and she sank with all on board. The Congress was driven ashore and forced to surrender. It was now near night, and the fate of the other three ships was left until the next day.

Never had there been such an event in naval warfare. Consternation filled the North at news of this havoc. What was to save our ports from this fearful foe? She might steam into New York harbor and bombard the city. No one could say what havoc she might perform.

The Coming of the Monitor.-But the government had been preparing for her. It was well known when she might be expected, and an ironclad on a new plan, the invention of Captain John Ericsson, the eminent Swedish engineer, had rapidly been built. This had a low, flat, ironclad deck, rising just above the water. In its centre was a strong tower, heavily plated with iron, and capable of revolving. It carried two very heavy guns. The appearance of this strange craft was so peculiar that it gained the title of " a cheese-box on a raft."

By vigorous efforts the new vessel was completed in time to meet the Merrimac before more destruction could` be done. The Monitor, as she was named, steamed into Hampton Roads during the night of March 8, and was ready to meet the Merrimac at the dawn of the next day.

The Battle of the Ironclads.-Early in the following day the Merrimac steamed toward the Minnesota, one of the wooden fleet. Suddenly she found the Monitor in her way, hurling at her such balls as a naval vessel had never before sent. The Monitor's two guns were of enormous

1 As the Cumberland went down the crew continued to work her guns until she vanished beneath the water. Her flag was not struck, but continued to float from the mast-head after she had gone down.

size, while the balls of the Merrimac glanced harmlessly from her deck.

For four hours that new and strange naval duel went on. Time after time the Merrimac sought to sink the Monitor with her iron beak, but her dwarf-like antagonist glided

away unharmed. Her broadsides were of as little use, while the huge balls of the Monitor continued to batter her sides with terrible blows.

In the end the Merrimac withdrew, baffled though not disabled, and made her way back into Norfolk harbor. She never left it again. Repairs were necessary, and before they were completed the Confederates abandoned. Norfolk and destroyed their powerful iron-clad champion. That one battle changed the conditions of naval warfare throughout the world. With it the day of the wooden warvessel came to an end.

4. THE WAR IN KENTUCKY AND TENNESSEE.

Results of the War in 1861.-During the first year of the Civil War there had been no well-defined plan. The most important engagement had been won by the Confederate forces, yet the advantage lay with the North. Missouri had

BATTLE-FIELDS OF KENTUCKY AND TENNESSEE.

and West Virginia gained for the Union. Fort Pickens and Fort Monroe, on the coast, had been secured and other points taken. The defeat at Bull Run had wakened the North from its dream of an easy conquest and roused it to the most strenuous exertions. The two sides had been getting a grasp of the situation. They now first began to see the magnitude of the task before them.

Plans for 1862.-The campaign of 1862 was entered upon by the North with definite objects in view.

One of these was the capture of Richmond.

A second was the rescue of Kentucky from its invaders and the invasion of Tennessee.

A third was the opening and control of the Mississippi, and the cutting off of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas from the rest of the Confederacy.

A fourth was an efficient blockade of the Southern ports. By the end of the year all of these, except the first, was in some measure accomplished.

The Confederates in Kentucky.-In September, 1861, General Polk entered Kentucky with a force of fifteen thousand men, and took position at Columbus, whence he threatened Paducah, an important point at the junction of the Tennessee River with the Ohio. Another Confederate army, under General Zollicoffer, invaded Kentucky in the southeast. These invasions had one unexpected result. The legislature, which was wavering, at once voted, by a heavy majority, to remain in the Union.

General Grant's Movements.-General Ulysses S. Grant,1 the coming leader of the Union armies, had been defeated in his first engagement at Belmont, Missouri. Immediately afterward he crossed to Kentucky and took possession of

1 General Grant was born in Ohio in 1822. He was named Hiram Ulysses, but on his entry to West Point his name was wrongly registered, he being styled Ulysses Simpson, the latter his mother's family name. As he could not get the mistake remedied, he accepted the new name. His first service was in the Mexican War, where he behaved gallantly and gained promotion. He then retired to private business life, in which he was not very successful. On the outbreak of the Civil War he was appointed captain of a company of volunteers, and was soon after made colonel of the Twenty-first Illinois Regiment. Shortly afterward he was commissioned brigadier-general, and was made major-general for his capture of Fort Donelson. The remainder of his biography is part of the history of the war and the country.

Paducah, thus forestalling Polk, and getting control of the mouths of the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, two large and important streams. An important problem now lay before the Union leaders. The Confederates had built forts on these two streams, named Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, within the borders of Tennessee. They had also fortified Island No. 10, on the Mississippi south of Columbus.

Capture of Forts Henry and Donelson.-Early in February, 1862, General Grant advanced against Fort Henry, Commodore Foote, with a flotilla of iron-clad gun-boats, moving up the Tennessee to assist him. On the 6th the place was attacked by the fleet. An hour's bombardment sufficed. The fort surrendered, and the garrison fled to Fort Donelson before Grant and his army had arrived.

Grant now marched upon Fort Donelson, while the fleet steamed back to the Ohio and came up the Cumberland to his aid. This fort was more vigorously defended. The fight continued for three days, the fleet was repulsed, and its commodore seriously wounded. The Confederates now attempted to cut their way through Grant's investing lines, but were driven back and part of their works taken. On February 16 an assault was about to be made in force, when the fort surrendered, with its garrison of fifteen thousand men.1 This was the first signal Federal victory of the war. It established the Union army firmly in Tennessee.

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1 The commander of the fort wrote to General Grant, asking what terms could be made. The reply was, No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works." This answer did much to enhance Grant's reputation. His initials, U. S., were said to stand for "Unconditional Surrender." From this time forward he was one of the leading figures in the war.