Atlantic Warfare Yesterday : 379 



Lawrence, the thirty-gun Cumberland and the Minnesota and Roa- 

 noke, steamers of forty-six guns each. In addition, a Federal gunboat, 

 the Zouave, dashed up to the Merrimac to look at her and to fire a 

 thirty-two powder at her. 



At about I o'clock the Federal ships began firing broadsides at the 

 Merrimac and these were augmented by the fire from the forts ashore, 

 but the shots seemed to simply bounce off the Merrimac's armor plate 

 without producing any visible damage. It was not until after two 

 o'clock that the Merrimac opened fire on the Congress and the Cum- 

 berland. One shot from the Merrimac disposed of a whole gun crew 

 on the Cumberland and discharged a broadside that took great affect 

 on the Congress. 



Later, Merrimac rammed Cumberland and in this operation Merri- 

 mac lost her iron ram but left such a hole in Cumberland's side that 

 the Northern vessel began to sink immediately. Cumberland refused 

 to strike her flag and surrender despite the fact that she was in a help- 

 less condition and was kept under fire until she finally rested on the 

 bottom of the bay. 



Buchanan, in command of Merrimac, was then able to devote his 

 attention to Congress, which had run aground during the engage- 

 ment. Congress was shelled so severely that she was forced to surren- 

 der. At the time of the surrender Congress had already caught fire. 

 Before the surrender could be carried out the flames had spread so 

 rapidly that sixty of the wounded aboard could not be rescued from 

 the fire. 



Buchanan was wounded and command of the Merrimac passed to 

 Lieutenant Catesby Jones, The rapid fall of the tide was all that pre- 

 vented Merrimac from taking a further toll of the remains of the 

 Northern fleet which was now seeking the protection of the guns of 

 Fortress Monroe. In that day's battle, at the cost of very slight dam- 

 age with two men killed and eight wounded, Merrimac had disposed 

 of two large ships and had inflicted a loss of 257 men killed or 

 drowned. 



It was plain that Merrimac could dispose of an ordinary wooden 

 naval vessel almost at will and in Washington there was excited and 

 apprehensive discussion at the White House concerning the possibility 

 of Merrimac's making her way up the Potomac and shelling the cap- 

 ital. 



The hope and faith of the North for a defense against the Merrimac 

 seemed to reside in a strange new vessel that had recently been chris- 

 tened Monitor. Monitor had been invented and designed by John 

 Ericsson, who had come from Sweden by way of England. In addition 



