THE FIRST IRON-CLAD VESSELS IN HISTORY. -- THE "MERRIMAC" SINKS
THE "CUMBERLAND," AND DESTROYS THE "CONGRESS." -- DUEL BETWEEN
THE "MONITOR" AND "MERRIMAC."
It will be remembered that when the Union forces, alarmed by the
threatening attitude of the inhabitants of Norfolk and the vicinity,
fled from the Norfolk navy-yard, leaving every thing there in flames,
they left behind them a fine United States frigate, "Merrimac," a ship
of thirty-five hundred tons, carrying forty guns. The departing
Federals did their work of destruction fairly well; for the great ship
was burnt to the upper edge of her copper sheathing, and sank to the
bottom of the river. Three or four months after the occupation of the
Norfolk navy-yard by the Confederates, Lieut. George M. Brooke, an
ex-officer of the United States navy, who had resigned that he might
follow the fortunes of his State, while looking at the hulk lying in
the river-channel, was suddenly inspired with the thought that she
might be raised and converted into a formidable vessel-of-war. He
carefully matured his plans, and after due consideration proposed to
the Confederate secretary of the navy, that the "Merrimac" be raised
and converted into an iron-clad. His plans were approved, and orders
were given that they should be carried out. The "Merrimac," as
originally built, was one of the grand old types of war-vessels. Her
solid oak sides rose high above the water, and were pierced by a long
row of gaping portholes. Her masts towered high in the air; and when
her great sails were set, her hull seemed crushed beneath so vast an
expanse of canvas. When she had been remodelled, her entire appearance
was changed. She had no longer the appearance of a ship, but seemed
like a house afloat; and tradition says that the old salt on the
"Cumberland," who first sighted her, reported gravely to the officer
of the deck, "Quaker meetin'-house floating down the bay, sir."
When the hulk had been raised and placed in the dry-dock, the first
thing done was to cut it down to the level of the berth-deck; that is,
to the level of the deck below the gun-deck in the old rig. Then both
ends of the ship were decked over for a distance of seventy feet;
while the midship section was covered by a sort of roof, or
pent-house, one hundred and seventy feet long, and extending about
seven feet above the gun-deck. This roof was of pitch pine and oak,
twenty-four inches thick, and covered with iron plates two inches
thick. The upper part of the roof, being flat, was railed in, making a
kind of promenade deck. In the great chamber formed by this roof were
mounted ten guns, two of which, the bow and stern guns, were
seven-inch rifles, and fairly powerful guns for those days. A strange
feature of this ship, and one that was not discovered until she was
launched, was that the weight of the iron-plating and the heavy guns
she carried sunk her so deep in the water that the low deck forward
and aft of the gunroom was always under water; so much so that the
commander of another ship in the Confederate navy writes that he was
obliged always to give the "Merrimac" a wide berth, lest he should run
his ship on some part of the ram which lay unseen beneath the surface
of the water. Powerful as this ship was, she had some serious defects.
The greatest of these were her engines. They were the same that had
been in her as a United States vessel, and had been condemned by a
naval board as very defective. Naturally several weeks under water had
not improved them; but the Confederates could not be particular about
machinery just then, and the old engines were left in the new ram. It
was quickly found that they could not be depended upon more than six
hours at a time; and one of the ship's officers, in writing years
afterwards, remarks, "A more ill-contrived or unreliable pair of
engines could only have been found in some vessels of the United
States navy." The second faulty feature about the "Merrimac" was that
her rudder and propeller were entirely unprotected. The ram which was
so much dreaded, and which made the "Merrimac" a forerunner of a new
class of war-vessels, was of cast-iron, projecting four feet, and so
badly secured that it was loosened in ramming the "Cumberland," and
started a bad leak in the Confederate ship.
When this formidable vessel was completed, she was christened by her
new owners the "Virginia;" but the name of the old United States
frigate of which she was built stuck to her, and she has ever since
been known as the "Merrimac," and so we shall speak of her in this
narrative. She received as commander Commodore Franklin Buchanan, an
ex-Union officer of ability and daring, to whom the cadets of the
naval academy at Annapolis owe the beautiful situation of the academy,
and many of its admirable features; for he it was, who, in 1845, under
a commission from Mr. Bancroft, Secretary of the Navy, organized and
located the naval academy, and launched that institution upon its
successful career. Of officers the "Merrimac" had no lack, and good
ones they were; but in her crew she was lamentably deficient. Most of
the crew was made up of men from the army, who knew nothing of
seamanship, but who could at any rate fire a gun. A few good sailors
were obtained from those who escaped to Norfolk after the destruction
of the Confederate flotilla at Elizabeth City by Capt. Rowan's
squadron. They had but little chance for drills and exercise on the
new ship, for up to the very hour of sailing she was crowded with
workmen getting her ready for the task of breaking down the Yankee
blockade. When she finally set out to do battle for the South, she was
a new and untried ship: not a gun had been fired, and hardly a
revolution of her engines had been made. And so she started down the
river on her trial trip, but intending, nevertheless, to do battle
with the strongest ships of the United States navy. Accompanying her
were four small Confederate gunboats,--the "Beaufort," the "Yorktown,"
the "Jamestown," and the "Teaser." Soon rounding out into Hampton
Roads, the little squadron caught sight of the Northern fleet at
anchor, and made for them. An officer on the "Congress" thus tells the
story of the events that followed:--
"The 8th of March was a fine mild day, such as is common in Southern
Virginia during the early spring; and every one on board our ship was
enjoying the weather, and pleasing himself with the prospect of going
North in a day or two at farthest, and being relieved from the
monotony of a blockade at anchor. Some of us were pacing the poop,
basking in the sun, and watching the gulls, which here, as all over
the world, wherever a man-of-war is anchored, manage to find out when
it is dinnertime, appearing regularly when the mess-tins are being
washed, and the cooks are taking the buckets of broken victuals to the
head to throw overboard. Then they chatter and scream, and fight for
the remnants as they drift astern, until all is consumed, when they
betake themselves to fresh fields out of sight until we pipe to dinner
again.
