avy
greatly in the estimation of the people, who began now to see of what
material it was composed, to accomplish so much with such limited means
and opportunity. And this opinion was to be strengthened, from time to
time, by the brilliant flashes of naval daring that came to illumine
some of the darkest hours of the war.

Who does not remember that defense of Drewry's Bluff when Eben Farrand
had only three gunboat crews and _three hastily mounted guns_, with
which to drive back the heavy fleet that knew Richmond city lay
helpless at its mercy?

And those desperate, yet brilliant fights off New Orleans, against
every odds of metal, numbers, and worse, of internal mismanagement. Do
they not illustrate the character of the navy, and bring it out in bold
relief of heroism? Nor should we forget the brief but brilliant life of
the "Arkansas"--born in danger and difficulty; surrounded on every side
by numberless active foes; and finally dying, not from the blow of an
enemy, but from the fault of those who sent her forth unfinished and
incomplete!

Those trying times recall the conduct of Captain Lynch and his squadron
of shells; and of the veteran Cooke in the batteries, on the dark day
that lost Roanoke Island. Nor may we lose sight of the splendid conduct
of that latter grim old seadog, when, returning wounded and
prison-worn, he bore down on Plymouth in the "Albemarle" and crushed
the Federal gunboats like egg-shells.

And conspicuous, even among these fellow-sailors, stands John Taylor
Wood. Quick to plan and strong to strike, he ever and anon would
collect a few trusty men and picked officers; glide silently out from
Richmond, where his duties as colonel of cavalry on the President's
staff chained him most of the time. Soon would come an echo from the
frontier, telling of quick, sharp struggle; victorious boarding and a
Federal gunboat or two given to the flames. I have already alluded to
his dashing raid upon the fishery fleet; but his cunning capture of the
gunboats in the Rappahannock, or his cool and daring attack on the
"Underwriter," during Pickett's movement on Newberne, would alone give
him undying reputation.

The United States had a navy in her waters that would class as the
third maritime power of the world; and this she rapidly increased by
every appliance of money, skill and energy. She bought and built ships
and spent vast sums and labor in experiments in ordnance, armoring and
machinery. As result o