“He went into the house without a suspicion of possible injury, and found everything had been removed. The earthworks and magazines were hastily examined, and the encampment under the pine trees half a mile distant was then visited. “Returning to the vicinity of the earthworks, where our flag had been hoisted an hour before, a dull explosion was heard, a cloud of smoke went up, and when it passed away there was no vestige of the small frame house upon which our flag had been hoisted. A sailor walking near had fallen into the snare by his foot striking a wire fastened to a peg, through which a ‘spur tube’ had exploded a quantity of powder placed under the floor of the house. The sailor was knocked down and stunned for a few minutes.” The government loss in the fight was eight killed, and six seriously and seventeen slightly wounded. The Confederates lost “eleven killed, forty-eight wounded and four missing.” Admiral Porter says that “the victory at Port Royal put new life into Union hearts.” It “gave the powers of Europe notice that we could and would win back the forts that had been filched from us.” It “showed conclusively that the time-honored theory that one gun on shore was equal to five on shipboard no longer held good.” And of Dupont he says that “all the qualities of a great commander were possessed in an eminent degree” by him. The harbor of Port Royal remained under the flag. The adjoining waters were patrolled by government gunboats, and Tybee Island and other approaches to Savannah soon fell into government hands. Later on Port Royal was used as a base for the operations against Charleston, which will be described further on. CHAPTER IX THE _MONITOR_ AND THE _MERRIMAC_ SUPERIOR ACTIVITY OF THE CONFEDERATES IN PREPARING FOR IRONCLAD WARFARE AFLOAT--STORY OF THE BUILDING AND ARMING OF THE _MERRIMAC_--SHE WAS A FORMIDABLE SHIP IN SPITE OF DEFECTS IN DETAIL, BUT HER DESIGN WAS NOT THE BEST CONCEIVABLE--ORIGIN AND DESCRIPTION OF THE SHIP THAT REVOLUTIONIZED THE NAVIES OF THE WORLD--A WONDROUS TRIAL TRIP--FOR ONE DAY THE _MERRIMAC_ WAS IRRESISTIBLY TRIUMPHANT--TWO FINE SHIPS OF THE OLD STYLE DESTROYED WHILE SHE HERSELF SUFFERED BUT LITTLE--THE MAGNIFICENT FIGHT OF THE _CUMBERLAND_--A DIFFERENCE IN OPINIONS.