"One bell had struck some time, when the attention of the
quarter-master on watch was drawn to an unusual appearance against the
fringe of woods away over in the Norfolk Channel. After gazing
intently some time, he approached the officer of the deck, and
presenting him the glass said,'I believe _that thing_ is a-comin' down
at last, sir.'
"Sure enough! There was a huge black roof, with a smokestack emerging
from it, creeping down towards Sewall's Point. Three or four
satellites, in the shape of small steamers and tugs, surrounded and
preceded her. Owing to the intervening land, they could not be seen
from Hampton Roads until some time after we had made them out; but,
when they did show themselves clear of the point, there was a great
stir among the shipping. But they turned up into the James River
channel instead of down toward the fort, approaching our anchorage
with ominous silence and deliberation.
"The officers were by this time all gathered on the poop, looking at
the strange craft, and hazarding all sorts of conjectures about her;
and when it was plain that she was coming to attack us, or to force
the passage, we beat to quarters, the "Cumberland's" drum answering
ours.
"By a little after four bells, or two o'clock, the strange monster was
close enough for us to make out her plating and ports; and we tried
her with a solid shot from one of our stern-guns, the projectile
glancing off her forward casemate like a drop of water from a duck's
back. This opened our eyes. Instantly she threw aside the screen from
one of her forward ports, and answered us with grape, killing and
wounding quite a number. She then passed us, receiving our broadside
and giving one in return, at a distance of less than two hundred
yards. Our shot had apparently no effect upon her, but the result of
her broadside on our ship was simply terrible. One of her shells
dismounted an eight-inch gun, and either killed or wounded every one
of the gun's crew, while the slaughter at the other guns was fearful.
There were comparatively few wounded, the fragments of the huge shells
she threw killing outright as a general thing. Our clean and handsome
gun-deck was in an instant changed into a slaughter-pen, with
lopped-off legs and arms, and bleeding, blackened bodies, scattered
about by the shells; while blood and brains actually dripped from the
beams. One poor fellow had his chest transfixed by a splinter of oak
as thick as the wrist; but the shell-wounds were even worse. The
quarter-master, who had first discovered the approach of the
iron-clad,--an old man-of-war's man, named John Leroy,--was taken
below with both legs off. The gallant fellow died in a few minutes,
but cheered and exhorted the men to stand by the ship, almost with his
last breath. The 'Merrimac' had, in the mean time, passed up stream;
and our poor fellows, thinking she had had enough of it, and was for
getting away, actually began to cheer. For many of them it was the
last cheer they were ever to give. We soon saw what her object was;
for standing up abreast of the bow of the 'Cumberland,' and putting
her helm aport, she ran her ram right into that vessel. The gallant
frigate kept up her splendid and deliberate, but ineffectual, fire,
until she filled and sank, which she did in a very few minutes. A
small freight-steamer of the quarter-master's department, and some
tugs and boats from the camp-wharf, put off to rescue the survivors,
who were forced to jump overboard. In spite of shot from the
Confederate gunboats, one of which pierced the boiler of the
freight-boat, they succeeded in saving the greater number of those who
were in the water. Seeing the fate of the 'Cumberland,' which sank in
very deep water, we set our topsails and jib, and slipped the chains,
under a sharp fire from the gunboats, which killed and wounded many.
With the help of the sails, and the tug 'Zouave,' the ship was now run
on the flats which make off from Newport News Point. Here the vessel
keeled over as the tide continued to fall, leaving us only two guns
which could be fought,--those in the stern ports. Two large
steam-frigates and a sailing-frigate, towed by tugs, had started up
from Hampton Roads to our assistance. They all got aground before they
had achieved half the distance; and it was fortunate that they did so,
for they would probably have met the fate of the 'Cumberland,' in
which case the lives of the twelve or thirteen hundred men comprising
their crews would have been uselessly jeopardized.
