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G. S. Hillard, Life and Campaigns of George B. McClellan, Major-General , U. S. Army, Chapter 7: (search)
e painful sacrifice yet was, exacted at the hands of the Confederates,--the sacrifice of the Merrimac, which had done them such substantial service, and of whose achievements they were so justly proud. About four o'clock on the morning of the 11th of May, a brilliant light was seen from Fortress Monroe, in the direction of Craney Island; and at half-past 4 an explosion was heard which shook the earth far and wide. This was caused by the blowing up of the Merrimac, which had been abandoned by e, in conclusion, upon the Merrimac, or Virginia, and the lessons her career teaches. Her first appearance upon the stage of the world was on the 8th day of March, and the drama closed with the flames of her funeral pyre on the morning of the 11th of May; and certainly never was there any mortal craft that within the short space of two months played a more important part or led a more eventful life. She was originally a United States steam screw frigate of fifty guns, and, being at Gosport wh