Merrimac_. made an ironclad ram, which they renamed the
_Virginia_ and sent forth to destroy the wooden vessels of the United
States then assembled in Chesapeake Bay.

Well knowing that he could not be harmed by any of our war ships, the
commander of the _Merrimac_ went leisurely to work and began (March 8,
1862) by attacking the _Cumberland_. In her day the _Cumberland_ had
been as fine a frigate as ever went to sea; but the days of wooden ships
were gone, and she was powerless. Her shot glanced from the sides of the
_Merrimac _like so many peas, while the new monster, coming on under
steam, rammed her in the side and made a great hole through which the
water poured. Even then the commander of the _Cumberland_ would not
surrender, but fought his ship till she filled and sank with her guns
booming and her flag flying. After sinking the _Cumberland_, the
_Merrimac_ attacked the _Congress_, forced her to surrender, set her on
fire, and, as darkness was then coming on, went back to the shelter of
the Confederate batteries.

[Illustration: Monitor, side and deck plan]

%462. The Monitor.%--Early the next day the _Merrimac_ sailed forth
to finish the work of destruction, and picking out the _Minnesota_,
which was hard and fast in the mud, bore down to attack her. When lo!
from beside the _Minnesota_ started forth the most curious-looking craft
ever seen on water. It was the famous _Monitor_, designed by Captain
John Ericsson, to whose inventive genius we owe the screw propeller and
the hot-air engine. She consisted of a small iron hull, on top of which
rested a boat-shaped raft covered with sheets of iron which made the
deck. On top of the deck, which was about three feet above the water,
was an iron cylinder, or turret, which revolved by machinery and carried
two guns. She looked, it was said, like "a cheesebox mounted on a raft."

[Illustration: HAMPTON ROADS]

The _Monitor_ was built at New York, and was intended for harbor
defense; but the fact that the Confederates were building a great
ironclad at Norfolk made it necessary to send her to Hampton Roads. The
sea voyage was a dreadful one; again and again she was almost wrecked,
but she weathered the storm, and early on the evening of March 8, 1862,
entered Hampton Roads, to see the waters lighted up by the burning
_Congress_ and to hear of the sinking of the _Cumberland_. Taking her
place beside the _Minnesota_, she waited for the dawn, and about eight
o'clock saw t