"After the 'Merrimac' had sunk the 'Cumberland,' she came down the
channel and attacked us again. Taking up a position about one hundred
and fifty yards astern of us, she deliberately raked us with
eighty-pounder shell; while the steamers we had so long kept up the
river, and those which had come out with the iron-clad from Norfolk,
all concentrated the fire of their small rifled guns upon us. At this
time we lost two officers, both elderly men. One was an acting master,
who was killed on the quarter-deck by a small rifle-bolt which struck
him between the shoulders, and went right through him. The other was
our old coast pilot, who was mortally wounded by a fragment of shell.
We kept up as strong a fire as we could from our two stern-guns; but
the men were repeatedly swept away from them, and at last both pieces
were disabled, one having the muzzle knocked off, and the other being
dismounted. Rifles and carbines were also used by some of our people
to try to pick off the 'Merrimac's' crew when her ports were opened to
fire, but of course the effect of the small-arms was not apparent to
us.
"It is useless to attempt to describe the condition of our decks by
this time. No one who has not seen it can appreciate the effect of
such a fire in a confined space. Men were being killed and maimed
every minute, those faring best whose duty kept them on the spar deck.
Just before our stern-guns were disabled, there were repeated calls
for powder from them; and, none appearing, I took a look on the
berth-deck to learn the cause. After my eyes had become a little
accustomed to the darkness, and the sharp smoke from burning oak, I
saw that the line of cooks and wardroom servants stationed to pass
full boxes had been raked by a shell, and the whole of them either
killed or wounded,--a sufficient reason why there was a delay with the
powder. (I may mention here that the officer who commanded our powder
division was a brother of the captain of the 'Merrimac.') The shells
searched the vessel everywhere. A man previously wounded was killed in
the cock-pit where he had been taken for surgical aid. The deck of the
cock-pit had to be kept sluiced with water from the pumps, to
extinguish the fire from the shells, although dreadfully wounded men
were lying on this deck, and the water was icy cold; but the
shell-room hatch opened out of the cock-pit, and fire must be kept out
of there at all hazards, or the whole of us would go into the air
together. In the wardroom and steerage, the bulkheads were all knocked
down by the shells, and by the axemen making way for the hose,
forming a scene of perfect ruin and desolation. Clothing, books,
glass, china, photographs, chairs, bedding, and tables were all mixed
in one confused heap. Some time before this, our commanding officer, a
fine young man, had been instantly killed by a fragment of shell which
struck him in the chest. His watch, and one of his shoulder-straps
(the other being gone), were afterwards sent safely to his father, a
veteran naval officer.
"We had now borne this fire for nearly an hour, and there was no
prospect of assistance from any quarter, while we were being
slaughtered without being able to return a shot. Seeing this, the
officer who had succeeded to the command of the ship, upon
consultation with our former captain (who was on board as a guest),
ordered our flag to be struck. It is not a pleasant thing to have to
strike your flag; but I did not see then, and do not see now, what
else we were to do.
"A boat now boarded us with an officer from the 'Merrimac,' who said
he would take charge of the ship. He did nothing, however, but gaze
about a little, and pick up a carbine and cutlass,--I presume as
trophies. One of the small gunboats then came alongside, and the
officer from the 'Merrimac' left. The commander of the gunboat said
that we must get out of the ship at once, as he had orders to burn
her. Some of our people went on board of his craft as prisoners, but
not many. As her upper deck was about even with our main-deck ports,
our surgeon stepped out of one, and told the commanding officer that
we had some dreadfully wounded men, and that we must have time to
collect them, and place them on board his vessel, and, moreover, that
our ship was on fire with no possibility of saving her. The reply was,
'You must make haste: those scoundrels on shore are firing at me now.'
In fact, the rifle-balls were 'pinging' about very briskly, scarring
the rusty black sides of the poor old frigate; for the Twentieth
Indiana Regiment had come down from the camp to the point, and opened
fire on the gunboat as she lay alongside of us. Our doctor having no
desire to be killed, especially by our own people, jumped back into
the port, just as the steamer, finding it too hot, shoved off and left
us. As soon as she did so, they all opened upon us again; although we
had a white flag flying to show we were out of action, and we
certainly could not be held responsible for the action of the regiment
on shore. After ten or fifteen minutes, however, they all withdrew,
and went down the channel, to bestow their attentions upon the
frigate 'Minnesota' which was hard aground. Fortunately the 'Merrimac'
drew too much water to come near the 'Minnesota' at that stage of
tide, and the small-fry were soon driven off by the latter ship's
battery. Night now approaching, the whole Rebel flotilla withdrew, and
proceeded up the Norfolk Channel.
"Although relieved from the pressure of actual battle, we still had
the unpleasant consciousness that the fire was making progress in the
vicinity of our after-magazine; and we felt as I suppose men would
feel who are walking in the crater of a volcano on the verge of
eruption. Fortunately for us, the 'Merrimac' and her consorts had not
fired much at our upper works and spars, the principal damage being
inflicted upon our lower decks. We had, therefore, the launch and
first cutter,--large boats,--which, with a little stuffing of
shot-holes, were fit to carry us the short distance between our ship
and the shore. The yard and stay-tackles were got up, and the boats
put into the water, as soon as possible; the fire gaining, and the sun
going down, in the mean time.
