IN THE EAST

THE ALARM AT HAMPTON ROADS-THE MONITOR AND THE MERRIMAC

520. The Confederate Ironclad Merrimac Threatens to Raise the Blockade-March 8.-Shortly after the fall of Sumter, the United States government had ordered the destruction of the most important of all its navy yards,that at Norfolk, Virginia,-rather than see it fall into the hands of the confederacy. At that time a large number of vessels were scuttled,-among them the fine old frigate Merrimac. When Norfolk fell into the hands of the secessionists, the Merrimac was raised, converted into an ironclad ram, and directed to raise the blockade in Hampton Roads at the mouth of the James River. On the 8th of March, the Merrimac encountered the Cumberland, which

HAMPTON ROADS

poured broadside after broadside into her strange looking antagonist, but all to no purpose, her shot glanced from the Merrimac's sloping roof without inflicting the slightest damage. She then rammed the Cumberland with

her iron beak, driving such a hole in her side that she soon sank, carrying down nearly all on board,her flag still flying at the mast, and her guns bidding defiance at the water's edge. The Merrimac next destroyed the Congress, and sought to engage the Minnesota, but that vessel having run aground in shallow water, the Merrimac steamed back to Norfolk, intending to return to complete her work on the morrow.

521. The Battle between the Ironclads-March 9.-On the 9th of March, the joyful news came over the wires that the Merrimac had been vanquished by the little Monitor and driven under cover at Norfolk. Immediately there went up

the question, whence came the Monitor?—a name heretofore unknown to the American navy. This vessel, too, was an ironclad, the invention of John Ericsson, and had arrived from New York at Hampton Roads at midnight on the 8th of March, and anchored beside the Minnesota. The Merrimac, returning, was about to open fire on the Minnesota, when there suddenly shot out from under her prow Ericsson's Monitor, and the battle between the two ironclads began. For three hours the struggle continued, when the Merrimac gave up the contest and withdrew to Norfolk, leaving the "Yankee cheesebox," as the Monitor was called on account of her appearance, in undisputed possession of Hampton Roads. The Monitor had saved the day. Upon no single event of the war did greater issues hang.

ON TO RICHMOND

522. McClellan's Peninsular Campaign. -McClellan had taken command of the army of the Potomac immediately after the Bull Run disaster. His task was to crush the confederate army of Virginia and overthrow the confederate government at Richmond. This he was urged to undertake at the earliest possible date. But, for some unaccountable reason, he remained inactive, occupying himself with brilliant reviews and giving no promise of a forward movement. Autumn passed and winter came, and still "all was quiet on the Potomac." The whole north now became impatient. "On to Richmond!" became the incessant cry of the public press, of the people, of congress, and, indeed, of the splendid army itself. Patience at last reached its limit, and President Lincoln, early in January, 1862, issued a peremptory order for a forward movement. McClellan still delayed two months longer, and the last of March had arrived ere he began embarking his army on transports at Washington. He then passed down the Potomac River, landed at Fortress Monroe on April 2, 1862, and began the disastrous peninsular campaign.

The York and the James rivers run nearly parallel from a point above Richmond to the points where the two streams empty their waters into the Chesapeake Bay, at a distance of about twenty miles apart. The strip of land lying between these two streams is called the peninsula. McClellan's

plan was to move up this peninsula, carry his supplies on boats up the York River, and take Richmond.

523. Yorktown Taken-April 4: Battle of WilliamsburgMay 5-6.-McClellan at once appeared before Yorktown (April 4), and wasted a month in a useless siege. When he finally decided to reduce its fortifications by a bombardment, Yorktown was quietly evacuated. General Joseph E. Hooker overtook the retreating confederates at Williamsburg on May 5, and on the following day captured that point.

524. Battle of Fair Oaks or Seven Pines-May 31 and June 1.-General Joseph E. Johnston, chief in command of the confederate forces, perceiving McClellan's timidity, fell upon the union advance encamped along the Williamsburg and

In the engagement, General Johnston was wounded and carried from the field, and the confederates finally gave up the contest, retiring to Richmond.

While the union army won the battle, the confederate army was not crushed, and it now came under the leadership of General Robert E. Lee.