, had only recently arisen from a sick-bed.
He had been a Union officer in the regular navy, and as such had placed
the entire naval service under great obligations in being the first to
have located the Naval Academy at Annapolis under a commission from the
Secretary of the Navy. When it was realized by the commanders of the
American ships that the "Merrimac" was steaming towards them in dead
earnest there was hurried preparation for the impending conflict, and as
she approached the "Cumberland" and the "Congress" they opened fire on
the huge craft, but their heavy projectiles glanced from her as if they
were paper balls. About 2:30 P.M. the "Merrimac," then within easy
range, opened fire on the "Cumberland," doing much damage. The two
Federal ships, which were only about one hundred feet away, then gave
the "Merrimac" full broadsides, but without the slightest effect, and
the latter craft mercilessly sent four shells crashing into the
"Congress," notwithstanding that Commodore Buchanan had a brother,
McKean Buchanan, paymaster on the "Congress,"--a harrowing illustration
of the horrifying encounters among the closest kindred in civil warfare.
After disabling the "Congress," the "Merrimac" directed her attention to
the "Cumberland," and under a full head of steam her iron prow or ram,
which projected four feet, struck the Federal ship "nearly at right
angles under the fore rigging in the starboard fore channels." I quote
further from Maclay's "History of the Navy": "The shock was scarcely
felt in the iron-clad, but in the 'Cumberland' it was terrific. The ship
heeled over to port and trembled as if she had struck a rock under full
sail, while the iron prow of the 'Merrimac' crushed through her side and
left a yawning chasm. In backing out of the 'Cumberland,' the 'Merrimac'
left her iron prow inside the doomed ship. Following up the blow by the
discharge of her bow gun, she backed clear of the wreck. In response to
a demand for surrender, Lieutenant Morris defiantly answered, 'Never!
I'll sink alongside.' * * * * The scene in the 'Cumberland' soon became
awful. One shell, bursting in the sick bay, killed or wounded four men
in their cots. More than a hundred of the crew very soon were killed or
wounded; the cockpit was crowded; the decks were slippery with blood and
were strewn with the dead and dying, while the inrushing waters and the
rapid settling of the ship too plainly indicated that she would soon go
to the bottom