"By successive boatloads the survivors were all landed; the launch
being brought up under the bill port, and the wounded, in cots,
lowered into her by a whip from the fore yard, which was braced up for
the purpose. This boat was nearly filled with water on her last trip,
being a good deal damaged; obliging some of the officers, who had
stayed until the last, to jump overboard into the icy cold water, and
lean their hands on the gunwale, so as to relieve the boat of a part
of their weight. She grounded in water about waist-deep; and the
soldiers from the camp waded out and assisted our men in bearing on
shore, and to the log hospital of the Twentieth Indiana, those who
were in cots. We had managed to get the body of our gallant young
commander on shore in one of the cots, as a wounded man. The mass of
the men were so 'gallied,' to use a sailor phrase, by the time the
action was over, what with enduring so severe a fire without being
able to respond, and also with the knowledge that an explosion of the
magazine might occur at any time, that I doubt whether they could have
been induced to bring off a man whom they knew to be dead. The
officers repeatedly went about the decks looking for wounded men; and
I firmly believe that all who were alive were brought off. Our poor
old ship, deserted by all but the dead, burned till about midnight,
when she blew up."
The final destruction of the "Congress" must have been a most imposing
spectacle. A member of the Confederate army, who was stationed in one
of the batteries near the scene of action, thus describes it: "Night
had come, mild and calm, refulgent with all the beauty of Southern
skies in early spring. The moon, in her second quarter, was just
rising over the rippling waters; but her silvery light was soon paled
by the conflagration of the 'Congress,' whose lurid glare was
reflected in the river. The burning frigate four miles away seemed
very much nearer. As the flames crept up the rigging, every mast,
spar, and rope glittered against the dark sky in dazzling lines of
fire. The hull, aground upon the shoal, was plainly visible; and upon
its black surface each porthole seemed the mouth of a fiery furnace.
For hours the flames raged, with hardly a perceptible change in the
wondrous picture. At irregular intervals, loaded guns and shells,
exploding as the flames reached them, sent forth their deep
reverberations, re-echoed over and over from every headland of the
bay. The masts and rigging were still standing, apparently intact,
when about two o'clock in the morning a monstrous sheet of flame rose
from the vessel to an immense height. The ship was rent in twain by
the tremendous flash. Blazing fragments seemed to fill the air; and,
after a long interval, a deep, deafening report announced the
explosion of the ship's powder-magazine. When the blinding glare had
subsided, I supposed that every vestige of the vessel would have
disappeared; but apparently all the force of the explosion had been
upward. The rigging had vanished entirely, but the hull seemed hardly
shattered; the only apparent change in it was that in two or three
places, two or three of the portholes had been blown into one great
gap. It continued to burn until the brightness of its blaze was
effaced by the morning sun."
In the great drama of the first day's fight at Hampton Roads, the
heroic part was played by the frigate "Cumberland." On the morning of
that fateful 8th of March, she was swinging idly at her moorings, her
boats floating at the boom, and her men lounging about the deck, never
dreaming of the impending disaster. It was wash-day, and from the
lower rigging of the ship hung garments drying in the sun. About noon
the lookout saw a cloud of smoke, apparently coming down the river
from Norfolk, and at once notified the officer of the deck. It was
surmised that it might be the new and mysterious iron-clad "Merrimac,"
about which many rumors were current, but few facts known. Quickly the
ship was set in trim for action, and the men sent to quarters. All
the stern preparations for battle were made--the guns all shotted, the
men in position, the magazines opened; shot, shell, cartridges, all in
place; the powder-boys at their stations; swords, pistols,
boarding-pikes, in the racks. Down in the cock-pit the surgeons spread
out upon their tables the gleaming instruments, which made brave men
shudder with the thought of what a few minutes would bring.
The sailors prepared for the fight gayly, never doubting for a moment
that victory would be on their side. So paltry had been the resistance
that the Confederates had heretofore been able to oppose to the
Northern arms, by sea, that the blue-jackets felt that they had only
to open a fight in order to win it. The officers were more serious.
Rumors had reached them that the "Merrimac" was a most powerful
vessel, destined to annihilate the navy of the North; and they looked
on this first battle with the monster with many misgivings. Their
fears were somewhat lessened by an article printed in the Norfolk
papers, a few days previous, denouncing the "Merrimac" as a bungling
bit of work, absolutely unseaworthy, and unable to stand against the
powerful vessels of the North. As it turned out, however, this article
was published as a _ruse_ to deceive the Northern authorities.
The iron ship came steaming sullenly down the bay. The "Congress" was
the first ship in range, and a puff of smoke from the "Merrimac's"
bow-gun warned the crew of the frigate that danger was coming. All
held their breath an instant, until, with a clatter and whiz, a storm
of grape-shot rattled against her sides, and whistled through the
rigging. Then came a sigh of relief that it was no worse. When the
enemy was within a quarter of a mile, the "Congress" let fly her whole
broadside, and the crew crowded the ports to see the result. The great
iron shot rattled off the mailed sides of the monster, like hailstones
from a roof. Then came the return fire; and the "Congress" was riddled
with shells, and her decks ran with blood. The "Merrimac" passed
sullenly on.
