past nine o'clock of that day, a heavy cannonade was opened upon the two forts, Walker and Beauregard, and their outposts. They were mounted with heavy guns of the most approved pattern. The bombardment lasted for some hours. The forts were silenced. The landing force found them deserted by their garrisons, who had fled in terror, leaving their clothing, their papers, and even their watches. The loss on the part of the government was eight killed, and twenty-three wounded. The Confederate loss was not known, but it was believed to be far more considerable. The forts contained forty-eight cannon, all but five in excellent order, and of large calibre. A considerable amount of ammunition and stores was also captured. On the 9th, the town of Beaufort was found to be deserted. It was in the

hands of the negroes. The town and adjacent islands were occupied by the Union forces, including Tybee Island, at the entrance of the Savannah River. Hilton Head was taken by the troops under General Sherman. It became the permanent base of operations against South Carolina and southeastern Georgia. This almost bloodless conquest, like that of Hatteras, gave a permanent lodgment to the government forces upon the soil of South Carolina, and was a grand strategic acquisition. In each of these successful expeditions, the military accompaniments had little more to do than take possession of the conquests made by the navy.

Military operations upon the Atlantic seaboard, in 1862, commenced with another expedition to North Carolina. The naval force was commanded by Commodore Goldsborough, and the military by General Burnside. Although the Union forces had already secured an entrance to the sounds and rivers of that state, by the capture of the fortifications at Hatteras Inlet, a farther advance in that direction was desirable in order to shelter the war ships and transports from the storms which are apt to be encountered on the coast. With this object in view, a fleet of one hundred vessels, consisting of nineteen gunboats and other small armed vessels, carrying something like seventyfive or eighty pieces of heavy ordnance, together with transports for 16,000 soldiers, steamed away from Fortress Monroe for Hatteras Inlet, on the 12th of January. A high wind, which at length developed into a severe gale, rendered it impossible for all the larger vessels to enter the sound through the narrow and tortuous channel. The result was the loss of some of the vessels, together with valuable lives. The fortifications at the inlet, which were taken in the preceding autumn by General Butler and Commodore Stringham, and manned by the soldiers under them, were still held by the Federal troops, but the great severity of the protracted storm rendered it impracticable for the expedition to proceed further before the 5th of February. On that day the movement against Roanoke Island was begun. This small, low island, about ten miles in length and two or three in breadth, is situated in the strait which connects Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds. The Confederates had fortified it and manned it with a force of between two and three

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thousand men. The combined forces of the expedition made the assault on the morning of the 7th. The Confederates, commanded by Colonel Shaw, formerly a member of the United States House of Representatives, made a determined resistance. They were supported by a fleet of gunboats, five or six in number. The fight lasted throughout the day; but on the 8th, Col. Shaw, being assailed in front and rear, found it impracticable to continue the contest. He surrendered, with his garrison of 2,000 men. The forts, six in number, were found to contain forty guns and 3,000 stands of arms. The Union loss was thirty-five killed and 200 wounded. The Confederate loss was reported by them to be sixteen killed and thirty-nine wounded.

The Union gunboats pursued the Confederate fleet, which retreated to Elizabeth City. There it was captured. That town, situated on Pasquotank River, surrendered, also. The old towns of Edenton, at the head of Albemarle Sound, and Washington, on the Pamlico or Tar River, surrendered without a struggle. At the latter place the Union sentiment was found to be very strong. This fact appears from the report of a Confederate officer to his superiors.

Newbern was the next object of attack. It is situated at the junction of the Neuse and Trent rivers. The former is a tributary of Pamlico Sound. The naval force was under command of Commodore Rowan,- Commodore Goldsborough having been recalled to Fortress Monroe. The expedition left Hatteras on the morning of March 12th. It arrived about sunset of the same day at Slocum's Creek, on the south bank of the Neuse, about eighteen miles below Newbern. The landing of the troops was effected the next morning under cover of the gunboats. Then a march of twelve miles, over muddy roads, became necessary before the Confederate line of defense was reached. The road runs parallel with the river. The gunboats rendered efficient service by shelling it, in advance of the march of the troops. The camp was formed that night, one mile and a half from the Confederate works. Early on the morning of the 14th, the Confederate works were assailed along their whole extent of a mile and a half. The fight lasted four hours. Their defenders gave way and retreated up the river, in the direction of Newbern. They burnt the bridges behind them, over the smaller streams, and destroyed the draw of the railroad bridge over the Trent, at Newbern. The retreating Confederate force, consisting of eight regiments of infantry, five hundred cavalry, and three batteries of field artillery, each of six guns, thus escaped capture. They were commanded by Gen. Lawrence O'B. Branch an ex-member of the Congress in the absence of General Gatlin, who was sick. They passed on through Newbern, leaving the town to be peaceably taken possession of by General Burnside. In this battle, General Foster took an important part. The Union loss was ninety-one killed, and four hundred and sixty-six wounded. The Confederates, who fought behind breastworks, suffered considerably; but not so

