The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-03-23
\ MAN ! H FEAR.
Admiral Franklin Buchanan, the Hero Of
Hampton Roads.
Baltimore Sun, Maych o.

Congress turns to avoid the blow, is
partly successful and opens her broad
side ON the attacking enemy. Lieut..
John Taylor Woods with his
stern pivot gun, raking her fore and
ait, and sweeping away whole rows of
men at their station. Every gun crew
OF the Congress is broken up and her
magazine is threatened. Some one
crying for ammunition goes to seek it.
and finds the carrying party in a long
line. dead.
"Who is it fighting this section of
the Government ship where the de-
struction is SO heavy? 1t is the
brother Of the commander Of the at
lacking vessel. Some one ask the
latter it he knows his brother is on the
Congress. His answer is, yes, and
it is my duty to attack him as we'll as
any other Such is the heroic mold
of the man who commands the Vir-
ginia. He stands exposed on the
deck and himself fires rife after rife
that is passed up to him.
The officer in command of the
Congress is killed. His successor,
finding resistance hopeless, HOSTS q
flag of truce and surrenders his sword.
Taking advantage of the cessation of
the Virginia's fire, the batteries at
Newport News, which should have
helped the Congress in her stress,
opened on friend and foe alike. Two
officers Of the Virginia were killed
while assisting the Federal wounded
aboard the Congress, and while the
flag of truce is flying above them.
Capt. Buchanan, anxious to save
his brave foes, is stricken down by the
comrades Of the men he would be-
friend. His first words when taken
below we're, Open lire again; Then
From every available gun the storm
burst on the Inflated Congress. Some
of her crew leap into the sea to swim
ashore, others trust to pieces of wreck,
while many resolve to die with their
ship. Then M a scene beautiful
beyond comparison. grand and awful,
above the Col. :cption of poets brain
or limner's pencil. The Congress
takes fire. From bowsprit and ham
| mock netting the bright flames dart in
fantastic tongues and leap up the
masts to the trucks, every rope a line
of fire, every sail a sheet of flame,
every mast a mammoth link, cracking,
sparkling, glaring through the after
noon and the long night, till hulk and
sail and shroud are consumed and the
gallant vessel is no more.
ut was 10Y 5 o'clock. The Min
a%esota, a ~frigate, which had started to
the rescue Of the Congress, was
aground at the mercy Of the Virginia.
but the pilot could 0 then risk the
channel on the falling tide, and the
Virginia withdrew for the night to
Sewell's Point. and this memorable
day was over.
Commander Buchanan was sent to
the Naval Hospital, and with this day
his command of the Virginia ended.
But on that one day he had written a
record which the obliterating hand Of
time will never %etface, and in it the
whole system of naval architecture
and naval warfare was reyolutionizcd.
"The next day the Virginia, CO her
way to attack the Minnesota, met the
Monitor. After six hours of sharp
fighting the Monitor withdrew where
the Virginia could not reach her, and
never again gave her a chance of
attack during her stay in these waters.
On the Virginia the casualties were a
few slightly wounded.
1.-THE Confederate Congress passed
a resolution of thanks to Capt. Buch-
anAn and his command for their un-
surpassed %gallantry. On the 21st day
of the following August Capt. Buch-
anan was appointed admiral, an office
newly created, and became the ranking
officer of the Confederate navy.
"In the summer Of 1864 the Con
federatc feet lay off Fort Morgan,
guarding the approaches to the city of
Mobile. 1t consisted of the ram Ten
nessee, tae flag ship. and of the gun
boats Baltic, Morgan, Gaines and
Selma. The Tennessee was stronger
constructed and had a good armament.
The others were rather river craft and
tug boats mada over.
"The Federal feet had been lying
off the bay in the Gulf OF Mexico. It
consisted Of ten wooden ships, Of
which the Hartford was the flag ship
of Admiral F~arragut, in command.
On the 4th Of August it was reinforc-