SHIP-BUILDING. 



499 



numbering 10,731, stood about 800 yards behind 

 Hardee and leaning more to the right, as far as 

 Stuart. Folk's four brigades and Breckeuridge's 

 three were disposed right and left as reserves. In 

 all Johnston had about 40,000 men. 



At 5 o'clock on Sunday morning, April 6, the Con- 

 federate lines moved to the attack. The time re- 

 quired to pass the two intervening miles, and skir- 

 mishes between the pickets and a reconnoitring 

 regiment, put the Union front on the alert, and when 

 the lines came together the divisions of Sherman, 

 McClernand, and Prentiss were in position to offer 

 stubborn resistance. It would be vaiu to attempt 

 to follow the vicissitudes of the fight, which, begin- 

 ning at dawn, lasted till sunset. It has been charac- 

 terized by Grant as a conflict between Southern 

 dush and Northern pluck and endurance. There 

 were onset and repulse without cease, but through 

 all fluctuations the Confederates won their way 

 northward, in accordance with which, Beanregard, to 

 whom Johnston had committed the general direction 

 of the fight, advanced his headquarters from point 

 to point. Early in the day the divisions of Hnrl- 

 bnt and W. H. L. Wallace had been brought for- 

 ward to sustain Prentiss, Sherman, and McClernand. 

 It was in the afternoon that the most noteworthy in- 

 cidents occurred. First occurred the death of tho 

 Confederate commander Johnston, who fell heading 

 the charge of a brigade. About 3 o'clock the with- 

 drawal of troops produced gaps both on left and 

 right of Prentiss and Wallace, and the enemy were 

 not slow in seizing the advantage. They enveloped 

 them. Wallace was mortally wounded and Prentiss 

 was captured, along with the fragments of both di- 

 visions to the number of 2200. 



This capture left a break in the Federal lino, and, 

 but for one compensating circumstance, would prob- 

 nbly have given the victory to the Confederates. 

 The Union lines had been swept back a mile and ft 

 half, and the attack was advancing on the Corinth 

 road running along the principal ridge. Col. Web- 

 ster, of Grant's staff, foreseeing that tho enemy were 

 on the eve of gaining the ridge, gathered what guns 

 he could, and posted a line of artillery of 35 to 50 

 pieces along the ridge, manning it with cannoneers 

 largely extemporized from stragglers. The guns on 

 the boats co-operated with those on the ridge. Tho 

 turning-point was now reached. Before Webster 

 hud succeeded in beating back the last desperate on- 

 set, Nelson's division was mounting the bank from 

 the river and deploying in line. All chance of a 

 C >nfederate victory vanished. The attack ceased 

 over all the line. 



During the night Crittenden's division, of Baell's 

 armv, wu* placed in position, and McCook's reached 

 early on Monday morning. Buell, who had arrived 

 on Sunday evening in advance of his vanguard, di- 

 rected the posting of his divisions, which amounted 

 in all to 20,000 men. Lew Wallace, with his divi- 

 sion, numbering 6500, had arrived from Cramp's 

 Landing, and was stationed on the right. 



Grant and Buell now agreed to take the offensive 

 next morning, and by a simultaneous onset drive the 

 enemy from the field. The two wings of the com- 

 bined army advanced steadily, and by 3 P. M. were in 

 j>ossesiion of all the ground they had lost, while the 

 enemy was in full retreat on Corinth. The Union 

 generals made no attempt at pursuit, but contented 

 themselves with an advance sufficient to assure them 

 the enemy had disappeared. Thus ended, after a 

 struggle of two days, the bloodiest battle that had 

 yet been fought on American soil. The Federal loss 

 was 1754 killed, 8408 wounded, and 2885 missing. 

 flen. Beauregard reported a loss of 1728 killed, 

 8012 wounded, and 957 missing. Both sides claimed 

 the victory ; but the Confederates failed in the ob- 

 ject they aimed at. (J. H.) 



SHIP-BUILDING. The vessels in which Colum- 

 bus made his first voyage to America 



3809 ( W5 were t . he Santa Maria > the p inta, and 

 Am Rep ) *'' ie Nina. The Santa Maria was about 

 100 feet long, 29 feet wide, and 12 feet 

 depth of hold, with a single deck. The Pinta and 

 Nina were much smaller, open like boats, but with 

 cabins and quarters built at the stem and bow for 

 the officers and crew. They had two masts, the for- 

 ward one carrying a square sail, and the after one a 

 triangular sail, attached to a yard, hanging by its 

 middle at an angle of about 45 with the horizon. 



Ship-building in America, as with all other coun- 

 tries, was brought about by the fisheries. Cabot, in 

 1497, having spread the news that the shores of 

 North America were teeming with fish, many ex- 

 peditions were sent out, and in a few years both 

 France and England had hundreds of fishing vessels 

 catching fish off the banks of Newfoundland, and 

 curing and salting them on the island. By 1600 

 England was sending more than 200 vessels annually, 

 and fully 10,000 persons were employed in catching 

 and curing fish, and as explorers pushed in toward 

 the shores of what are now Massachusetts and 

 Maine, they found that better fish could be caught in 

 shallower water than off the Banks, and the desire to 

 found fishing colonies was one of the strongest mo- 

 tives leading to the grant by James I., in 1606, to 

 the Plymouth Company. 



The vessels gent to fish were very small as com- 

 pared with tho vessels of the present day which 

 cross the Atlantic. Not more than 15 per cent, of 

 tho vessels of England, in 1582, were more than 75 

 feet long by 23 feet wide by 10 feet depth. In 1603 

 England had few vessels of more than 400 tons 

 burden. 



The coast from Newfoundland to Virginia was 

 soon dotted with little fishing villages. The Eng- 

 lish merchants did not wish to go to the expense of 

 carrying n large number of men on their vessels, 

 and these fishing villages were places where the men 

 could be left permanently to dry the fish, and by 

 their numbers be secure against attacks from tho 

 Indians. 



The colonists soon began to build boats and fish 

 for themselves. This was not at all relished in the 

 mother country, and in 1670 orders were issued to 

 capture and burn the boats and break up the boat 

 fisheries of New England. This was not effectual, 

 and soon vessels were carrying fish for sale to Vir- 

 ginia and the West Indies, and finally to Europe, 

 and whalers were penetrating to the icy regions 

 north and south. The vessels taking out cargoes of 

 fish came back loaded with the commodities of the 

 countries visited, and vessels gradually were drawn 

 into regular trade, the fishing fleet being at hand to 

 furnish masters and men. A valuable commerce 

 was in this way brought about, and the demand for 

 vessels stimulating ship-building, it became a fixed 

 and prosperous industry within a hundred years of 

 the time of the first permanent settlement. 



The first ship built in this country was the Vir- 

 ginia, built at. the mouth of the Kennebec Biver, in 

 1607. A party came to found a fishing settlement, 

 and the two ships bringing them over returned, 

 leaving 45 persons behind. The winter being very 

 severe, they were discouraged and built the Virginia 

 to take them home again. She was a well-built 

 little vessel with two masts, about 60 feet long by 17 

 feet beam by 10J depth of hold, and made several 

 voyages across the ocean. The next vessel built was 

 the Onrest, 44J feet long and 11 feet beam. She 

 was built by Adrian Blok at New York, in 1615-16, 

 to replace one of the Dutch vessels that had been 

 burnt. She was used for several years in exploring 

 the Atlantic coast. 



No other vessels except boats appear to have been 



