Surgeon, Dinwiddin Phillips; Assistant Surgeon, Algernon S. Garnett; Captain of Marines, Reuben Thorn; Engineers: H. A. Ramsay, Acting Chief; Assistants, John W. Tynan, Loudon Campbell, Benj. Herring, C. A. Jack and R. Wright; Boatswain, Charles H. Hasker; Gunner, C. B. Oliver; Carpenter, Hugh Lindsey; Clerk, Arthur Sinclair, Jr.; Volunteer Aide, Lieut. Douglas Forrest, C. S. army; Capt. Kevil, commanding detachment of Norfolk United Artillery; Signal Corps, Sergeant Tabb.

Flag-officer Buchanan was ordered February 24th, 1862, to the command of the naval defences of the James River, and to hoist his flag on the Virginia, or any other vessel of the squadron, which was to consist of the Virginia, the Patrick Henry, the Jamestown, the Teaser, the Raleigh, and the Beaufort. Secretary Mallory in his order added:

"The Virginia is a novelty in naval construction, is untried, and her powers unknown; and hence the department will not give specific orders as to her attack upon the enemy. Her powers as a ram are regarded as very formidable, and it is hoped you will be able to test them. Like the bayonet charge of infantry, this mode of attack, while the most destructive, will commend itself to you in the present scarcity of ammunition. It is one also that may be rendered destructive at night against the enemy at anchor. Even without guns the ship would, it is believed, be formidable as a ram.

"Could you pass Old Point and make a dashing cruise in the Potomac as far as Washington, its effect upon the public mind would be important to our cause.

"The condition of our country, and the painful reverses we have just suffered, demand our utmost exertions; and convinced as I am that the opportunity and the means for striking a decisive blow for our navy are now, for the first time, presented, I congratulate you upon it, and know that your judgment and gallantry will meet all just expectations.

"Action, prompt and successful just now, would be of serious importance to our cause.

Of officers there were an ample supply, and they were among the best and bravest, the most skillful and experienced, which the navy of the United States had turned out. But the crew that was to work and fight this new kind of man-ofwar, where were they to come from? There had been no

himself wounded and sent below, appeared on deck and delivered to them the following message from the flag-officer: "Tell Mr. Jones to fight the ship to the last. Tell the men that I am not mortally wounded, and hope to be with them very soon." The cheers that greeted the delivery of this message, it is said, resounded far above the cannon's roar, and every man was again quickly at his post, dealing death and destruction with their heavy guns. Congress was in session when the engagement took place, and shortly thereafter passed a bill creating the grade of admiral in the navy, to which position Buchanan was nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate on August 21st, 1862. He commanded the Confederate fleet in Mobile Bay in August, 1864, on board of the iron-clad Tennessee, where he was wounded and defeated by Admiral Farragut and taken prisoner. After the war he was president of the Maryland Agricultural College. He died in May, 1874, at "The Rest," his splendid residence in Talbot

County, Maryland. He was the organizer and founder of the Naval Academy at Annapolis; he co-operated in landing the troops at Vera Cruz, under Gen. Scott, and was one of the leading spirits of the navy there at the capture of San Juan d'Ulloa; was among the first to step foot on the soil of Japan in the expedition of Commodore Perry, which opened the ports of that erst forbidden land to the world at large, but with especial kindness to our own countryand later was honored by a grateful President with the position of commandant of the navyyard at Washington, overlooking the entire affairs of the naval establishment of the country; and still later he was called by the warm impulses of his Maryland brethren to be the President of the Maryland Agricultural College in all of which positions he not only acquitted himself with credit and honor, but left a legacy of discipline and order and gentlemanly bearing that leaves its impress to the present hour.

merchant marine at the South to supply experienced sailors, and but few of the sailors of the U. S. navy were in Southern ports when the rupture of the Union occurred. To meet that pressing exigency, Lieut. Wood visited Gen. Magruder's army at Yorktown, and from a New Orleans regiment selected eighty sailors out of 200 volunteers who had seen service in the ships that visited New Orleans; these with a few seamen from Norfolk who had escaped from the Confederate flotilla in Pamlico Sound at the fall of Roanoke Island, and with other volunteers from the army, a crew of 300 men was formed, which proved to be "as gallant and trusty a body of men as any one could wish to command, not only in battle, but in reverse and retreat."

