any force that might be sent to their aid, the navy-yard with its ships and its stores should be at the mercy of the State of Virginia. The dispatch which announced the execution of the Governor's order exultingly declared: "Thus have we secured for Virginia three of the best ships of the navy," alluding to the Cumberland, Merrimac, and Pennsylvania, then among the vessels in the the vessels in the Gosport navy-yard at Norfolk. The inhabitants had, moreover, shown their hostile intentions by seizing the United April States magazine, situated below the 19. city, and containing four thousand kegs of powder.

The navy-yard was in command of Commodore Charles S. Macaulay, a veteran naval officer. The establishment, The establishment, one of the largest in the United States, contained not only stores of naval and military munitions of war and ships, but arsenals, foundries, workshops, and docks a mass of public property which had cost the United States over fifty millions of dollars.

There were twelve vessels of war stationed at the yard, with an aggregate tonnage of about thirty-five thousand tons, and an armament of six hundred and fifty guns. These were the Pennsylvania, a sailing vessel, the largest lineof-battle-ship ever built in the United States. Her tonnage was three thousand three hundred and forty-one tons, and she was built to carry a hundred and twenty guns, to work which and the ship would have required a crew of a thousand men. Built in 1837, at Philadelphia, she remained there as the

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wonder of all sight-seers, until she sailed to Norfolk, many years after, where she has remained a useless hulk, too unwieldy and too expensive for service. The Delaware, also a sailing line-ofbattle-ship, was of two thousand six hundred and thirty-three tons, carrying an armament of eighty-four guns, and a crew of eight hundred men. She, however, was rotten, and had been long condemned as unfit for service.

The Columbus, a line-of-battle-ship, of two thousand four hundred and eighty tons burthen, and rated for eighty guns and eight hundred men, was also useless as a sailing vessel, but was thought capable of being converted into a steamer. The Raritan, a frigate of one thousand seven hundred and twenty-six tons, and fifty guns, was another vessel which had been condemned as unfit for service.

The Plymouth, a first-class sloop-ofwar, of nine hundred and eighty-nine tons, and twenty-two guns, was undergoing repairs, and was a vessel of little value.

There was the New York, the keel of which was laid forty-five years ago, still on the stocks, and was hardly thought to be available. To these vessels of little value, may be added the old United States, built in 1797.

There were, however, the four sailing ships, the fine frigate Cumberland, the Germantown, the Columbia, and the brig Dolphin, which were for the most part in good condition and capable of the best service. In addition was the first-class steam frigate the Merrimac,

vessels were now mustered and set busily to work. Some collected the records, papers, and archives from the offices and placed them on board the Pawnee, and some gathered whatever was valuable, important, and easily transferable from the various ships, and stored it in the Cumberland. After thus having secured what could be readily carried away, the marines were ordered to begin the work of destruction. Many thousand stands of arms, and a large quantity of pistols and revolvers, were broken by severing the barrels from the stocks, and thrown into the river. Thousands of shot and shell followed, and everything on the ships that might be of service to the insurgents met with the same fate. The cannon which were still left unspiked were now spiked and dismantled, and some fifteen hundred cannon, of which several were Dahlgrens and columbiads, were thus destroyed. The men kept on at this work of destruction from nine o'clock until midnight, when the moon, sinking behind the horizon, failed any longer to give its light. The barracks, within the yard, were now set on fire, in order that the marines might see by the glare to continue their labors, which they renewed with increased spirit, as if enlivened by the crackling and blaze of the conflagration. The day, however, was approaching, and it was feared that the insurgents, gathering in force, might obstruct the escape of the Pawnee and the Cumberland. Gunpowder trains were now laid upon the decks of the doomed ships and the ship-houses. The

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crews of the various ships and all who belonged to the navy-yard, with the exception of two left behind to fire the trains, now hurried on board of the April Pawnee and Cumberland. The for- 21. mer left the dock on Sunday morning, at four o'clock, on her return. As she cast off her moorings she sent up a signal rocket, and as it burst, the torch was applied, and in a moment the whole yard seemed to be wrapped in a common flame. Ships and ship-houses caught simultaneously, and the old New York, the keel of which had been laid forty-five years before, and was still on the stocks, burned, with its huge wooden cover, like tinder. The Pennsylvania, the Merrimac, the Germantown, the Plymouth, the Raritan, the Columbia, and the brig Dolphin caught at the same time, and were left in flames. Some of the guns were loaded, though not charged with shot, and when the fire reached them they exploded and added to the effect of this scene of destruction. "The Pennsylvania burned like a volcano for five hours and a half before her mainmast fell. I stood watching," says an eye-witness, "the proud but perishing old leviathan, as this sign of her manhood was about to come down. At precisely half-past nine o'clock by my watch, the tall tree that stood in her centre tottered and fell, and crushed deep into her burning sides, while a stream of sparks flooded the sky."

Two of the ships-the Delaware and Columbus-had been already scuttled and sunk on the day before the arrival

New York Times, April 26.

of the Pawnee. The rest, with the exception of the old hulk, the United States, left untouched, had been fired. The only vessel thus which was saved was the fine man-of-war Cumberland, which, in tow of the Yankee tug-boat, followed the Pawnee down the river.

No sooner had the Pawnee steamed away, than the people of Norfolk and Portsmouth broke through the gates and filled the navy-yard. Soon after, a military company raised the flag of Virginia and took formal possession of the place in the name of that State. The insurgents, though grieved at the loss of the Cumberland, which they had hoped to secure, were surprised that the destruction, when once begun, had not been more thorough. A hopeful writer, whose sanguine speculations it is curious now to read, gives, at the time of the act, this reason for its incompleteness. "Long before," he says, "the workshops and armories, the foundries, and ship-wood left unharmed, can bring forth new weapons of offence, this war will be ended. And may be, as of yore, the stars and stripes will float over Gosport navy-yard. All that is now spared will then be so much gained!"

A Norfolk editor reported, after a cursory visit, that “the property destroyed embraced, besides the ship-houses and contents, the range of buildings on the north line of the yard (except the commodore's and commander's residences, which are unhurt), the old marine barracks and one or two work-shops, the immense lifting shears, the ships Pennsylvania, Merrimac, Raritan, Columbus,

and brig Dolphin-burned to the water's edge; the sloop Germantown, broken and sunk; the Plymouth, scuttled and sunk even with her deck; and a vast amount of small arms, chronometers, and valuable engines and machinery in the ordnance and other shops, broken up and rendered utterly useless."

The feeling at the North, on the destruction of this valuable public property, was one of national humiliation, not unmixed with anger at the Government for not having avoided it by timely precaution. Every one spoke of it as a great loss and a national disgrace. By proper foresight, steam-tugs could have been provided, it was believed, to tow every vessel away from the navy-yard in safety. Even when by delay it had become too late to make such means available, it was thought that a more resolute commander might have kept the threatening insurgents at Norfolk at bay. With a fleet of ships heavily armed at his command, it was urged that he might have turned his guns upon the towns of Norfolk and Portsmouth, and have successfully repelled every attack.

The insurgents, on the very day of the departure of the Pawnee, had begun to unspike the cannon and remove them below Norfolk to mount the sand batteries which they had raised in defence of their harbor and in defiance of the Federal authorities.

The Cumberland was towed from the navy-yard by the steam-tug Yankee, which followed in the wake of the Pawnee. The three vessels proceeded down