225. The Cumberland


225
The Cumberland

This is a more detailed account, from the Union point of view,
of the event related in 'The Merrinmc' (see below). That historic
fight, first proving the power of ironclads, was the subject of bal-

 

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lads by Longfellow, Herman Melville, and George H. Boker. Per-
haps the most elaborate factual treatment of it is that by W.
Tindall. "The True Story of the Virginia and the Monitor." Vir-
ginia Magazine of History and Biography, xxxi (1023), 1-38,
90-145-

The firing actually began at about two o'clock, March 8, 1862,
when the Virginia was nearly a mile from the Congress and the
Cumberland. Passing the Congress, the Virginia rammed the
Cumberland, then backed off about one hundred yards ; and the
captain of the Virginia demanded that the Cumberland surrender.
This demand the Cumberland defiantly refused. There may have
been a second ramming, or a movement that resembled one. At any
rate, after further battering, during which she kept up a heavy fire,
the Cumberland sank, at about 3:30 p.m., "with her pennant still
flying from the topmast above the waves."

The printed original of Mrs. Wise's oral version is a broadside
in a collection of war songs, 1861-65, once belonging to John E.
Burton, Geneva Lake, Wisconsin, and acquired by the Harvard
College Library in 1924. The broadside is headed: "Good Ship
Cumberland. Which was sunk by The Rebel Steamer Merrimac,
in Hampton Roads, March 9th, 1862. The little Monitor then
whipped the Merrimac and the whole school of Rebel steamers. Air
— 'Raging Canal.' Johnson, Song Publisher, Philadelphia." The
heading bears the direction, "See the companion to this song, Cum-
berland Crew." (This is in Wehman's Good Old Time Songs No. 1
[New York, 1890], p. 13.) Interesting parts of the broadside are
here given.

1 Come all ye merry sailors, and all ye landsmen too,
Come listen to a story that I'll unfold to you ;

It's all about The Cumberland, the ship so true and brave,
And of her bold and loyal crew, who met a watery grave.

2 [Much as in N. C. text, 1.2 reading] . . . safe did lay.

3 [Much as in N. C]

4 [Much as in N. C. except 1.4:]

Then she sent a ball a humming that stilled the beat of many a
heart.

5 In vain we poured our broadside into her ribs of steel.
Yet still no breach made in her, or damage did she feel ;
Then to our bold Commander the rebel captain spoke —
'Haul down your flying colors or I'll sink your Yankee boat.'

6 Our Captain's eyes did glisten and his cheeks grew white with rage,
And to the rebel pirate in a voice of thunder said :

'My men are brave and loyal, my flag shall ever stand,
Before I strike my colors you shall sink us and be d d!'

7 Then the iron-clad monster left us some hundred yards or more,
And with her whistle screaming at our wooden sides she bore ;
She struck us right amidship, and her ram went crashing through.
And the waters came rushing in on our gallant crew.

8 Then turning to his gallant crew that bold Commander said:
'I will never strike the colors while the vessel rides the wave;
I'll go down with the flag a flying into a watery grave,

But you, my gallant comrades, may seek your life to save.'

 

532 NORTH CAROLINA FOLKLORE

9 They swore they'd never leave him, and manned their guns afresh,
And poured broadside after broadside, till the water reached their

breasts ;
And she sank far down, far down in the briny deep
And the stars and stripes were flying from the main top's highest

peak.

The same is in Wehman Bros.' Good Old Time Songs No. 4 (New
York, 1916), pp. 84-85.

'Cumblom.' Contributed by L. W. Anderson, of Nag's Head, who had it
from Alva Wise, Nag's Head, who obtained it from his mother, Mrs.
J. P. Wise. Undated.

1 Was early in the morning, just at the break of day,
When our good ship the Cumblom anchored safe delay,
The men up in the look out to those below did cry,

*I see something at the starber like a house top it does lie.'^

2 Our Captain ceased the telescope and gaze far over the blue.
Then turning to his comrades, his brave and noble crew,
'That thing you see right yonder looks like a turtle's back,
It's that infernal rebel-ship they call the Mary Mack,'

3 Our decks were cleared for action, our guns were pointed

true.

When the Mary Mack came skimming across the watery
blue.

She came right up right onward till they weren't no dis-
tance apart,

Then she sent a ball screaming to sink some aching heart.

4 Out Rebel Captain to Yankee Captain spoke,

'If you don't haul down your colors, sir, I'll sink your

Yankee boat.'
Our Captain's eyes flashed fire, his cheeks turned deathly

pale.
'I'll not haul down my colors, sir, as long as she rides the

gale.'

5 Our old arm manester^ left us one hundred yards or more ;
Then with a whistle screaming the wooden side she bore.
She went far down, far downward all in the briny deep.
And the stars and stripes were flying from the main and

top mast peak.

' This detail has its analogy in George H. Boker's On Board the
Cumberland:

And then began the sailors' jests:
'What thing is that, I say?'
'A 'long-shore meeting-house adrift
Is standing down the bay.'

* In stanza 7 of printed version, "iron-clad monster."

 

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