Part 69 (2/2)

When Norfolk was abandoned, the iron-clad drew so much water she could only ascend the James by lightening her until her wooden sides showed above the water line. She was therefore set on fire and blown up on Johnston's retreat uncovering the banks of the James to the artillery of McClellan.

The Federal fleet could now dash up the James.

They did this immediately on the news of the destruction of the Confederate iron-clad.

On May fifteenth, the _Galena_, the _Aroostook_, the _Monitor_, the _Port Royal_, and the _Stevens_ steamed up the river without opposition to Drury's Bluff within twelve miles of the Capital of the South. A half-finished fort mounting four guns guarded this point. The river was also obstructed by a double row of piles and sunken vessels.

If the eleven-inch guns of the _Monitor_ could be brought to bear on this fort, it was a problem how long the batteries could be held in action.

The wildest alarm swept Richmond. The railroads were jammed with frantic people trying to get out. The depots were piled with mountains of baggage it was impossible to move. A ma.s.s meeting was held on the night the fleet ascended the river which was addressed by Governor Letcher and Mayor Mayo.

The Governor ended his speech with a sentence that set the crowd wild with enthusiasm.

”Sooner than see our beloved city conquered to-day by our enemies we will lay it in ashes with our own hands!”

The Legislature of Virginia showed its grit by pa.s.sing a resolution practically inviting the President of the Confederacy to lay the city in ruins if he deemed wise:

”_Resolved_, That the General a.s.sembly hereby expresses its desire that the Capital of the State be _defended to the last extremity_, if such defense is in accordance with the views of the President of the Confederate States, and that the President be a.s.sured that whatever destruction and loss of property of the State or of individuals shall thereby result, will be cheerfully submitted to.”

When the Committee handed this doc.u.ment to Jefferson Davis, he faced them with a look of resolution:

”Richmond will not be abandoned, gentlemen, until McClellan marches over the dead bodies of our army. Not for one moment have I considered the idea of surrendering the Capital--”

”Good!”

”Thank G.o.d!”

”Hurrah for the President!”

The Committee grasped his hand, convinced that no base surrender of their Capital would be tolerated by their leader.

”Rest a.s.sured, gentlemen,” he continued earnestly, ”if blood must be shed, it shall be here. No soil of the Confederacy could drink it more acceptably and none hold it more gratefully. We shall stake all on this one glorious hour for our Republic. Life, death, and wounds are nothing if we shall be saved from the fate of a captured Capital and a humiliated Confederacy--”

The Government and the city had need of grim resolution. The Federal fleet moved up into range and opened fire on the batteries at Drury's Bluff. The little Confederate gunboat _Patrick Henry_ which had won fame in the first engagement of the _Merrimac_ steamed down into line and joined her fire with the fort.

General Lee had planted light batteries on the banks of the river to sweep the decks of the fleet with grape and cannister.

The little _Monitor_, the _Galena_, and the _Stevens_ steamed straight up to within six hundred yards of the battery of the fort and opened with their eleven-inch guns. The _Galena_ and the _Stevens_ were iron-clad steamers with thin armor.

For four hours the guns thundered. The batteries poured a hail of shot on the _Monitor_. They bounded off her round-tower and her water-washed decks like pebbles. The rifled gun on the _Stevens_ burst and disabled her. The _Galena_ was pierced by heavy shot and severely crippled, losing thirty-seven of her men. As the _Monitor_ was built, it was impossible to make effective her guns at close range against the high bluff on which the Confederate battery was placed.

At eleven o'clock the crippled fleet slowly moved down the river and Richmond was saved.

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