nandoah
3. Lee runs past and enters Pennsylvania. valley, where Sheridan defeats him.
4. Meade put in command. Battle of _1865_. Richmond taken.
Gettysburg. 1. Lee evacuates the city.
5. Lee beaten and goes back to Virginia. 2. Surrenders to Grant.
6. The turning-point of the war. ------------------+-----------------
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%END OF THE WAR.%

CHAPTER XXVIII

WAR ALONG THE COAST AND ON THE SEA

%453. State of our Navy in 1861.%--On the day our flag went down at
Sumter, the navy of the United States consisted of ninety vessels of
every sort. Fifty of these were sailing ships. Forty were propelled by
steam. Of the steam fleet one was on the Lakes, five were unserviceable,
seventeen were in foreign parts, and nine laid up in navy yards and out
of service. Eight steam vessels (one a mere tender) and five sailing
vessels (a fleet of thirteen) made up the naval force of the United
States that was available for actual service on April 15, 1861.

%454. The Work before the Navy.%--The duty of the navy was to

1. Blockade the coast from Norfolk in Virginia to the Bio Grande in
Texas.

2. Capture the seaports and forts scattered along this coast.

3. Acquire control of the sounds and bays, as Chesapeake, Albemarle,
Pamlico, Mobile, and Galveston.

4. Assist the army in opening the Mississippi, Arkansas, and other
rivers.

5. Destroy all Confederate cruisers and protect the commerce of the
United States.

To accomplish this great work, most of the vessels abroad were recalled
(a slow process in days when no ocean cable existed), more were hastily
built, and in time 400 merchantmen and river steamboats were bought and
roughly adapted at the navy yards for war service.

%455. %The Blockade of the Southern Coast.%--The war on sea was
opened (April 19-27,1861) by two proclamations of Lincoln declaring the
coast from Virginia to Texas blockaded. This meant that armed vessels
were to be stationed off the seaports of the South, and that no ships
from any country were to be allowed to go into or out of them. To stop
trade with the South was important for three reasons:

1. The South had no ships, no great gun factories, machine shops, or
rolling mills, and must look to foreign countries for mil