T

CHAPTER IX.

THE NAVAL BATTLE IN HAMPTON ROADS.

HE first Confederate iron-clad, so unlike in every respect to any other afloat, the officers and men strangers to each other and new to every part of the ship, was immediately launched from the dock into battle, and from what was supposed to be an experimental trial of sailing and floating capacity into the fiercest fight of modern times. Discharging workmen as the Virginia moved out into the channel, Flag-officer Buchanan turned her prow into waters swarming with enemies, and covered with the line-of-battle ships that had never lowered their flag to an enemy. Immediately her defects became apparent; not more than five knots an hour could be got out of her, and she obeyed her rudder so reluctantly that from thirty to forty minutes were required to turn her. Her draft of twenty-two feet confined her to a narrow channel, and deprived her of every advantage attainable by manoeuvring. But, in that unmanageable water-logged vessel, Capt. Buchanan, on the 8th of March, 1862, steamed slowly down Elizabeth River, accompanied by the steam-tugs Beaufort, Lieut. Commanding W. H. Parker, and the Raleigh. Lieut. Commanding J. W. Alexander, to make her "trial trip" a trial of battle. The movement was hailed with huzzas from citizens and soldiers, from wharves and batteries; but silently, and without response, the gallant ship and her escorts, followed by Commander Forrest and staff, plowed their way toward the enemy. Down the deep channel of the Elizabeth River, passing Confederate batteries at Craney Island and on the right bank, the Virginia and her escort reached Hampton Roads at Sewell's Point. At Fortress Monroe lay the Minnesota, 40 guns; the Roanoke, 40 guns, and the St. Lawrence, 50 guns; together with the gunboat Dragon, the gunboat Mystic, the gunboat Whitehall, the gunboat Oregon, which was destroyed by a shell; the gunboat Zouave, which was seriously damaged and

1 The Whitehall had three killed, and was burned by a shell from a Confederate gunboat.

forced to retire from action, and the Cambridge. At Newport News, riding at anchor, was the Cumberland, 30 guns, and the Congress, 50 guns. In addition to this formidable battery of guns afloat must be added the batteries at Newport News and the guns on the land side of Fortress Monroe, and the great gun in position at the Rip-raps. Notwithstanding the information which leaked through the lines as to the progress that was making upon the Virginia at the navy-yard, her appearance, if not unexpected, was at least unprepared for. The Congress and the Cumberland lay at anchor off Newport News, with boats hanging to lower booms, washed clothes flying in the wind from the rigging, and no indication whatever of preparation or readiness for battle, until the Virginia was within three-quarters of a mile, when every man was astir, boats were dropped astern, booms got alongside, and the ships were cleared for action.

Into that circle of great guns from line-of-battle ships, shore batteries, and gunboats, whose concentrated fire could be directed to almost any position in the Road, Captain Buchanan led his little fleet, comprised of the Virginia, 10 guns; the Beaufort, 1 gun; and the Raleigh, 1 gun; when in action to be reinforced by the Patrick Henry, 12 guns, Commander John R. Tucker; the Jamestown, Lieut. Commanding J. N. Barney, 2 guns; the gunboat Teaser, Lieut. Commanding W. A. Webb, 1 gun. Total, 27 guns, against an armament of over 300 guns, of which 100 could be brought into action at every moment, and on every point.

