The Merrimac and the Monitor.
7. After the destruction of the navy yard at Norfolk, the Confederates had raised the frigate Merrimac, one of the sunken ships, and plated the sides with iron. The vessel was then sent to attack the Union fleet at Fortress Monroe. Reaching that place on the 8th of March, the Merrimac began the work of destruction; and two valuable vessels, the Cumberland and the Congress, were sent to the bottom. During the night, however, a strange ship, called the Monitor, invented by Captain John Ericsson, arrived from New York; and on the following morning the two iron-clad monsters turned their enginery upon each other. After fighting for five hours, the Merrimac was obliged to retire to Norfolk, badly damaged.
Merrimac and Monitor.
8. On the 8th of February a Federal squadron attacked the Confederate fortifications on Roanoke Island. The garrison, nearly three thousand strong, were taken prisoners. Burnside next proceeded against Newbern, and on the 14th of March captured the city. Proceeding southward, he reached the harbor of Beaufort, and on the 25th of April took possession of the town.
Capture of New Orleans.
9. On the 11th of the same month Fort Pulaski, at the mouth of the Savannah, surrendered to General Gillmore. Early in April, a powerful squadron, under General Butler and Admiral Farragut, ascended the Mississippi and attacked Forts Jackson and St. Philip, thirty miles above the Gulf. From the 18th to the 24th the fight continued without cessation. At the end of that time Admiral Farragut succeeded in running past the batteries. On the next day he reached New Orleans, and captured the city. General Butler became commandant, and the fortifications were manned with fifteen thousand Federal soldiers. Three days afterwards, Forts Jackson and St. Philip surrendered to Admiral Porter.
Campaign in Kentucky.
10. The Confederates now invaded Kentucky, in two strong divisions, the one led by General Kirby Smith and the other by General Bragg. On the 30th of August Smith's army reached Richmond, and routed the Federals stationed there, with heavy losses. Lexington was taken, and then Frankfort; and Cincinnati was saved from capture only by the exertions of General Wallace. Meanwhile, the army of General Bragg advanced from Chattanooga, and on the 17th of September captured a Federal division of four thousand five hundred men at Mumfordsville. The Confederate general pressed on toward Louisville, and would have taken the city but for the arrival of General Buell. Buell's army was increased to one hundred thousand men. In October he again took the field, and on the 8th of the month overtook General Bragg at Perryville. Here a severe but indecisive battle was fought; and the Confederates, laden with spoils, continued their retreat into east Tennessee.
Operations in Mississippi.