much as their conquerors. They halted in their retreat, at Tuscarora, ten miles above Newbern. General Burnside found the Confederate works defended by forty-six heavy guns and three batteries of light artillery, each of six guns, all of which fell into his hands. Two steamboats, with several sailing vessels, and large quantities of ammunition and military stores were also captured, with two hundred prisoners.

The harbor of Beaufort, the best in the state, with the town of that name, Morehead City, and Fort Macon, a permanent United States fortification which commands the harbor, were surrendered as a consequence of the capture of Newbern. The fort withstood a bombardment of a whole day, when its commandant, Colonel White, with five hundred men, surrendered with the honors of war. It had been seized by the state troops of North Carolina, by order of Governor Ellis, long before the secession ordinance was passed. The loss of life was very trifling. On the side of the government only one was reported killed; and on that of the Confederates, seven were killed and eighteen wounded. The effects of these victories, which closed all the ports of the state, except Wilmington, were permanent. The naval part of the expedition could not penetrate beyond Newbern and Washington. The latter is situated upon the Tar River, not far from Pamlico Sound. The military force was not strong enough to venture further into the interior unsustained by the gunboats; but it is surprising that greater use was not made subsequently of these important conquests on the coast of North Carolina.

On March 8th and 9th the most remarkable battle ever known, up to that time, in the annals of naval warfare was fought in Hampton Roads. The number of vessels engaged was small in comparison with the great naval actions of modern times. But the defensive armor and offensive weapons employed, demonstrated the utter worthlessness of wooden against armored ships in combat. At once, in the twinkling of an eye, a whirling, bewildering revolution in naval architecture was the result.

About one o'clock in the afternoon of the 8th, the Confederate iron-plated steamer Virginia- formerly the United States forty-gun steam frigate Merrimac is seen coming out from Norfolk. She moves in the direction of Newport News, near which place lie two United States sailing frigates, the Congress and Cumberland. The Merrimac had been scuttled on April 21, 1861, when the Union naval officers abandoned the Gosport Navy Yard. The Confederates soon raised her and transformed her into an ironclad ram of formidable power. Her hull was 275 feet long; about 160 feet of the central portion was covered by a roof of wood and iron, inclining about thirty-six degrees. The wooden part was two feet thick; it consisted of oak plank, 4 by 12 inches, laid up and down next to the iron, and two courses of pine; one longitudinal of eight inches thickness, the other twelve inches thick. The intervening space on top was closed by permanent gratings of 2-inch

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square iron, 2 1-2 inches apart, leaving openings for four hatches one near each end, one forward, and one abaft the smoke-stack. The roof did not project beyond the hull. The ends of the shields were rounded. The armor was four inches thick. It was fastened to its wooden backing by 1 3-8 inch bolts, countersunk and secured by iron nuts and washers. The plates were eight inches wide and two inches thick. The hull, extending two feet below the roof, was plated with 1-inch iron. The prow was of cast-iron, wedge-shaped, and weighed 1,500 pounds. It was about two feet under water, and projected two feet from the stem. The rudder and propeller were both exposed, with no appliances for protection. The battery consisted of ten guns, four single-banded Brooke rifles, and six 9-inch Dahlgren shell-guns. Two of the rifles, bow and stern pivots, were 7-inch, of 14,500 pounds; the other two were 6.4-inch, 32 pounds calibre, of 9,000 pounds, one being on each broadside. The 9-inch gun on the side nearest the furnace was fitted for firing hot shot. The ammunition for this gun was 9-inch solid shot. The engines were the same which were on the vessel when she was sunk, and were found to be defective. The crew numbered 320, made up principally of volunteers from the army, and thirty officers. The vessel was in command of Flag-officer Frank Buchanan, who had resigned from the Union navy, to go with the Confederacy.