At Sewell's Point, Capt. Buchanan turned the Virginia, with the gunboat escort, towards Newport News, to engage the "frigates Cumberland and Congress, gunboats and shore batteries." Reserving fire until within less than a mile, Lieut. Charles C. Simms, with the forward pivot gun of the Virginia, opened the engagement with the Cumberland, and the action became general almost immediately. To reach her selected foe the Virginia had to pass the Congress, to which she gave a broadside, and received an equally liberal compliment. From the Cumberland, the Congress, the gunboats and shore batteries, there was now poured upon the Virginia and her little escort the concentrated fire of 100 heavy guns at short range. Standing on, the Virginia brought her ramming powers into action, and struck the Cumberland under the starboard forechannels, delivering the fire of her bow pivot gun at the very moment of crushing through the sides of the Cumberland. The destruction was very great, "killing ten men at gun No. 1, among whom was Master's Mate John Harrington, and cutting off both arms and legs of Quarter Gunner Wood. As the Merrimac rounded-to and came up, she again raked the Cumberland with heavy fire. At this fire sixteen men at gun

1 Report of Flag-officer Franklin Buchanan; date, March 27th, 1862.

No. 10 were killed or wounded, and all were subsequently carried down in the sinking ship.'

The blow, hardly perceptible on the Virginia, had been received by the Cumberland nearly at right angles. Heading up stream, to turn the gallant but very slow-moving ship, enabled Lieut. Wood to bring the after pivot gun into action, which was turned upon the Congress just as she slipped her anchor, loosed her bow topsail, and run up her jib, to effect escape.

The effort was unavailing; the Congress grounded, and the Virginia, at a distance of 200 yards, riddled her sides. Notwithstanding that the hole in the side of the Cumberland was "big enough to drive a horse and cart through," Lieut. Morris continued as gallant a fight as the records of any navy offer; slowly sinking, deck after deck was submerged, the forward magazine drowned, the after magazine was used to fight the ten-inch gun; but in thirty-five minutes the ship canted to port, and her gallant officers and men delivered their parting fire and immediately leaped into the water, and the Cumberland sank with the "American flag flying at the peak."

Before the waters of Hampton Roads had closed over the Cumberland, the dark smoke of the Jamestown squadron was seen, as the ships and boats hurried under press of steam to the scene of battle. Dashing past the Federal shore batteries, Capt. John R. Tucker led the van in the Patrick Henry, closely followed by the Jamestown, Lieut. Commanding Barney, and the little Teaser, Lieut. Webb, puffing with all the energy of a short-winded tug. Making a gallant run past the batteries, they "were exposed to a heavy fire. Their escape was miraculous, as they were under a galling fire of solid shot, shell, grape and canister, a number of which passed through the vessels without doing any serious injury, except to the Patrick Henry, through whose boiler a shot passed, scalding to death four persons and wounding others. Lieut. Commanding Barney promptly obeyed a signal to tow her out of the action. As soon as damages were repaired, the Patrick Henry returned to her station and continued to perform good service during the remainder of that day and the following."

The part taken by the little James River squadron is not the least remarkable part of that great fight. It was lost sight

1 Moore's Rebellion Record, Vol. IV., p. 273.

2 OFFICERS OF THE "CUMBERLAND." The following is a list of the officers on board the Cumberland during the fight:-First Lieut. George Morris, commanding; Second Lieut. F. O. Selfridge; Sailing Master, Mr. Stivison; Chaplain, Rev. Mr. Leinhardt. drowned; Boatswain, Edward Bell; Gunner, Eugene Mack; Carpenter, William L. Leighton; Sailmaker. David Bruce; Master's Mate, John Harrington, killed; Master's Mate. Wyman; Master's Mate, O'Neil; Paymaster's Clerk, Hugh Knott; Acting Master, Randall; Acting Master, - Kennison; Master Smith, Victor M. Smith; Marine Officer, Charles M. Hayward.

The Cumberland was commanded by Capt Radcliffe, who was detailed to attend a Court of Inquiry on board the flag-ship Roanoke. When the fight commenced he mounted a horse and rode rapidly to Newport News, but only reached there in time to find his vessel sinking.

Commandant William Smith had previously commanded the Cumberland, but was detached and ordered to the command of the Sabine, of the Gulf blockading fleet. While waiting transportation he remained on board the Cumberland, and volunteer gave valuable assistris, who, by the absence was in command, by the his brother officers did gallant manner.

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