Now it was the turn of the "Cumberland." Her officers and crew had
seen the results of the fire of the "Congress," and, with sinking
hearts, felt how hopeless was their own position. There was no chance
for escape, for no wind filled the sails of the frigate. She lay
helpless, awaiting the attack of the iron battery that bore down upon
her, without firing a shot or opening a port. At a little past two the
mailed frigate had approached the "Cumberland" within grape-shot
distance. Fire was opened upon her with the heaviest guns; and
officers and men watched breathlessly the course of their shot, and
cried aloud with rage, or groaned in despair, as they saw them fall
harmlessly from the iron ship. Still they had no thought of surrender.
The fire of the "Cumberland" was received silently by the "Merrimac;"
and she came straight on, her sharp prow cutting viciously through the
water, and pointed straight for her victim. A second broadside, at
point-blank range, had no effect on her. One solid shot was seen to
strike her armored sides, and, glancing upward, fly high into the air,
as a baseball glances from the bat of the batsman; then, falling, it
struck the roof of the pilot-house, and fell harmlessly into the sea.
In another instant the iron ram crashed into the side of the
"Cumberland," cutting through oaken timbers, decks, and cabins. At the
same time all the guns that could be brought to bear on the Northern
frigate were discharged; and shells crashed through her timbers, and
exploded upon her decks, piling splinters, guns, gun-carriages, and
men in one confused wreck. Had not the engines of the ram been
reversed just before striking the frigate, her headway would have
carried her clear to the opposite side of the doomed ship, and the
"Cumberland," in sinking, would have carried her destroyer to the
bottom with her. As it was, the "Merrimac," with a powerful wrench,
drew out of the wreck she had made, loosening her iron prow, and
springing a serious leak in the operation. She drew off a short
distance, paused to examine the work she had done, and then, as if
satisfied, started to complete the destruction of the "Congress."
And well might the men of the "Merrimac" be satisfied with their
hour's work. The "Cumberland" was a hopeless wreck, rapidly sinking.
Her decks were bloodstained, and covered with dead men, and scattered
arms and legs, torn off by the exploding shells. And yet her brave
crew stuck to their guns, and fought with cool valor, and without a
vestige of confusion. They had had but a few moments to prepare for
action; and the long rows of clothes, drying in the rigging, told how
peaceful had been their occupation before the "Merrimac" appeared upon
the scene. Yet now that the storm of battle had burst, and its issue
was clearly against them, these men stood to their guns, although they
could feel the deck sinking beneath them. Every man was at his post;
and even when the waters were pouring in on the gun-deck, the guns
were loaded and fired. Indeed, the last shot was fired from a gun half
buried in the waves. Then the grand old frigate settled down to the
bottom, carrying half her crew with her, but keeping the stars and
stripes still floating at the fore.
The destruction of the "Cumberland" being completed, the "Merrimac"
steamed over to the "Congress." This frigate fought well and
valorously, but was soon pounded into a helpless condition by the
shells of the "Merrimac," as shown by the story of her officer,
already quoted. When a white flag, floating at her peak, told of
surrender, the "Merrimac" left her to the attention of the smaller
vessels in the Confederate flotilla, and set out to find further
victims. But by this time the remainder of the Federal fleet had taken
alarm, and fled into a safe position under the shelter of the Federal
batteries on shore. The "Minnesota" only had been unfortunate in her
attempted flight, and was aground on a bar near the scene of the
fight. But now only two hours of daylight remained, and the tide was
low, and still on the ebb. The heavy iron frigate could not get within
effective distance of the "Minnesota," her crew were weary with a
day's fighting, and so she turned away and headed up the river for
Norfolk.
In taking account of injuries on the ram that night, it was found that
the injured numbered twenty-one; many of whom had been shot while
alongside the surrendered "Congress." Not an atom of damage was done
to the interior of the vessel, and her armor showed hardly a trace of
the terrible test through which it had passed. But nothing outside had
escaped: the muzzles of two guns had been shot off; the ram was
wrenched away in withdrawing from the "Cumberland;" one anchor, the
smokestack, steam-pipe, railings, flagstaff, boat-davitts--all were
swept away as though a huge mowing-machine had passed over the deck.
But, so far as her fighting qualities were concerned, the "Merrimac"
was as powerful as when she started out from Norfolk on that bright
spring morning.
It can easily be understood that the news of the engagement caused the
most intense excitement throughout this country, and indeed throughout
the whole world. In the South, all was rejoicing over this signal
success of the Confederate ship. Bells were rung, and jubilees held,
in all the Southern cities. An officer of the "Merrimac," who was
despatched post-haste to Richmond with reports of the engagement, was
met at every station by excited crowds, who demanded that he tell the
story of the fight over and over again. At last the starving people of
the Confederacy saw the way clear for the sweeping away of the
remorseless blockade.
