The following morning an advance was made upon Norfolk by the route proposed by General Viele.  The attempt was successful, and before night our forces were in control of the captured city.  Some time after midnight, as General Viele records, “with a shock that shook the city, and with an ominous sound that could not be mistaken, the magazine of the ‘Merrimac’ was exploded, the vessel having been cut off from supplies and deserted by the crew; and thus this most formidable engine of destruction, that had so long been a terror, not only to Hampton Roads, but to the Atlantic coast, went to her doom, a tragic and glorious finale to the trip of the ‘Miami.’”

Secretary Chase had accompanied the expedition against Norfolk, returning to Fortress Monroe with General Wool immediately after the surrender of the city.  The scene which ensued on the announcement of the good tidings they brought back to the anxious parties awaiting news of them was thus described by the President himself:  “Chase and Stanton had accompanied me to Fortress Monroe.  While we were there, an expedition was fitted out for an attack on Norfolk.  Chase and General Wool disappeared about the time we began to look for tidings of the result, and after vainly waiting their return till late in the evening, Stanton and I concluded to retire.  My room was on the second floor of the Commandant’s house, and Stanton’s was below.  The night was very warm,—­the moon shining brightly,—­and, too restless to sleep, I sat for some time by the table, reading.  Suddenly hearing footsteps, I looked out of the window, and saw two persons approaching, whom I knew by their relative size to be the missing men.  They came into the passage, and I heard them rap at Stanton’s door and tell him to get up and come upstairs.  A moment afterward they entered my room.  ’No time for ceremony, Mr. President,’ said General Wool; ‘Norfolk is ours!’ Stanton here burst in, just out of bed, clad in a long night-gown which nearly swept the floor, his ear catching, as he crossed the threshold, Wool’s last words.  Perfectly overjoyed, he rushed at the General, whom he hugged most affectionately, fairly lifting him from the floor in his delight.  The scene altogether must have been a comical one, though at the time we were all too greatly excited to take much note of mere appearances.”

Lincoln’s general grasp of military strategy, and his keen understanding of the specific problems confronting the Army of the Potomac in the critical autumn of 1862, are well indicated in the following communication to General McClellan: 

     EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
     October 13, 1862

MY DEAR SIR:—­You remember my speaking to you of what I called your over-cautiousness.  Are you not over-cautious when you assume that you cannot do what the enemy is constantly doing?  Should you not claim to be at least his equal in prowess, and act upon the claim?

As I understand, you telegraphed General