. The photographic history of the Civil War : thousands of scenes photographed 1861-65, with text by many special authorities . , were not so far fromwrong. Captain Buchanan commanded her for three days anda little over; Lieutenant Jones, for about the same time, andIlag-Officer Tattnall for forty-five days, yet out of the twomontlis that she was supi)osed to be in commission and readyto fight, there were actually only about fifteen days that shewas not in dock, or laid up in the hands of the navy-yard me-chanics. But to return to the moment of expectation—the morningof the 8tli of ^Nlarch. Of
. The photographic history of the Civil War : thousands of scenes photographed 1861-65, with text by many special authorities . , were not so far fromwrong. Captain Buchanan commanded her for three days anda little over; Lieutenant Jones, for about the same time, andIlag-Officer Tattnall for forty-five days, yet out of the twomontlis that she was supi)osed to be in commission and readyto fight, there were actually only about fifteen days that shewas not in dock, or laid up in the hands of the navy-yard me-chanics. But to return to the moment of expectation—the morningof the 8tli of ^Nlarch. Oft Newport News, in Hampton Roads,only six and a half miles from Old Point Comfort and sometwelve miles from Norfolk, lay the Federal squadron: the oldCongress and the Cinnherland well out in the stream, and far-ther down toward Fortress JNIonroe the sjjlendid steam frigatesMiinicsota and Roanohe, and the sailing frigate *S^ were some nondescript vessels and a few decrepit store-ships that never counted in the succeeding crowded moments,but certainly six months before it would have l)een suicide for [156]. CAPTAIN FRANKLIN BUCHANAN, C. S. N., AND CAPTAIN JOSIAH TATTNALL, C. S. N.,COMMANDING THE VIRGINIA (MERRIMAC) It was a task of surpassing difficulty and danger that confronted Captain Buchanan when the ^irginia sliipped heranchors on March 8, 1862, and steamed down Elizabeth River to fight a fleet of the most powerful line-of-battle shipsin the Federal navy, lying under the guns of formidable laud batteries. The Virginias trial trip was this voyageinto imminent battle; not one of her g\ms had been fired; her crew, volunteers from the Confederate army, were strangersto one another and to their officers; they had never even had a practice drill together. The vessel lay too low in the water,and her faulty engines gave her a speed of but five knots, making maneuvering in the narrow channel exceedingly Captain Buchanan, who had risen from a sick-bed
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Keywords: ., bookauthormillerfrancistrevelya, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910