In the North, the excitement was that of fear. The people of seaboard
cities imagined every moment the irresistible iron ship steaming into
their harbors, and mowing down their buildings with her terrible
shells. The Secretary of War said, at a hastily called cabinet meeting
in Washington: "The 'Merrimac' will change the whole character of the
war: she will destroy every naval vessel; she will lay all the
seaboard cities under contribution. Not unlikely we may have a shell
or cannon-ball from one of her guns, in the White House, before we
leave this room."
In this excited state, wild with joy, or harassed with fear, the whole
country went to sleep that March night, little dreaming that the
morrow would change the whole face of the naval situation, and that
even then a little untried vessel was steaming, unheralded, toward
Hampton Roads, there to meet the dreaded "Merrimac," and save the
remnants of the Federal fleet. Then no one knew of the "Monitor;" but
twenty-four hours later her name, and that of her inventor Ericsson,
were household words in all the States of the Union and the
Confederacy.
[Illustration: "Merrimac" and "Cumberland."]
Capt. John Ericsson was a Swedish engineer, residing in this country,
who had won a name for himself by inventing the screw-propeller as a
means of propulsion for steamships. He and a Connecticut capitalist,
C. S. Bushnell by name, had ever since the opening of the war been
trying to induce the Government to build some iron-clads after a
pattern designed by Ericsson, and which afterwards became known as the
"monitor" pattern. Their labors at Washington met with little success.
After a long explanation of the plan before the wise authorities of
the Naval Board, Capt. Ericsson was calmly dismissed with the remark,
"It resembles nothing in the heavens above, or the earth beneath, or
the waters under the earth. You can take it home, and worship it
without violating any Commandment." Finally, however, leave was
obtained to build a monitor for the Government, provided the builders
would take all financial risks in case it proved a failure. So, with
this grudging permission, the work of building the warship that was
destined to save the Federal navy was begun. Work was prosecuted night
and day, and in one hundred days the vessel was ready for launching.
Great was the discussion over her. Distinguished engineers predicted
that she would never float; and many attended the launch expecting to
see the vessel plunge from the ways to the bottom of the river, like a
turtle from a log. So general was this opinion, that boats were in
readiness to rescue her passengers if she went down. But Capt.
Ericsson's plans were well laid. The great vessel glided with a
graceful dip into the river, and floated at her cables buoyantly. She
was a strange-looking craft. All that was to be seen of her above
water was a low deck about a foot above the water, bearing in the
centre a large round iron turret pierced with two great portholes.
Besides the turret, the smooth surface of the deck was broken by two
other elevations,--a small iron pilot-house forward, made of iron
plates about ten inches thick, and with iron gratings in front; aft of
the turret was a low smokestack. Beneath the water-line this vessel
had some strange features. The upper part of her hull, forming the
deck, projected beyond her hull proper about four feet on every side.
This projection was known as the "overhang," and was designed as a
protection against rams. It was made of white oak and iron, and was
impenetrable by any cannon of that day; although now, when steel
rifled cannon are built that will send a ball through twenty inches of
wrought iron, the original "Monitor" would be a very weak vessel.
The turret in this little vessel, which held the two guns that she
mounted, was so arranged as to revolve on a central pivot, thus
enabling the gunners to keep their guns continually pointed at the
enemy, whatever might be the position of the vessel. When the time for
the first battle actually arrived, it was found that the turret would
not revolve properly; but in later ships of the same class this
trouble was avoided.
It was at two o'clock on the morning after the day on which the
"Merrimac" had wrought such havoc among the ships of the North, that
this queer-looking little vessel steamed into Hampton Roads. As the
gray dawn began to break, she passed under the quarter of the
"Minnesota," and cast anchor. The tars on the great frigate looked
curiously at the strange craft, and wondered if that insignificant
"cheese-box on a raft" was going to do battle with the dreaded
"Merrimac." Small hopes had they that their noble frigate would be
saved by any such pygmy warship.
In the mean time, the men of the "Merrimac" up at Norfolk were working
energetically to prepare her for the destruction of the rest of the
Union ships. Her ram was tightened in its place, her steering
apparatus overhauled, and some changes made, and her rickety engine
was patched up. At daybreak all was bustle as the ram prepared to move
down on the Union fleet. But just as she was about to start, her
officers saw the queer craft lying by the "Minnesota," which they at
once knew to be the Ericsson "Monitor." Her appearance was not very
terrible; but, nevertheless, the Confederates felt that she had
appeared at a most inopportune moment for them. Still they raised
anchor, and started down the bay to meet their mysterious enemy.
It was Sunday morning, and the sun rose in a cloudless blue sky. A
light breeze stirred the surface of the water, and played lazily with
the long streaming pennants of the men-of-war. The batteries on both
sides of the bay were crowded with men waiting for the great naval
battle of the day. Up at Norfolk a gay holiday party was embarking on
steam-tugs, to accompany the Confederate ship and witness the total
destruction of the Union fleet. No thought of defeat ever entered the
minds of the proud believers in the new iron-clad of the Confederacy.
