One of them, under the direction of General Quincy A. Gillmore, carried
on a remarkable siege operation against Fort Pulaski, standing on an
isolated sea marsh at the mouth of the Savannah River. Here not only the
difficulties of approach, but the apparently insurmountable obstacle of
making the soft, unctuous mud sustain heavy batteries, was overcome, and
the fort compelled to surrender on April 11, after an effective
bombardment. The second was an expedition of nineteen ships, which,
within a few days during the month of March, without serious resistance,
occupied the whole remaining Atlantic coast southward as far as St.
Augustine.
When, at the outbreak of the rebellion, the navy-yard at Norfolk,
Virginia, had to be abandoned to the enemy, the destruction at that time
attempted by Commodore Paulding remained very incomplete. Among the
vessels set on fire, the screw-frigate _Merrimac_, which had been
scuttled, was burned only to the water's edge, leaving her hull and
machinery entirely uninjured. In due time she was raised by the
Confederates, covered with a sloping roof of railroad iron, provided
with a huge wedge-shaped prow of cast iron, and armed with a formidable
battery of ten guns. Secret information came to the Navy Department of
the progress of this work, and such a possibility was kept in mind by
the board of officers that decided upon the construction of the three
experimental ironclads in September, 1861.
Pages:
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357