Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 34.djvu/324

 316 Southern Historical Society Papers.

From the Times-Dispatch, December 23, 1906, and January 9, 1907.

THE VIRGINIA'S GREAT FIGHT ON WATER.

Her Last Challenge and Why She Was Destroyed.

Extracts from the account prepared and published by Mr. Joseph G. Fiveash, of Norfolk, Va., of the career of the Confederate eun-

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boat Virginia, or Merrimac, the first iron-clad warship the world has ever known.

"The operations of General Burnside in North Carolina, in the rear of Norfolk, and the transfer of General McClellan's army from the neighborhood of Washington to the Virginia Peninsula, between the York and James rivers, in the spring of 1862, caused the Confederate authorities to determine to evacuate Norfolk and vicinity to prevent the capture of the 15,000 troops in that department. As early as March 26th the commandant of the navy-yard was confidentially informed of the intended action, and ordered to quietly prepare to send valuable machinery to the interior of North Carolina. The peremptory order of General Joseph E. Johnston for the aban- donment of the navy-yard was communicated to Capt. S. S. Lee by Secretary Mallory, in a letter dated Richmond, May 3, 1862. The work of evacuation was expected to be accom- plished in two weeks. The citizens at first would not believe the reports of the intended abandonment of the department, but they were soon convinced of their truth. The work had been progressing several days when, on May 8th, an incident occurred that hastened matters and brought about results that were far-reaching in their importance. Captain James Byers, of the tug J. B. White, had been instructed to proceed to Sewell's Point early on the morning of the 8th, and tow to Nor- folk a barge containing the most valuable gun at that place, an 1 1 -inch Columbiad. He certainly made an early start, as the records show that he reached Old Point before eight o'clock. By this desertion General Wool learned that Norfolk was be- ing evacuated, and shortly after 12 o'clock the same day a