Finding that his state did
not secede, he withdrew his resignation and asked to be restored, but
for some reason, the secretary of the navy, Gideon Welles, refused this
request, and Buchanan was fairly driven into the enemy's service.
The Confederacy was glad to get him, gave him the rank of captain and
put him in charge of the work at the Norfolk, Virginia, navy-yard. The
most important business going forward there was the reconstruction of
the United States frigate, Merrimac. This consisted in building above
her berth-deck sloping bulwarks seven feet high, covered with four
inches of iron, and pierced for ten guns. To her bow, about two feet
under water, a cast-iron ram was attached, and on the eighth of March,
she cast loose from her moorings and started down the river. She was
scarcely complete, her crew had never been drilled, she had never fired
a gun, nor had her engines made a single revolution, while the ship
itself was merely a bold experiment, which had never made a trial trip.
Yet Buchanan, on reaching Hampton Roads, headed straight for the Union
fleet.
There, as soon as the identity of the stranger was discovered, hurried
preparations for battle were made. Decks were cleared, magazines opened,
and guns loaded, and as soon as the Merrimac was in range, the Union
ships and shore batteries opened upon her, but such projectiles as
struck her, glanced harmlessly from her iron mail.
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