THE FIGHT. and, much to my astonishment, laid herself right alongside of the Merrimac, and the contrast was that of a pigmy to a giant. Gun after gun was fired by the Monitor, which was returned with whole broadsides from the rebels, with no more effect apparently than so many pebble-stones thrown by a child. After a while they commenced manoeuvring, and we could see the little battery point her bow for the rebels, with the intention, as I thought, of sending a shot through her bow port-hole, then she would shoot by her and rake her through her stern. In the mean time, the rebels were pouring broadside after broadside, but almost all her shot flew over the little submerged propeller; and when they struck the bomb-proof tower, the shot glanced off without producing any effect, clearly establishing the fact, that wooden vessels cannot contend successfully with iron-clad ones, for never before was anything like it dreamed of by the greatest enthusiast in maritime warfare. The Merrimac, finding that she could make nothing of the Monitor, turned her attention once more to me in the morning. She had put one eleventh-inch shot under my counter near the waterline, and now on her second approach I opened upon her with all my broadside guns and ten-inch pivot-a broadside which would have blown out of water any timber-built ship in the world. She returned my fire with her rifled bow gun with a shell which passed through the chief engineer's state-room, through the engineer's mess-room amidships, and burst in the boatswain's room, tearing 95 four rooms all into one, in its passage exploding two charges of powder, which set the ship on fire, but it was promptly extinguished by a party headed by my first lieutenant. Her second went through the boiler of the tug-boat Dragon, exploding it and causing some consternation on board my ship for the moment, until the matter was explained. This time I had concentrated upon her an incessant fire from my gun-deck, spardeck, and forecastle pivot guns, and was informed by my marine officer, who was stationed on the poop, that at least fifty solid shot struck her on her slanting side without producing any apparent effect. By the time she had fired her third shell, the little Monitor had come down upon her, placing herself between us, and compelled her to change her position, in doing which she grounded, and again I poured into her all the guns which could be brought to bear upon her. As soon as she got off she stood down the bay, the little battery chasing her with all speed, when suddenly the Merrimac turned round and ran full speed into her antagonist. For a moment I was anxious, but instantly I saw a shot plunge into the iron roof of the Merrimac, which surely must have damaged her, for some time after the rebels concentrated their whole battery upon the tower and pilot-house of the Monitor, and soon after the latter stood down for Fortress Monroe, and we thought it probable she had exhausted her supply of ammunition or sustained some injury. Soon after, the Merrimac and the two other steamers headed for my ship, and I then felt to the fullest extent my con- her port-hole and dismounted two guns.” dition. I was hard and immovably aground, and they could take position under my stern and rake me. I had expended most of my solid shot, and my ship was badly crippled and my officers and men were worn out with fatigue; but even in this extreme dilemma I determined never to give up the ship to the rebels, and after consulting my officers, I ordered every preparation to be made to destroy the ship after all hope was gone to save her. On ascending the poop-deck, I observed that the enemy's vessels had changed their course and were heading for Craney Island; then I determined to lighten the ship by throwing overboard my eight-inch guns, hoisting out provisions, starting water, etc. At two P.M. I proceeded to make another attempt to save the ship by the use of a number of powerful tugs and the steamer S. R. Spaulding kindly sent to my assistance by Captain Talmadge, quartermaster at Fortress Monroe and succeeded in dragging her half a mile distant, and then she was again immovable, the tide having fallen." Next morning the Minnesota was got off, and anchored opposite Fortress Monroe. Beaten off by the little Monitor, the Merrimac, accompanied by her consorts, returned to Norfolk with the consciousness that in her second day's encounter she had met with more than her equal. She was reported by negro refugees to be much damaged. "One shot," it was said, from the Cumberland riddled her, and e shot from the Monitor went through In the enemy's official report it was stated, "Two of our guns had the muzzles shot off. The prow was twisted, and the armor somewhat damaged by her encounter with the Cumberland." The boiler of the Patrick Henry, one of her consorts, was reported to have been pierced by a ball, and two men killed and others scalded. The enemy, in their published accounts, claimed to have had on the Virginia or Merrimac only two killed and eight wounded; among the latter Captain Buchanan, injured on the first day-and succeeded in command on the second by Captain ApCatesby Jones-and Lieutenant Minor; while they declared that the vessel itself was uninjured. Though the Unionists. believed her to be damaged, her reappearance was dreaded, and formidable preparations were made to receive her. On the rest of the enemy's vessels there were, as they averred, only five killed and nine wounded. The Monitor came out of the fight without injury, and with scarcely a mark of having been in the struggle. On the tower and hull there were left some slight indentations and breaks in the paint, showing where a score of balls had struck. Most of these were on the upper hull, which seemed to have been the chief aim of the enemy, in the belief that there was some vulnerable point near or below the water-mark. The indentations at this part were not deep, but at one point there was a slight fracture of the end of the iron sheathing. The ball which struck the pilot-house THIRTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS. merely shattered the cement, a particle of which was driven into the eye of Commander Worden, who was thus for some time disabled for service. The total loss on board the Minnesota and the tug-boat Whitehall, which had gone to her assistance, was six killed and twenty wounded. Notwithstanding the belief that the Monitor, which remained on guard at Fortress Monroe, was more than a match for the Merrimac, great public inquietude was created by the performance of that vessel. The fact that the enemy were still in possession of so formi 97 dable a machine, and were building others, made it manifest that provision should be made to prevent further disaster. Congress at once voted a large sum for the construction of iron-clad batteries and ships, and the various governments of the northern sea-board States hastened to provide defences of a similar kind for their harbors, lest the formidable Merrimac, or some other such structure, should, in spite of blockading fleets and stone forts, enter the large commercial ports, destroy their throngs of ships, bombard the cities, and exact millions of tribute. 