1 Edwin M. Stanton 2 Salmon P. Chase THE FIRST READING OF THE EMANCIPATION 8 Abraham Lincoln 4 Gideon Welles 5 William H. Seward 6 Caleb Smith BEFORE THE CABINET 7 Montgomery Blair 8 Edwin Bates PROCLAMATION BATTLE OF "MERRIMAC" AND "MONITOR" 1862 crew of volunteers, since she was regarded in the light of a forlorn hope. She was stationed near the helpless "Minnesota." On the following morning the "Merrimac" came out into the Roads to finish her work of destruction. There she beheld her new antagonist lying beside the "Minnesota" like a "tin can on a shingle." Lieutenant Jones commanded the "Merrimac" in place of the wounded Buchanan. He realized at once that the new outlandish vessel was his foremost adversary. The day was sunny and bright, and crowds of spectators thronged the shores to behold the great duel. After exchanging shots with the "Minnesota," the "Merrimac" closed with the "Monitor." Both vessels pounded each other ineffectually. The "Monitor's" cast-iron balls broke upon the armor of the "Merrimac," while the "Merrimac's" shells burst to no purpose over the "Monitor's" turret. After thus exchanging fire for two hours, the "Merrimac's" gunners quit to save the ammunition. Manifestly the "Monitor" had an immense advantage in her superior speed and manœuvring power, as well as in the greater radius afforded by the revolving turret. Lieutenant Worden, accordingly, resolved to ram his enemy. He missed the "Merrimac" by only two feet, both ships grazing. The "Merrimac" retaliated in kind. Jones ran his stem right over the "Monitor's" deck, the force of the blow knocking down most of his men. Before they could get over the side of the ship, the "Monitor" glided away from under the "Merrimac." The slow speed of the "Merrimac" saved the "Monitor." It was fortunate indeed for Worden that the "Merrimac" had lost her ram on the previous day. Later the "Monitor" drifted into shoal water, and the "Merrimac," unable to follow, drew off. Thus the engagement ended as a drawn battle. Neither ship had been seriously injured, nor had either lost a single man. The "Monitor" had been struck twenty-two times without appre 1662 CONTEST FOR THE MISSISSIPPI cable injury. The "Merrimac," as a result of her two-days' fighting, had ninety-seven indentations in her armor. Bloodless as this first encounter between ironclads was, it proved one of the decisive battles of the Civil War, securing to the North the command of the sea. The demonstration of the superior merits of steam power and armor protection in action was so striking that it practically sealed the doom of the old ships. A full month elapsed before the "Merrimac," having refitted, came out once more with solid shot to engage the "Monitor." The Union ships hugged the shore and ignored the challenge. Both the "Merrimac" and the "Monitor" came to an inglorious end. On the evacuation of Norfolk, the Southerners, finding themselves unable to bring their ironclad up the James River, scuttled the "Merrimac." Shortly afterward, the "Monitor" foundered off Cape Hatteras, in a storm. The naval front changed from the James River to the Mississippi. At the outbreak of the war, the lower end of this great watercourse, from Cairo to New Orleans, fell into the hands of the Confederates. "The Mississippi is the backbone of the rebellion," said Lincoln. "It is the key of the whole situation.” On February 3 Captain David G. Farragut, on the "Hartford," sailed from Hampton Roads to Ship Island, be tween New Orleans and Mobile. This was the rendezvous for a considerable Union fleet under command of David D. Forter, and here the expedition against New Orleans was prepared. Farragut took command. He had 17 men-of-war, with 177 guns, and Porter a flotilla and steamships. In their rear was Butler with 6,000 men on transports. The utmost haste was needful, since the Confederates were constructing four ironclads, all of the "Merrimac" type. They were nearing completion. A peculiarly dangerous vessel on the Con FARRAGUT BREAKS THE BOOM 1862 She was a federate side was the little ram "Manassas." tugboat cut down to the water line, with upper works that resembled the shell of a turtle, protected by railroad iron of one inch thickness. Besides these were five gunboats and long fireships filled with pine knots. A still more important Confederate defence was a boom across the Mississippi just below the forts. It consisted of cypress logs forty-five feet in length, linked together with immense chains, and held in position by thirty 3,000-pound anchors. When a freshet carried away some of the middle part, eight dismantled schooners were anchored in the gap, fastened to one another and to the ends of the boom. From the middle of April an incessant bombardment lasting ten days was kept up against the Confederate forts from schooners anchored behind the shelter of trees and disguised by branches fastened to the rigging. On the night of April 20, supported by a fiercer bombardment, Farragut sent two gunboats up stream to make an opening in the boom. The "Pinola," running at full steam under heavy fire, rammed the boom, and opened a wide passage. Four days later, the morning of April 24, Farragut ordered the advance. The rattle of the cables gave the alarm to the Confederates. They launched fireboats against the advancing fleet. The "Cayuga" passed the boom before the Confederates opened fire, and came under the guns of the forts in time to receive the first shells. As ship after ship passed the boom, the little "Manassas" tried to ram them. Most of the ships of the first division escaped. Among those who served in the battle was George Dewey, then a lieutenant in the United States navy. The small Confederate tug "Mosher" came down the river pushing a blazing fire raft. The flames lighted up the waters, and made the tug an easy mark for the Union gunners. Still Lieutenant Sherman and his Confederate crew of six on the "Mosher" pushed right on, and |