Chapter Ix. the War on the Sea

Classification of Naval Deeds.—Our Navy when the War Began.—Enlargement.—Blockading.—Difficulty and Success.—Alternate Tediousness and Excitement.—Blockade-running Tactics.—Expeditions to Aid the Blockade.—To Port Royal.—To Roanoke Island.—Confederate Navy.—The Merrimac.—Sinks the Cumberland, Burns the Congress.—Monitor and Merrimac.—An Era in Naval Architecture and Warfare.—Operations before Charleston.—The Atlanta.—The Albemarle.—Blown Up by Cushing.—Farragut in Mobile Harbor.—Fort Fisher Taken.—Southern Cruisers upon the High Seas.—Destructive.—The Sumter.—The Alabama.—Her Career.—Fights the Kearsarge.—Sinks.