ON THE GUN -DECK OF THE CONFEDERATE IRON-CLAD, “MERRIMAC."
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AT the opening of the Peninsular campaign, April 1st, 18(52, the North Atlan-TTjL tic Squadron, with its headquarters at Hampton Roads, was commandedby Flag-Officer Louis M. Goldsborougli. The command included not onlythe operations in the Chesapeake and its tributary waters, but an entirelydistinct series of operations in the sounds of North Carolina , and a third dis-tinct and also very important service,— that of the Wilmington blockade.This concentration of command at a distance from the various fields ofaction was not without injurious results. The attention of the flag-officercould not be successfully directed at the same instant of time to such variedand complicated movements as were simultaneously in progress in the YorkRiver, the James River, Hampton Roads, Albemarle Sound, and the entranceto Wilmington .
Of the various plans for a direct movement upon Richmond considered bythe civil and military authorities in the winter of 1861-62, that by way ofUrbana on the Rappahannock River was finally adopted, but the withdrawalof General Johnston from Centreville led to a change of plan at the lastmoment; and on the 13th of March it was decided to advance from FortMonroe as a base. The detailed plan of General McClellan comprehended anattack by the navy upon the batteries at Yorktown and Gloucester, on oppo-site sides of the York River. It was upon the navy that he chiefly relied toreduce these obstacles to his progress and to clear the way to his proposedbase, the White House on the Pamunkey River. This fact was made knownto the War Department , but apparently the Navy Department was not fullyapprised of it. The question was asked of the Navy Department whether theMerrimac, at that time lying in the Elizabeth River, could be held in check,
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