Every wooden ship was
vulnerable to him and impotent against him at the ranges which his
rifles permitted him to use.

With the monitors Buchanan had not yet come into collision; but one of
the most formidable was sunk, and until he had learned something about
their endurance and the power of their guns relatively to those of his
own vessel, it would seem that his action, though immediate, should have
been only tentative. If it proved on trial that the speed of the
Tennessee was greater than that of the monitors, she might yet prove
master of the situation. Despite the beak, which her wretched speed and
exposed steering chains rendered untrustworthy, her great defensive
strength and the fact of carrying rifled guns indicated that long range,
and not close quarters, was the first game of the Tennessee. There she
could hurt, and she could not be hurt. Had she, for instance, hovered at
a distance, firing deliberately at the Union vessels, Farragut must have
attacked; and she could then have retired either into shoaler water,
retaining her advantage in range, or else under the guns of Morgan,
which would have strongly re-enforced her fight. The fact that Farragut,
whose instinct for war was commonly accurate, proposed to attack her at
close quarters and by night, is the best argument that Buchanan should
have sought long range and daylight for his action. As it was, his
headlong charge into the Union fleet was a magnificent display of
inconsiderate bravery, in which such advantages as he had were
recklessly thrown away. Its purpose is not clear. If, as Farragut
thought, it was to sink his flag-ship, it can only be replied that an
admiral's flag is not a red rag for a bull to charge. Had the Hartford
been sunk when the column doubled up an hour or so before, the loss of
the leader at so critical a moment might have decided the day; but to
sink her in the _melee_ within would have been a barren, though
brilliant, feat of arms.

As soon as it was ascertained that the Tennessee was really coming up to
attack, the mess-gear was hurried aside and the orders given to get
under way. Some of the fleet had not yet anchored, and the monitors were
not yet arrived at the place where the others were gathered. Dr. Palmer,
the fleet surgeon, was just leaving the flag-ship in a steam-launch, for
the purpose of making a round among the other vessels to see to the
condition of their wounded. Farragut called him alongside and directed
him t