1861. CHAPTER XI. Session of the Thirty-seventh Congress.-President's Message.-Report of the Secretary of the Navy.--Report of the Sec retary of War.-Report of the Secretary of the Treasury.-Action of Congress.--Unanimity.—Tax Bills.-Treasury Note Bill.-Expulsion of Disloyal Members.-Expulsion of Senator Bright-Exposure of Corruption.-Resignation of Secretary Cameron.—Appointment of Stanton.---Action on Slavery.-Emancipation and Confiscation.—Inauguration of the Permanent Government" of the Southern Confederacy.-Imposing Ceremonies.-Message of Jefferson Davis. -Action of Confederate Congress.-Great efforts of the Enemy.-Devotion.-Sacrifices of the People. THE first session of the Thirty-seventh | The reference to our foreign relations was Congress commenced on the 2d of of the most general character. In one December, and on the next day the paragraph the President declared that President sent in his message. Although "the disloyal citizens who have offered Dec. there had been in the capture of the ruin of our country in return for the 3. Slidell and Mason, in the com- aid and comfort which they have invokbined expedition to Mexico, of England, ed abroad, have received less patronage France, and Spain, and the seizure of and encouragement than they probably St. Domingo by the latter power, ap- expected." This he accounted for on the parent causes of complication in the re- ground, that foreign nations had dislations of the United States with for- covered that they had more to gain eign nations, Mr. Lincoln avoided all di- from the Union in its integrity than rect allusion to these important events. from its dismembered parts. In another paragraph he recommended that ample measures be taken for coast and lake defences, "since it is apparent that here, as in every other state, foreign dangers necessarily attend domestic difficulties." In regard to internal communications, the President recommended, as a "military measure," that the "loyal regions of eastern and western North Carolina should be connected with Kentucky and other faithful parts of the Union by railroad." The resources from all sources," he stated, “including loans for the financial year ending on the 30th of June, 1861, were $86,835,900 27, and the expenditures for the same period, including payments on account of the public debt, were $84,578,034 47, leaving a balance in the Treasury on the 1st of July, of $2,257,065 80 for the first quarter of the financial year ending on the 30th of September, 1861. The receipts from all sources, including the balance of July 1, were $102,532,509 27, and the expenses $98,239,733 09, leaving a balance on the 1st of October, 1861, of $4,292,776 18." He at the same time expressed his gratification "to know that the expenses made necessary by the rebellion are not beyond the resources of the loyal people, and to believe that the same patriotism which has thus far sustained the Government will continue to sustain it till peace and union shall again bless the land." eral authority by civil or military means, he expressed the hope that Congress would devise a plan, not of a "permanent institution," but "a temporary substitute, to cease as soon as the ordinary courts can be re-established in peace. His sole allusion to the slaves was in regard to those who, by the act of Congress or of the States, should be forfeited, and for these he recommended that some system of colonization should be adopted. His view of the policy to be pursued in suppressing the insurrection was thus defined by the President : "I have been anxious and careful," he said, "that the inevitable conflict for this purpose shall not degenerate into a violent and remorseless revolutionary struggle. I have, therefore, in every case, thought it proper to keep the integrity of the Union prominent as the primary object of the contest on our part, leaving all questions which are not of vital military importance to the more deliberate action of the Legislature. In the exercise of my best discretion, I have adhered to the blockade of the ports held by the insurgents instead of putting in force by proclamation the law of Congress enacted at the late session for closing those ports. So also, obeying the dictates of prudence as well as the obligations of law, instead of transcending, I have adhered to the act of Congress to confiscate property, and for insurrectionary purposes. If a new law upon the same subject shall be proposed, its propriety will be duly conThe Union must be The Union must be preserved, For the purpose of administering justice in the insurgent States or Territories which might be restored to Fed-sidered. REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY. and hence all disposable means must be employed. We should not be in haste to determine that radical and extreme measures, which may reach the loyal as well as the disloyal, are indispensable." After an exposition of the immense development of the United States in population and resources, the President closed with this view of the future grandeur of the country and an appeal to the patriotism of the people to secure it: "There are already among us those who, if the Union be preserved, will live to see it contain 250,000,000. The struggle of to-day is not altogether for to-day. It is for a vast future, also. With a firm reliance on Providence, all the more firm and earnest, let us proceed in the great task which events have devolved upon us." The Secretary of the Navy, in his report, was less reticent on the great questions which agitated the country. Of the capture of Slidell and Mason he did not hesitate to express his approbation. "The prompt and decisive action of Captain Wilkes on this occasion," he said, "merited and received the emphatic approval of the Department, and if a too generous forbearance was exhibited by him in not capturing the vessel which had these rebel emissaries on board, it may, in view of the special circumstances, and of its patriotic motives, be excused; but it must by no means be permitted to constitute a precedent hereafter for the treatment of any case 99 tions by foreign vessels engaged in commerce or the carrying trade." In regard to the obstruction of the ports of the insurgent States, by sinking in the channels vessels laden with stone, he declared that "this, if effectually done, will prove the most economical and satisfactory method of interdicting commerce at those points." As proof of the efficiency of our cruisers, the Secretary of the Navy stated that one hundred and fifty-three vessels had been captured while sailing under various flags. His statement of the naval force, and estimates of its cost, were as follows: -making a total of 264 vessels, 2,557 guns, and 218,016 tons. The aggregate number of seamen in the service on of similar infraction of neutral obliga- the 4th of March last was 7,600. The number is now not |