eral frigate _Congress_, which had been on fire all
the evening, had blown up, the fire having reached her magazine.

Flag Officer Buchanan, having been wounded in the action, was sent to
the Naval Hospital at Norfolk on the morning of the 9th, just prior to
the getting under way of the squadron. The command ought, in
conformity with military and naval usage, to have been formally
transferred to the next senior officer of the squadron, who was
Commander J.R. Tucker, of the _Patrick Henry_; but this obviously
proper course was not followed, and Flag Officer Buchanan's flag was
kept flying on board the _Virginia_, though he himself, in point of
fact, was not and could not be in command of that vessel, or the
Confederate squadron, since he was not within signal distance of
either, being laid up in bed at the Norfolk Naval Hospital. Tucker
did not assume command of the squadron, but simply continued to
command the _Patrick Henry_.

At the first peep of dawn, on the morning of the 9th of March, the
Confederate squadron was under way, having in view for its first
object the destruction of the _Minnesota_, that frigate being still
aground near Newport News. As the daylight increased, the _Minnesota_
was discovered in her old position, but no longer alone and
unsupported. Close alongside of her there lay such a craft as the eyes
of a seaman does not delight to look upon; no masts, no smokestack, no
guns--at least nothing of the sort could be seen about her. And yet
the thing had a grim, pugnacious look, as if there was tremendous
power of some sort inherent in her, and ready to be manifested
whenever the occasion required it. The _Monitor_ (for it was that
famous vessel) promptly steamed out to meet the _Virginia_, as the
latter vessel bore down on the _Minnesota_, and the celebrated combat
between these iron-clads was joined immediately. It was the first
action that had ever been fought between armored vessels, and as such
will ever be remembered and commented upon. The combat resulted in a
drawn fight as far as the _Virginia_ and _Monitor_ was concerned, but
it established the power of iron-clad steamers as engines of war, and
completely revolutionized the construction of the navies of the world.

That the combat between the _Virginia_ and the _Monitor_ was an
indecisive action is clear. The _Monitor_ received the most damage in
the fight, and was the first to retire from it into shoal water,
though the fight was afterward