risoners. It was a loss which the
leaders of the Southern army bitterly felt. Fighting kept on for two
years more, but they would have been wiser to give up then and save all
the death and misery that came to them afterwards.

CHAPTER XXIII

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 l