A history of the United States . .Though the tonnage of theMonitor was only nine hun-dred, while that of the Merri-mac, owing to her heavy guns,was thirty-five hundred, theadvantage was decidedlywith the Monitor. Whenthe two vessels came to-gether, they fought for fourhours with the utmost des-peration. Then the Merri-mac withdrew to Norfolkand soon after was destroyedby the Confederates themselves. The terror that had been feltin all the seaboard cities at the end of the first days victoriesof the Merrimac was thus relieved, and a new era in navalconstruction began.^ 487. Capture of Confedera
A history of the United States . .Though the tonnage of theMonitor was only nine hun-dred, while that of the Merri-mac, owing to her heavy guns,was thirty-five hundred, theadvantage was decidedlywith the Monitor. Whenthe two vessels came to-gether, they fought for fourhours with the utmost des-peration. Then the Merri-mac withdrew to Norfolkand soon after was destroyedby the Confederates themselves. The terror that had been feltin all the seaboard cities at the end of the first days victoriesof the Merrimac was thus relieved, and a new era in navalconstruction began.^ 487. Capture of Confederate Ports. — Elsewhere on the coast,several important events took place. Commodore Goldsboroughand Major General A. E. Burn side captured Roanoke Island inFebruary, and, a little later. Fort Pulaski on the SavannahRiver. Several places in Florida also fell into Union hands. 1 In twenty years there was hardly a wooden ship of war afloat. TheMonitor, however, did not prove to be a good sea-going vessel, and sank inDecember, John Ericsson. 488] THE WORK OF THE NAVY. 385 By these captures, the blockade was made much easier andmore effective. 488. Capture of New Orleans. — The great event in theextreme South wasthe capture of NewOrleans. This citywas of much im-portance to the Con-federacy, for it notonly controlled themouth of the Mis-sissippi River, butalso protected thepassage from Texasto the Easternstates. A naval ex-pedition designedto attempt the cap-ture of the placewas fitted out un-der Commodore 1).G. Farragut,^ witliauxiliary militaryforces under Ma-jor General B. The ex-pedition set out Admiral D. G. Hampton Roads in February. The troops, some fifteenthousand in number, landed at Ship Island, and remained 1 Born in Tennessee, 1801; died, 1870. Entered the United States navy ata very early age; was in the War of 1812 ; had little opportunity to dis-play his ability till the Civil War, when he adhered to the Union, and was atonce assigned
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