Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 12.djvu/60

50 The pilot said if we did not then leave, that we could not pass the bar until noon of the next day. We therefore, at 12 m., quit the roads and stood for Norfolk. Had there been any sign of the Monitor's willingness to renew the contest, we would have remained to fight her. We left her in the shoal water to which she had withdrawn, and which she did not leave until after we had crossed the bar on our way to Norfolk.

Thus ended the fight between the Merrimac and Monitor. It may be added that the Merrimac's damages were slight, and in her encounter with the Monitor she had not a man killed or wounded.

Commodore Josiah Tattnall now took command of the squadron, and Lieut. J. Pembroke Jones relieved Lieutenant Minor as flag lieutenant. On the 11th day of April the squadron proceeded to Hampton Roads to engage the enemy. The United States squadron at anchor below Old Point consisted of the Minnesota (flagship) and some other frigates, the Monitor, the Naugatuck (iron-clad), and a large number of smaller vessels and transports. In the course of the day the steamer Vanderbilt a vessel specially designed to ram the Merrimac arrived.

The Confederate vessels took possession of the roads, cut out three vessels from under the enemy's guns, and defied the enemy to battle. The United States vessels remained ignominiously at anchor under the guns of Old Point. At sunset, finding that Flag-Officer Goldsborough would not fight, Commodore Tattnall made signal to anchor off Se well's point.

On the 8th of May, the Merrimac being at the navy yard, the United States vessels (including the Monitor) attacked the batteries at Sewell's point. Upon hearing the guns, the Merrimac proceeded to the scene of action. Upon her drawing near, the enemy incontinently fled, and took refuge under the guns of Fortress Monroe.

Norfolk was evacuated by the Confederates on May 10, 1862, and on the same night the Merrimac was set on