the brave officers and men of our turreted vessels knew their power and sought the encounter. This battle was to test not only the vessels, but the new fifteen-inch ordnance, then for the first time brought into naval warfare, and concerning which there had been, as well as with respect to the vessels themselves, some variety of opinion. The conflict was so brief and decisive that only one of the two Monitor vessels, though not widely separated, and each eager for the fight, was able to participate in the engagement. The Nahant, having no pilot, followed in the wake of the Weehawken, but before she could get into action the contest was over. Such was the brevity of the fight that the Weehawken, in about fifteen minutes, and with only five shots from her heavy guns, overpowered and captured her formidable antagonist, before the Nahant, which was hastening to the work, could discharge a single shot at the Atlanta. This remarkable result was an additional testimony in favor of the Monitor class of vessels for harbor defence and coast service against any naval vessels that have been or are likely to be constructed to visit our shores. It appears, also, to have extinguished whatever lingering hopes the rebels may have had of withstanding our naval power by naval means.

Early in June, General Hunter was succeeded in the command of the Department of the South by General Q. A. Gillmore,* and about the same time Rear-Admiral Dupont having expressed a willingness to relinquish the position which he had occupied for eighteen months, Rear-Admiral Andrew H. Foote was detailed to relieve him. When on his way to his command, however, he was seized with fatal illness and died in New York. His associate and second in command, RearAdmiral John A. Dahlgren, proceeded immediately to Port Royal, and, on the 6th day of July, assumed command of the squadron. A combined operation of naval and army forces, the latter under General Gillmore, was immediately instituted for the occupation and possession of Morris Island, on the south side of the entrance to Charleston Harbor. Morris Island, the site of Forts Wagner and Gregg, is a narrow ridge of sand, formed by successive accumulations from the beach, running along the entrance to Charleston Harbor. This ridge slopes from the shore inward, terminating in a series of salt-water marshes, intersected by narrow creeks, which lie to the west of it. The width of the portion disposable for the trenches in no point exceeds two hundred and twenty-five yards, while in others it narrows to twentyfive yards at high tide.

Quincy Adams Gillmore was born in Lorain County, Ohio, in 1825, and graduated at West Point, at the head of his class, in 1849. Previous to the breaking out of the war he was much employed on the fortifications, and was also for four years instructor of engineering at West Point. In October, 1861, he was appointed chief engineer to the Port Royal Expedition, and in the succeeding April he planned and carried out the operations for the capture of Fort Pulaski, in the Savannah River, of which he published an account in 1868. In April, 1862, he was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers. Having been transferred to the Department of the Ohio, he defeated a large rebel force near Somerset, Ky., on March 30th, 1863. In June, he assumed command of the Department of the South, and, in

the series of operations which led to the occups
tion of Morris Island, developed a new era in the
science of engineering and gunnery. He retained
command of the Department of the South until
the spring of 1864, when he took the field at the
head of the Tenth Army Corps, under Butler, to
co-operate in the movement against Richmond.
Having come into collision with Butler, he was
relieved of his command, and in the latter part of
the year undertook a tour of inspection among the
fortifications in the West.
he was reappointed to the Department of the
In the spring of 1865,
South. He now commands the Department of
South Carolina, and is major-general of volunteers
and a brigadier-general of the regular army.