Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 1.
Henry Coppee , LL.D., Ed.

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[605] in the battle of the next day, and went to hide himself behind the large hull of the Minnesota, in order to fall suddenly upon the Virginia as soon as the latter should reappear. The system of revolving turrets had never been tried, and all was as new to the gunners as to the engineers of the Monitor. For his two guns of twenty-nine centimetres calibre Worden had shells weighing seventy-two kilogrammes, cast-iron balls weighing eighty-four, and wrought-iron balls weighing ninety-two. He decided to use projectiles of the second class, as the shells would certainly break against the iron plates of the Virginia, while his wrought-iron balls seemed too heavy for his cast-iron guns, which might burst and damage every part of his vessel. At a later period these same guns, loaded with wrought-iron balls and a charge of powder weighing fifteen kilogrammes, were fired without accident, but in this first trial the decision of the Federal captain was the wisest.

The Confederate officers understood that a foeman worthy of their steel had come to play with them, double or quits, in the game which the star-spangled banner had lost the day before. Letting alone the large Federal frigate, which, unable to defend herself, was to be the prize of the contest, their present thought was only to fight the Monitor. Being both impatient to achieve a victory, and each confiding in the powerful armor of his vessel, the two iron-clads rapidly approach each other and exchange shots from their tremendous guns at a few metres distance. The confidence felt on both sides was fully justified. The crew of the Minnesota beheld with admiring wonder the enormous balls which their own vessel could not have withstood glancing off or breaking against the armor of the two combatants. The fight, which began at eight o'clock, was long continued without either of them having been able to effect a breach in the armor of his antagonist. At last, Captain Jones, who succeeded Buchanan in the command of the Virginia, after the latter had been wounded, determines to apply the same tactics against the Monitor which have proved so fatal to the Cumberland. She steers with direct aim toward her in order to strike her with the beak, but the point of this weapon was broken the day previous; and a clever shifting of the helm causing the Monitor to sheer off at the critical moment, the prow of the Virginia only touched the edge of her deck, and turned