The National tribune., 1907-08-15

THE NATIONAL TRIB
I ton out of the magazines to save It.
and hoisted tank after tank of car
tridges on deck to continue the fight,
and more than 100 of the crew were
soon killed or wounded. The decks
| We're slippery with blood, and covered
with the dead and dying, but the brave
sailors fought on. They ran the red
| flag of mo quarter" at the fore to sig
Nifty that they proposed to sink with
| the ship rather than surrender her.
They inflicted the most serious injury
she received. killing two men and
knocking the muzzles off two of the
guns.
1t was soon seen to be a hopeless
fight, and line was sent ashore for the
boats to carry off the wounded. 1t was
only when the water was flowing in
around the gun carriages that Lieut..
Morris gave word to the men to save
themselves, and a minute later the ship
listed heavily to port and went down.
with her flags still floating at her mast
heads above the surface of the water.
| The Merrimac manuvered slowly
and clumsily. as she drew % feet of
water and the channel was intricate.
AS she moved around she kept UP a
deadly fire from her seven-inch rifle,
and three times raked the Congress
from stem to stern with it. Lieut.. Joe
Smith. who was in command of the
Congress, saw the hopelessness of the
struggle, and that the Merrimac was
preparing to ram his ship as she had
the Cumberland, whereupon he slipped
his cables. set his fore topsaiI and jib.
and ran the Congress on the mud in
water too shoal for the Merrimac to
reach her.
| At $40 the Merrimac moved down
I q ri n ffgo md vel
rion at distance of between $50 and
| 200 yards, where she could rake the
Congress with her entire broadsde
while the latter could only reply with
her two stern chasers. The gunboats
came up and Joined in this murderous
fire on the Congress, in which Lieut..
Smith was soon killed and his gallant
crew badly shattered. In spite of this.
however. Lieut.. Pendergrast maintained
the fire for more than an hour. and did
not surrender until his two stern guns
had been disabled and the ship on fire
in several places. At i:40 D. m. the
Congress lowered her colors and raised
the white flag.
A Lamentnble Incident.
The soldiers on shore saw the gum
boats Beaufort and Raleigh run along
side the Congress to take off her crew.
and not understanding that she had
cannon and muskets upon the gunboats
which soon compelled them to haul off
| with only 80 prisoners. The Teascr had
also run down. but was quickly driven
back by the fire from the shore. Lieut..
Tayloe, who commanded the Raleigh,
was killed. and Lieut.. Hutter wounded.
! Quite number of the people on the
i Congress were wounded by the fire of
their friends. and rifle ball from the
! shore entered the ports of the Memi-
mac. striking Capt. Buchanan in the
i thigh and disabling him His Flag Lieu
! tenant, Minor, was also wounded, SO
! that the command of he vessel de-
volved upon Lieut.. Catesby ap Rogers
! Jones. The violation OF the surrender
was made much of by the Confederate
papers. and. unfortur ately, we could
not say anything in extenuation except
to set up the plea of ignorance on the
part of the soldiers on shore. who were
only too eager to do their duty. In re-
| taliatiOn for this the Confederate ves-
sells heated shot in their furnaces and
threw them at the Congress. which
speedily set her on fire in several places.
| The crew attempted to escape to the
shore by swimming and in boats and
such boats as were available We're
rowed out by the soldiers to their help.
The Minnesota, Roanoke, and st. Law
renee.
| When the fight opened the Mime
sofa, Roanoke and st. Lawrence were
living at Fort Monroe, seven miles be-
| low where the Congress and Cumber-
land had been lying. The Minnesota
| got up steam, hoisted her sails, and
summoning the tusboats to her assist
| ance, started for the scene. The Con-
| federate battery at Sewell's Point tried
to arrest her as she passed 1t with 4
few shots, but she ran aground when
4
| frigates. There seems little doubt that
this was an act of treachery. The pilot
in charge was one of the most skillfui
in the harbor, and the shoal upon
which she ran was well known. Moth
4 ing was done to the pilot, however. be-
yond discharging him from the United
States service, when he Immediately re-
turned to his home in Norfolk and was
given a berth upon the Merrimac. Mr..
Mallory, the Confederate Secretary OF
the Navy, said frankly in his report:
THE pilot of the Minnesota, altho
bound by an oath of feaity to the
United States, was also under sworn
allegiance to the confederacy and in
the service and pay of its Department
of Marine, and the stranding of that
ship was in obedience to instructions
from the office in Richmond, where in
formation of the disaster was received
in one hour and is minutes after its
occurrence"
The Roanoke. which most unac-
lcountably and inexcusably had been
suffered to lie in the harbor for four
months with broken shaft, made 81
great bluff by blowing off steam as she
was being towed up stream. which pre-
tense. of course, produced no effect
upon the Confederates, who knew her
condition only too well. She and the
st. Lawrence were both grounded be-
fore they had gone nearly SO far as the
Minnesota.
:, After setting the Congress thoroly
!. on fire, the Merrimac moved down to
attack the other frigates. Fortunately,