WAR ON SEA AND LAND
I HAVE told you part of the story of how our people fought on land. Now
suppose we take a look at the water, and see how they fought there. Have
any of you heard of the wonderful battle between the "Monitor" and the
"Merrimac"? If you have you will be sure to remember it, for it is one
of the strangest stories in the history of war. In the lower part of
Chesapeake Bay is what I may call a pocket of water named Hampton Roads,
into which the James River flows. Here, in the month of March, 1862, lay
a fleet of war-vessels. These were not the kind of ships-of-war which we
see now-a-days. They were wooden vessels, such as were used in former
wars, but which would be of no more use than floating logs against the
sea-monsters of to-day.
Something strange was soon to happen to these proud ships. On the 8th of
March there came into the waters of the bay a very odd looking craft. It
was a ship, but instead of a deck it had a sloping roof made of iron
bars. It looked something like a house gone adrift. I fancy the people
in the wooden ships must have been a little scared when they saw it
coming, for they had never seen a war-vessel with an iron roof before.
They might well be scared, for they soon found that their cannon were of
no more use than pea-shooters against this queer craft. The cannon-balls
bounded off from her sides like so many peas. On came the monster and
struck one of the ships with her iron beak, tearing a great hole in its
side. Down into the waters sunk the gallant ship, with all on board. And
there it lay with its flag flying like a flag above a grave. Another
ship, the "Congress," was driven on the mud and had to give up the
fight.
There were three more ships in the fleet, but it was now near night, and
so the "Merrimac," as the iron monster was called, steamed away. Her
captain thought it would be an easy thing to settle with them the next
morning, and very likely the people on them did not sleep well that
night, for they could not forget what had happened to the "Congress" and
the "Cumberland," and felt sure their turn was to come next.
But, as the old saying goes, "There is many a slip between cup and lip."
The "Merrimac" was to learn the truth of this. For when she came grimly
out the next day, expecting to sink the rest of the fleet and then steam
up to the city of Washington and perhaps burn that, her captain found
before him the queerest thing in the shape of a ship he had ever seen.
It was an iron vessel that looked like "a cheese box on a raft." All
that could be seen was a flat deck that came just above the water, and
above this a round tower of iron, out of which peeped two monsters of
cannon.
This strange vessel had come into Hampton Roads during the night, and
there it lay ready to do battle for the Union. It was a new style of
war-ship that had been built in New York and was called the "Monitor."
The "Merrimac" soon had enough to keep herself busy, and was forced to
let the wooden fleet alone. For four long hours these two iron monsters
battered each other with cannon balls. Such a fight had never been seen
before. It was the first time two iron-clad ships had met in war.
I cannot say that either ship was hurt much. The balls could not get
through the iron bars and plates and glanced off into the water. But the
"Merrimac" got the worst of it, and in the end she turned and hurried
back to Norfolk, from which place she had come. The "Monitor" waited for
her, but she never came out again. Soon afterwards the Confederates left
Norfolk and sunk their iron ship, and that was the last of the
"Merrimac."
When the news of this wonderful sea-fight got to Europe the kings and
ministers of war read it with alarm. They saw they had something to do.
Their wooden war-vessels were out of date, and they went to work in a
hurry to build iron-clad ships. To-day all the great nations of the
earth have fleets of steel-covered ships-of-war, and the United States
has some of the best and strongest of this kind of ships.
All through the war there were battles of iron-clads. On the western
rivers steamboats were plated with iron and attacked the forts on shore.
And along the coast iron-clad vessels helped the wooden ships to
blockade the ports of the South. More vessels like the "Monitor" were
built in the North, and a number somewhat like the "Merrimac" were built
in the South. I cannot say that any of them did much good either North
or South.
A great naval battle was fought in the Mississippi, which led to the
capture of New Orleans, and another was fought in the Bay of Mobile, on
the Gulf of Mexico. Here there were some strong forts and a powerful
iron-clad ship. Admiral Farragut sailed into the bay with a fleet of
wooden ships and several iron vessels like the "Monitor." When he went
past the forts he stood in the rigging of his ship, with his spy-glass
in his hand. He did not seem to care anything for cannon-balls. He took
the forts, and since then Farragut has been one of our great naval
heroes.
There was one Confederate privateer, the "Alabama," which caused
terrible loss to the merchants of the North. It took in all sixty-five
vessels, which were set on fire and burned. In June, 1864, the "Alabama"
was met near the coast of France by the frigate "Kearsarge," and a
furious battle took place. For two hours they fought, and then the
"Alabama" sagged down into the water and sank to the bottom of the sea.
