The _Merrimac_ had lost twenty-one killed and wounded--among the wounded
was her gallant flag officer, Franklin Buchanan. The _Patrick Henry_ had
lost fourteen, the _Beaufort_ eight, the _Raleigh_ seven, including two
officers.
The Federal squadron had lost two ships and four hundred men.
But by far the greatest loss to the United States Navy was the supremacy
of the seas. The power of her fleets had been smashed at a blow. The
ugly, black, powder-stained, iron thing lying under the guns of Sewell's
Point had won the crown of the world's naval supremacy. The fleets of
the United States were practically out of commission while she was
afloat. The panic at the North which followed the startling news from
Hampton Roads was indescribable. Abraham Lincoln hastily called a
Cabinet meeting to consider what action it was necessary to take to meet
the now appalling situation. Never before had any man in authority at
Washington realized how absolute was their dependence on the United
States Navy--how impossible it would be to maintain the Government
without its power.
Edwin M. Stanton, the indefatigable Secretary of War, completely lost
his nerve at this Cabinet meeting. He paced the floor with quick excited
tread, glancing out of the window of the White House toward the waters
of the Potomac with undisguised fear.
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