[Illustration: THE CONFEDERATE STATES] [Sidenote: =Battle between ironclads=] But Lincoln placed his hope in the _Monitor_. This strange craft, "looking like a cheese box on a raft," reached Hampton Roads that night and took position to defend the Union fleet from the _Merrimac_. The next morning the two ironclads met in battle. It was a battle of giants. "Why do you stop firing?" asked an officer of one of the gunners on the _Merrimac_. "I can do her as much damage by snapping my thumb at her every two minutes and a half," was the reply. [Illustration: ABRAHAM LINCOLN _From a rare photograph taken by Alexander Hesler in Chicago, 1860, and loaned by the Chicago Photogravure Company, who own the original_] It was a drawn battle. Washington was safe. The South could not break the blockade. This battle between the _Merrimac_ and the _Monitor_ changed the navies of the world. Wooden war vessels now gave place to iron vessels. [Sidenote: =McClellan in the East=] Meantime great battles were also being fought on land. In the East the Union army under General McClellan had been hurled back in an attack on Richmond. The Confederates under General Lee, in an attempt to invade the North, had been forced to retreat. [Sidenote: =Grant in the West=] In the West events of equal importance were taking place. The Union troops under General Grant defeated the Confederates in many battles in Kentucky and Tennessee. Then with the aid of the Union fleet under Captain David Farragut, Grant captured the Confederate strongholds along the Mississippi River, and so cut the Confederacy in two. [Sidenote: =Slavery question to the front=] Lincoln had declared the war was to be fought to save the Union and not to get rid of slavery. But as the war went on, the slavery question would keep coming up. The Confederates used the slaves to build forts, cook for the army, and to do other work. Thus the slave took the place of the white soldier. Other slaves raised food supplies and cared for the women. In this way the slaves were constantly being used to help fight against the Union. [Sidenote: =Proclamation of Emancipation=] The time had come to destroy slavery. Lincoln now saw that by freeing the slaves he could strike a heavy blow at the Confederacy. So as commander in chief of the Union armies he issued the Proclamation of Emancipation January 1, 1863. The war, however, continued more than two years longer. The long list of dead and wounded on both sides saddened Lincoln. Day by day the lines in his kindly face grew deeper. Finally the news came that General Grant had hammered General Lee's lines to pieces, and that Jefferson Davis and his cabinet were leaving Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy. [Illustration: THE STATUE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN LINCOLN PARK, CHICAGO _By Augustus St. Gaudens_] Early in April President Lincoln went to visit the city of Richmond. Here he saw a city on fire, and a mob breaking into houses. [Sidenote: =Lee surrenders=]