Here on the deck of the "Monitor" sit some of the men who held up the
hands of Lieutenant Worden in the great fight with the "Virginia." In the
picture, taken in July, 1862, only four months afterward, one of the nine
famous dents on the turret are visible. It required courage not only to
fight in the "Monitor" for the first time but to embark on her at all, for
she was a strange and untried invention at which many high authorities
shook their heads. But during the battle, amid all the difficulties of
breakdowns by the new untried machinery, Lieutenant S. Dana Greene coolly
directed his men, who kept up a fire of remarkable accuracy. Twenty of the
forty-one 11-inch shot fired from the "Monitor" took effect, more or less,
on the iron plates of the "Virginia." The "Monitor" was struck nine times
on her turret, twice on the pilot-house, thrice on the deck, and eight
times on the side. While Greene was fighting nobly in the turret, Worden
with the helmsman in the pilot-house was bravely maneuvering his vessel
and seeking to ram his huge antagonist. Twice he almost succeeded and both
times Greene's guns were used on the "Virginia" at point-blank range with
telling effect. Toward the close of the action Worden was blinded by a
shell striking near one of the peep-holes in the pilot-house and the
command devolved upon Greene. Worden, even in his agony of pain while the
doctor was attending his injuries, asked constantly about the progress of
the battle; and when told that the "Minnesota" was safe, he said, "Then I
can die happy."
[Illustration: ADMIRAL J. L. WORDEN]