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Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 34. (ed. Reverend J. William Jones), chapter 1.35 (search)
rate gunboat Virginia, or Merrimac, the first iron-clad warship the world has ever known. The operations of General Burnside in North Carolina, in the rear of Norfolk, and the transfer of General McClellan's army from the neighborhood of Washington to the Virginia Peninsula, between the York and James rivers, in the spring of 1862, caused the Confederate authorities to determine to evacuate Norfolk and vicinity to prevent the capture of the 15,000 troops in that department. As early as March 26th the commandant of the navy-yard was confidentially informed of the intended action, and ordered to quietly prepare to send valuable machinery to the interior of North Carolina. The peremptory order of General Joseph E. Johnston for the abandonment of the navy-yard was communicated to Capt. S. S. Lee by Secretary Mallory, in a letter dated Richmond, May 3, 1862. The work of evacuation was expected to be accomplished in two weeks. The citizens at first would not believe the reports of the