The stories of the _Monitor_ and the _Merrimac_ may soon be completed. The _Merrimac_ was overhauled at Norfolk. Commodore Josiah Tattnall relieved Admiral Buchanan in command. On the 11th of April he took the _Virginia_ (_Merrimac_) down to Hampton Roads, expecting to have a desperate encounter with the _Monitor_. “Greatly to our surprise, the _Monitor_ refused to fight us. She closely hugged the shore under the guns of the fort, with her steam up. Hoping to provoke her to come out, the _Jamestown_ was sent in, and captured several prizes, but the _Monitor_ would not budge.” That is from a Confederate account, and it is truthful. The _Monitor_ was under strict orders from Washington not to engage the _Merrimac_ unless forced to do so. A great fleet, that included a number of vessels which were supposed to be able to sink the _Merrimac_ by ramming, had gathered at Hampton Roads. Commodore Goldsborough was in command of the fleet. The prizes mentioned, two brigs and a schooner, were taken from Newport News and in plain sight of the fleet. Professor Soley’s history says very truly that this incident was “humiliating.” For about a month after that nothing was done, but “on the 8th of May a squadron, including the _Monitor_, bombarded our batteries at Sewell’s Point. We immediately left the yard for the Roads. As we drew near, the _Monitor_ and her consorts ceased bombarding, and retreated under the guns of the forts, keeping beyond the range of our guns. Men-of-war from below the forts, and vessels expressly fitted for running us down, joined the other vessels between the forts. It looked as if the fleet was about to make a fierce onslaught upon us. But we were again to be disappointed. The _Monitor_ and the other vessels did not venture to meet us, although we advanced until projectiles from the Rip Raps fell more than half a mile beyond us. Our object, however, was accomplished; we had put an end to the bombardment, and we returned to our buoy.” As the reader observes, this is also a Confederate account. Commodore Goldsborough’s report says, on the contrary, that “the _Merrimac_ was more cautious than ever”; and that the “_Monitor_ was kept well in advance so that the _Merrimac_ could have engaged her without difficulty had she been so disposed.” But the unprejudiced reader will say that a Farragut was needed at the head of the Union force.