She had done much harm to the North, but her career was at an end.
Now let us turn back to the war on land and see what was going on there.
I have told you the story of the fighting up to the great 4th of July,
1863, when Vicksburg surrendered to General Grant and General Lee
marched away from Gettysburg. That is where we dropped the threads which
we have now to take up again.
After Grant had taken Vicksburg and opened the Mississippi from St.
Louis to its mouth, he set out for the town of Chattanooga, which is in
Tennessee just north of Georgia. Here there had been a great battle in
which the Confederate army won the victory, and the Union troops were
shut up in Chattanooga with very little to eat.
Grant was not there long before there came a change. General Bragg, the
Confederate commander, had his army on the summits of two mountains
named Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. These were defended by
strong forts. But the Union troops charged up the mountain sides in the
face of the fire of rifles and cannon and soon had possession of the
forts. General Bragg's army was defeated with great loss. This was one
of the most brilliant victories of the war. The battle of Lookout
Mountain has been called "the battle above the clouds."
Everybody now saw that General Grant was much the best general on the
Union side, and President Lincoln made him commander-in-chief of all the
armies in the field. Grant at once laid his plans to have the armies all
work together. General Sherman was left in command of the army of the
West and Grant came to Virginia to fight General Lee.
In the green month of May, 1864, all the armies were set in motion, and
North and South came together for the last great struggle of the war.
Grant led his men into the Wilderness where General Hooker and his army
had been sadly defeated the year before. Lee was there to meet him, and
a great battle was fought in the depth of the woods and thickets. It
lasted two whole days, but neither side won.
Then Grant marched towards Richmond and Lee hurried down to head him
off. Several hard battles were fought, the last being at Cold Harbor,
near Richmond. Here the Union army lost terribly. Ten thousand men were
killed and wounded, while the Confederates, who were behind strong
earthworks, lost only a thousand.
General Grant saw he could not reach Richmond that way, so he crossed
the James River and began a siege of Petersburg and Richmond. This siege
lasted nine months, both sides digging instead of fighting till great
heaps of earth were thrown up, on whose tops were hundreds of cannon.
General Grant kept his men very busy, as you may see. But General
Sherman's men were just as busy. He marched south from Chattanooga, and
fought battle after battle until he had gone far into Georgia and
captured the important city of Atlanta. General Hood, the Confederate
commander, then made a rapid march to Tennessee, thinking that Sherman
would follow him. But Sherman did not move. The brave General Thomas was
there to take care of Hood and his army.
"Let him go; he couldn't please me better," said Sherman.
What Sherman did was to cut loose from the railroads and telegraphs and
march his whole army into the center of Georgia. For a whole month the
people of the North heard nothing of him. His sixty thousand men might
be starving for food, or might all be killed, so far as was known. It
was November when they started and it was near Christmas when they were
heard of again.
They had lived on the country and destroyed railroads and stores, and at
length they came to the sea at the city of Savannah. Three daring scouts
made their way in a boat down the river by night and brought to the
fleet the first news of Sherman's march. No doubt you have heard the
song "Marching through Georgia." That was written to describe Sherman's
famous march.
The South was now getting weaker, and weaker, and most men saw that the
war was near its end. It came to an end in April, 1865. Grant kept
moving south till he got round the Confederate earthworks at Petersburg,
and Lee was forced to leave Richmond in great haste.
The Union army followed as fast as it could march, and the cavalry rode
on until it was ahead of the Confederates. Then General Lee saw that he
was surrounded by an army far stronger than his own. He could fight no
longer. His men were nearly starved. To fight would be to have them all
killed. So on the 9th of April he offered his sword to General Grant,
and the long and bloody war was at an end.
No one was gladder of this than President Lincoln, who had done so much
to bring it about. Poor man! five days afterwards he was shot in a
theatre at Washington by an actor named John Wilkes Booth. This was done
out of revenge for the defeat of the South. But the people of the South
did not approve of this act of murder, and in Abraham Lincoln they lost
one whom they would have found a good friend.
Booth was followed and killed, but his death could not bring back to
life the murdered President, whom the people loved so warmly that they
mourned for him as if he had been, like Washington, the Father of his
Country. It was a terrible crime, and it turned the joy which the people
felt, at the end of the war, into the deepest sorrow and grief.