on the north shore opened fire on "Virginia". Outraged at such a breach of war protocol, in retaliation "Virginia"s now angry captain, Commodore Franklin Buchanan, gave the order to open fire with hot-shot on the surrendered "Congress" as he rushed to "Virginia"s exposed upper casemate deck, where he was injured by enemy rifle fire. "Congress", now set ablaze by the retaliatory shelling, burned for many hours into the night, a symbol of Confederate naval power and a costly wake-up call for the all-wood Union blockading squadron.