At the first sign of life on board the "Merrimac," the "Monitor" began
her preparations for the battle. In fifteen minutes she was in battle
trim. The iron hatches were closed, the dead-light covers put on, and
obstructions removed from the main deck, so as to present a smooth
surface only twenty-four inches above the water, unbroken, save by the
turret and pilot-house. In the pilot-house was Lieut. Worden, who was
to command the "Monitor" in this her first battle.
[Illustration: Battle of the "Monitor" and "Merrimac."]
Leisurely the "Merrimac" came down the bay, followed by her attendant
tugs; and, as she came within range, she opened fire on the
"Minnesota," which was still aground. The frigate responded with a
mighty broadside, which, however, rattled off the mailed sides of the
ram like so many peas. Clearly, every thing depended upon the
"Monitor;" and that little craft steamed boldly out from behind the
"Minnesota," and sent two huge iron balls, weighing one hundred and
seventy pounds each, against the side of the "Merrimac." The shot
produced no effect beyond showing the men of the "Merrimac" that they
had met a foeman worthy of their steel. The "Merrimac" slowed up her
engines, as though to survey the strange antagonist thus braving her
power. The "Monitor" soon came up, and a cautious fight began; each
vessel sailing round the other, advancing, backing, making quick
dashes here and there, like two pugilists sparring for an opening. The
two shots of the "Monitor" would come banging one after the other
against the "Merrimac's" armor, like the "one, two" of a skilled
boxer. In this dancing battle the "Monitor" had an enormous
advantage, on account of her size, greater speed, and the way in which
she answered her helm. The "Merrimac" was like a huge hawk being
chased and baited by a little sparrow. Her heavy broadsides found
nothing to hit in the almost submerged hull of the "Monitor." When a
ball struck the turret, it glanced off, unless striking fair in the
centre, when it fell in fragments, doing no greater damage than to
dent the iron plates, and sometimes knocking down the men at the guns
inside. The first manoeuvre tried by the "Merrimac" was to run down
her little antagonist; and she did strike her with a force that dented
the iron overhang of the "Monitor," and clashed the men in the
"Merrimac" to the deck, with blood streaming from their nostrils. For
a moment it seemed as though the "Monitor" must go under; but
gradually the terrible ram glanced off, and the little vessel,
righting, sent again her terrible two shots at her enemy. In the
action of the day before, shot and shell had beaten against the sides
of the ram so rapidly that one could not count the concussions. Now it
was a series of tremendous blows about a minute apart; and, if the men
had not been working away at their guns, they could have heard the oak
timbers splintering behind the iron plating. At a critical moment in
the fight the "Merrimac" ran aground; and the "Monitor" steamed around
her several times, seeking for weak places in which to plant a shot
Once Worden dashed at his adversary's screw, hoping to disable it, but
missed by perhaps two feet. Two shots from the "Monitor" struck the
muzzles of two cannon protruding from the portholes of the "Merrimac,"
and broke them off, throwing huge splinters of iron among the gunners
inside. And so the battle continued until about noon: gun answered gun
with thunderous reports, that echoed back from the batteries on shore
in rolling reverberations. The pleasure-seeking tugs from Norfolk had
scuttled back again out of the way of the great cannon-balls that were
skipping along the water in every direction. Neither of the combatants
had received any serious injury. On board the "Monitor" the only hurt
was received by a gunner, who was leaning against the iron wall of the
turret just as a shot struck outside; he was carried below, disabled.
But at last one lucky shot fired from one of the disabled guns of the
"Merrimac" ended this gigantic contest; sending each contestant to her
moorings, without an actual victory for either side. This shot struck
full and fair against the gratings of the pilot-house, through which
Lieut. Worden was looking as he directed the course of his ship. The
concussion knocked him senseless. Flakes of iron and powder were
driven into his eyes and face, blinding him completely for the time.
He fell back from the wheel, and the "Monitor" was left for a moment
without her guiding spirit. All was confusion; but in a few moments
Worden recovered, and gave the order to sheer off. The "Monitor" then
drew away, while Worden was moved to the cabin, and the second officer
sent to his station in the turret. Lying on a sofa in the cabin, his
eyes bandaged, and the horror of life-long blindness upon him, Worden
asked faintly, "Have I saved the 'Minnesota'?"--"Yes," answered the
surgeon. "Then," said he, "I die happy."
While these scenes were transpiring on the "Monitor," the "Merrimac"
lay quietly awaiting her return. The Confederate officers say that she
waited an hour, and then, concluding that the "Monitor" had abandoned
the fight, withdrew to Norfolk. The Northern officers and historians
say that the "Merrimac" was in full retreat when the decisive shot was
fired. It is hard to decide, from such conflicting statements, to
which side the victory belonged. Certain it is, that not a man on the
"Merrimac" was injured, and that all damages she sustained in the
fight were remedied before sunrise the next day. Later, as we shall
see, she challenged the Union fleet to a new battle, without response.
