ed to."

When the Committee handed this document 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 God!"

"Hurrah for the President!"

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

"Rest assured, 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.

* * * * *

When Johnston in his retreat up the Peninsula reached the high ground
near the Chickahominy river, he threw out his lines and prepared to give
McClellan battle. He dispatched a messenger to the President at Richmond
informing him of this fact. The Cabinet was in session. A spirited
discussion ensued. The Secretary of War and the w