Thus defended against shot and shell, the Virginia presents the appearance of a huge turtle. The fire from the Cumberland, which is the first to be attacked by the monster, has no effect upon its iron-plated sides and roof, or rounded deck. Every shot from the Virginia tells upon the wooden sides of the Cumberland. The firing is immediately followed by a deadly plunge of the ram into the side of the wooden vessel. The broadside fired by the Cumberland just as the Virginia rams her, cuts one of the Virginia's guns off at the trunnions, the muzzle off another, tears up the carriage of her bow pivot gun, sweeps away her anchor, boats, and howitzers, riddles her smokestack and steam-pipe, and kills or wounds nineteen men. Bravely done! This is the last broadside of the Cumberland. She is sinking! Her gallant commander, Lieut. George M. Morris, true to his honored name, delivers a parting fire from the stern guns, as his ship is going down heroically, with her colors flying. A hundred or more of the crew are killed in the action, or drowned. The Virginia is aided by several armed steamers, two of which come down the James River, just in time to engage in the conflict. Having sunk the Cumberland, the Virginia turns upon the Congress, which is already hotly engaged with the gunboats attendant on the ironclad. The commanding officer of the Congress has witnessed the fate of the Cumberland. He heads for shoal water-and grounds! The Virginia now selects a raking position astern of the Congress, while one of the smaller steamers pours in a constant fire on her starboard quarter. Two other steamers of the enemy approach from James River, also firing upon the unfortunate frigate with

precision and severe effect. The guns of the Congress are almost entirely disabled, and her gallant commanding officer, young Lieut. Joseph B. Smith, has fallen at his post. Her decks are strewn with the dead and the dying, the ship is on fire in several places, and not a gun can be brought to bear upon the assailants. In this state of things, and with no effectual relief at hand, the senior surviving officer, Lieutenant Pendergrast, feels it his duty to save further useless destruction of life by hauling down his colors. This is done about four o'clock, P. M. The Congress continues to burn until about eight in the evening, then she blows up. When word comes to the Navy Department that the Congress hauled down her colors, the brave old Commodore Smith immediately says in deep emotion: "Then Joe is dead." His boy went down with this ship.

The Virginia, with her consorts, the Yorktown and Jamestown, now turn their attention to the Minnesota. This vessel has come out from Old Point to assist the Cumberland and Congress, but she also runs aground about three miles below Newport News. In this condition she cannot bring all her guns to bear; but nevertheless, she is regarded as a more formidable antagonist than the Cumberland or Congress. The Virginia is of too deep a draught to get within effective range, but her consorts approach and fire with damaging effect. Soon, however, the frigate gets one of her guns to bear on them. The practice is telling. They haul off crippled and head towards Norfolk, with the Virginia, at nightfall. All efforts to get the Minnesota afloat during the night and into a safe position are totally unavailing. The morning is looked for with deep anxiety, as it will, in all probability, bring a renewed attack from the formidable assailants.

At nine o'clock the same night, the newly finished ironclad Monitor arrives at Fortress Monroe from New-York, under command of Lieut. John L. Worden. Her appearance is not anticipated. It may be that her existence is unknown to the Confederates. About midnight she takes position by the side of the Minnesota. As anticipated, next morning, at six o'clock, the Virginia, with her consorts, comes out from Norfolk. She opens fire on the Minnesota. She does not see the little Monitor lying behind the frigate. Soon the Monitor appears. She is an object of curiosity, if not of ridicule. She lies so low, and is so small, that surely she will not attempt to cope with the Virginia. The commander of that vessel, which would have been more than a match for the finest ship in the English or French navy, observes what confronts him. It is an insignificant looking little nondescript. It resembles a raft with a cheese-box on it. No such man-of-war was ever before seen. It advances to meet the Virginia. Was there ever such impudence! A mingled feeling of curiosity and contempt runs through the officers of that vessel. The very waves seems to laugh at the odd and audacious craft. But it is soon found that the Virginia has a foe not to be despised; one entirely worthy of her highest prowess. Promptly obeying the signal to at