But with all these facts in view, it must be borne in mind that the
purpose of the "Merrimac," that bright March Sunday, was to destroy
the frigate "Minnesota:" in that purpose she was foiled by the
"Monitor," and to that extent at least the "Monitor" was the victor.
Lieut. Worden, after the fight, went directly to Washington. President
Lincoln was at a cabinet meeting when he heard of Worden's arrival in
the city, and hastily rising said, "Gentlemen, I must go to _that
fellow_." Worden was lying on a sofa, his head swathed in bandages,
when the President entered. "Mr. President," said he, "you do me great
honor by this visit."--"Sir," replied Mr. Lincoln, while the tears ran
down his cheeks, "I am the one who is honored in this interview."
Among his crew Worden was very much beloved. The following letter,
sent him while on a bed of pain, is all the more touching for the rude
form in which their affection for their commander is expressed:--
[Illustration: Handling a Gun.]
TO CAPTAIN WORDEN.
HAMPTON ROADS, April 24, 1862.
UNITED STATES MONITOR.
TO OUR DEAR AND HONORED CAPTAIN.
_Dear Sir,_--These few lines is from your own crew of the
Monitor, with their kindest Love to you their Honored Captain,
hoping to God that they will have the pleasure of welcoming you
back to us again soon, for we are all ready able and willing to
meet Death or any thing else, only give us back our Captain
again. Dear Captain, we have got your Pilot-house fixed and all
ready for you when you get well again; and we all sincerely hope
that soon we will have the pleasure of welcoming you back to
it.... We are waiting very patiently to engage our Antagonist if
we could only get a chance to do so. The last time she came out
we all thought we would have the Pleasure of sinking her. But we
all got disappointed, for we did not fire one shot, and the
Norfolk papers says we are cowards in the Monitor--and all we
want is a chance to show them where it lies with you for our
Captain. We can teach them who is cowards. But there is a great
deal that we would like to write to you but we think you will
soon be with us again yourself. But we all join in with our
kindest love to you, hoping that God will restore you to us again
and hoping that your sufferings is at an end now, and we are all
so glad to hear that your eyesight will be spaired to you again.
We would wish to write more to you if we have your kind
Permission to do so but at present we all conclude by tendering
to you our kindest Love and affection, to our Dear and Honored
Captain.
We remain untill Death your Affectionate Crew
THE MONITOR BOYS.
The "Merrimac," after being repaired and altered to some extent,
sailed down the bay on the 11th of April, for the purpose, as her
officers said, of meeting the "Monitor" again. She steamed into the
Roads, and exchanged a few shots with the Union batteries at the
rip-raps; but the "Monitor," and other Union vessels, remained below
Fortress Monroe, in Chesapeake Bay, out of the reach of the
Confederate vessel. Again, a few days later, the "Merrimac" went to
Hampton Roads, and tried to lure the "Monitor" to battle; but again
the challenge passed unanswered. It is probable that the Federal naval
authorities did not care to imperil the only vessel that stood between
them and destruction, out of mere bravado. Had the "Monitor" come out,
an attempt would have been made to carry her by boarding. The crew of
the "Merrimac" were prepared for the attack; and four gunboats
accompanying her were crowded with men, divided into squads, each with
its specified duty. Some were to try and wedge the turret, some were
to cover the pilot-house and all the openings with tarpaulin, others
were to try to throw shells and gunpowder down the smokestack. But all
these preparations proved useless, as the "Monitor" still remained
quietly at her anchorage. On May 8 a third trip was made by the
"Merrimac." When she came down the bay, she found the Union fleet,
including the "Monitor," hard at work shelling the Confederate
batteries at Sewall's Point. As she came towards them, they ceased
their cannonade, and retired again to the shelter of Fortress Monroe.
The "Merrimac" steamed up and down the Roads for some hours; and
finally Commodore Tatnall, in deep disgust, gave the order, "Mr.
Jones, fire a gun to windward, and take the ship back to her buoy."
Back to Norfolk she went, never again to leave that harbor. On the 9th
of May the officers of the "Merrimac" noticed that the Confederate
flag was no longer floating over the shore-batteries. A reconnoissance
proved that the land forces had abandoned Norfolk, and it was
necessary to get the ship away before the Union troops arrived and
hemmed her in. Her pilots declared that if the ship was lightened they
could take her up the James River; and accordingly all hands threw
overboard ballast and trappings, until she was lightened three feet.
Then the pilots claimed that with the prevalent wind they could not
handle her. It was now useless to try to run her through the Union
fleet, for the lightening process had exposed three feet of her
unarmed hull to the fire of the enemy. It was accordingly determined
that she should be destroyed. She was run ashore on Craney Island, and
trains of powder laid all over her, and fired. Every gun was loaded,
and the doors of the magazine were left open. Her crew then started on
the march for the interior. It was just in the gray of the morning
that a rumbling of the earth was felt, followed by a shock that made
all stagger. A column of smoke and flame shot into the air; huge
cannon were hurled high above the tree-tops, discharging in mid-air.
One shot fell in the woods some distance ahead of the marching crew,
and all knew that it marked the end of the mighty "Merrimac."