The best of compliments was paid
them by the imitation of other navies; for, when the first one was
finished, we sent her abroad on exhibition, much like a hen cackling
over its last performance, with the result that we had not long to
congratulate ourselves on the newest and best thing. It is this place
in a long series of development which gives them their historical
interest.

But if the frigates were unfitted to the particular emergency of a
civil contest, scarcely to be discerned as imminent in 1855, the
advantage of preparation for general service is avouched by the
history of the first year of hostilities, even so exceptional as those
of 1861 and 1862. Within a year of the first Bull Run, Farragut's
squadron had fought its way from the mouth of the Mississippi to
Vicksburg. That the extreme position was not held was not the fault of
the ships, but of backwardness in other undertakings of the nation.
All the naval vessels that subdued New Orleans had been launched and
ready before the war, except the _Oneida_ and the gunboats; and to
attribute any determinative effect in such operations to the
gunboats, with their one heavy gun, is to misunderstand the
conditions. Even a year later, at the very important passage of Port
Hudson, the fighting work was done by the _Hartford_, _Richmond_,
_Mississippi_, and _Monongahela_; of which only the last named, and
least powerful, was built after the war began. It would be difficult
to overrate the value, material and moral, of the early successes
which led the way to the opening of the great river, due to having the
ships and officers ready. So the important advantages obtained by the
capture of Port Royal in South Carolina, and of Hatteras Inlet in
North Carolina, within the first six months, were the results of
readiness, slight and inadequate as that was in reference to anything
like a great naval war.

A brief analysis of the composition of the navy at the opening of the
War of Secession, will bring out still more vividly how vitally
important to the issue were the additions of the decade 1850-60. In
March, 1861, when Lincoln was inaugurated, the available ships-of-war
at sea, or in the yards, numbered sixty-one. Of these thirty-four were
sailing vessels, substantially worthless; although, as the commerce of
the world was still chiefly carried on by sailing ships, they could be
of some slight service against these attempting to pass a blockade.
For the most part, howeve