. The history of our country from its discovery by Columbus to the celebration of the centennial anniversary of its declaration of independence ... allant Morris cries. It is better to sink than to yield!And the whole air pealedWith the cheers of our men. WORK ON THE OCEAN IN 1862. 481 Nixt morn, as the sun rose over the bay,Still floated our flag at the main-mast , how beautiful was thy day!Every waft of the airWas a whisper of prayer,Or a dirge for the dead ! Without a pause the Merrimack turned to the Congress, who hadah-eady been attacked by some wooden companions of the irongiant
. The history of our country from its discovery by Columbus to the celebration of the centennial anniversary of its declaration of independence ... allant Morris cries. It is better to sink than to yield!And the whole air pealedWith the cheers of our men. WORK ON THE OCEAN IN 1862. 481 Nixt morn, as the sun rose over the bay,Still floated our flag at the main-mast , how beautiful was thy day!Every waft of the airWas a whisper of prayer,Or a dirge for the dead ! Without a pause the Merrimack turned to the Congress, who hadah-eady been attacked by some wooden companions of the irongiant-ship. In a short time the Cojigress was on fire, slowly burn-ing down to the powder stored in the hold. Then the monsterwent on to attack the other ships lying almost under the shadow ofFortress Monroe. Luckily darkness came to check her all-devouringcareer, and with the certainty of more easy victories on the next day,the Merrimack withdrew till daylight. But day-break a little changed the scene. Next morning theMerrimack beheld a plucky little enemy beside her, dressed in a suitof clothes of the same material as her own. It was the United. Eiiaagement of Mjrrimack and Monitor. States Monitor, built in New York by John Ericsson, and sent justin time to try her hand at checking the victorious Merrimack. Shelooked like a flat iron raft, with a round iron box or turret in themiddle. The rebels called it a Yankee cheese-box on a raft, andthis was not a bad name for it. But the cheese-box had within itsiron sides two great guns which turned round and round on a pivot,and could be sighted by the men inside, with almost the precision ofa rifle. These guns could send a ball that weighed two hundredpounds. When the Merrimack saw this little craft steaming upclose by her, with nothing visible but the turret, she felt like laugh- 482 STORY OF OUR COUNTRY. ing. But when one of those two hundred pound balls dented intoher iron sides and shook her like the crash of a thunder-bolt, therewas
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectuniteds, bookyear1881
