s, and railroads formed a network of
communications with the interior, and vessels were constantly slipping
to sea with cargoes of cotton, to return with munitions of war. Hatteras
Inlet, seized in August, 1861, was not a sufficient basis for the
blockade. In February, 1862, a fleet bearing 11,500 soldiers, under
General Burnside, arrived at Roanoke Island, which lies between the two
great sounds. The troops were landed, and on the 8th, charging over
marshy ground, sometimes waist-deep in water, carried the batteries and
gained possession of the island. Newbern, one of the most important
ports of North Carolina, was captured a month later, and Fort Macon,
commanding the entrance to Beaufort Harbor, surrendered in April.

Meanwhile what had the Confederates been doing in naval matters? When
the Norfolk navy-yard was abandoned in April, 1861, the fine old frigate
Merrimac was scuttled. She was raised by the Davis Government and
converted into an ironclad ram--a novelty in those days. The hull was
cut down to the water's edge, and a stout roof, 170 feet long, with
sloping sides and a flat top, built amidships and plated with four
inches of iron. This roof was pierced for ten guns--four rifles and six
nine-inch smooth-bores.

On March 8, 1862, the Union fleet, consisting of the Cumberland,
Congress, Minnesota, and some smaller craft, rode lazily at anchor in
Hampton Roads. About noon a curious looking structure was seen coming
down Elizabeth River. It was the Merrimac. She steered straight for the
Cumberland. The latter poured in a broadside from her heavy ten-inch
guns, but the balls glanced off the ram's sloping iron sides like peas.
The Merrimac's iron beak crashed into the Cumberland's side, making a
great hole. In a few minutes the old warsloop, working her guns to the
water's edge, went down in fifty-four feet of water, 120 sick and
wounded sinking with her.

[Illustration: Sea battle a close quarters.]
The Sinking of the Frigate Cumberland by the Merrimac in Hampton Roads,
March 8, 1862.

The Congress had meanwhile been run aground. The Merrimac fired hot
shot, setting her afire. Nearly half the crew being killed or wounded,
she surrendered, her magazine exploding and blowing her up at midnight.
The Minnesota, hastening up with two other vessels from Fortress Monroe
to aid her sisters, had run aground. Being of heavy draught, the
Merrimac could not get near enough to do her much damage, and at
nightfall stea