year 1817, designed the present flag of the United States, which for a
time had been altered to fifteen stripes to designate the number of
States to which the country had increased. On the suggestion of Captain
Reid the number was again reduced to thirteen, and the addition of the
States designated by the number of stars in the blue field. This was
adopted by Act of Congress on April 4, 1818, and the first flag that was
flung to the breeze, under the new law, was made by Mrs. Reid, the wife
of the gallant Captain, the stars in the blue field being arranged at
that time in the shape of a constellation constituting one great star.
Besides the glory which Captain Reid achieved through his wonderful
exploit at Fayal--all the more wonderful if it is remembered that he
and his men were volunteer seamen, untrained in the regular navy of the
United States--he had rendered his country a service far greater even
than this feat of arms. It so happened that the ships of Commodore Lloyd
were bound for the Gulf of Mexico to assist in the attack upon New
Orleans; but by reason of the injury and demoralization inflicted on
them by Captain Reid they were delayed long enough to prevent their
co-operating with the British General, Sir Edward Packenham, in an
earlier attack upon New Orleans, as originally contemplated, when
General Jackson was not prepared to meet and defeat the enemy; the
consequence of which might have been the loss to the United States of
the entire Province of Louisiana, which had only a decade before been
acquired from France.
Captain Reid was born at Norwich, Connecticut, on August 25, 1783, and
died at the venerable age of seventy-eight at New York on January 28,
1861, on the very eve of our great Civil War, having enjoyed many
honors, among them an appointment as Warden of the Port of New York.
Not only on account of the extraordinary character of the fight itself,
but also on account of its indirect consequences, in assisting to bring
the War of 1812 to a close, is this painting of the greatest interest.
It measures full up to the excellence of the other numbers of the
series, notwithstanding the immediate subject was not one which
presented the most graphic material for the brush of the painter. Mr.
Moran chose the most thrilling incident of the fight in depicting the
firing of the brig on the approaching row-boats of the enemy. This he
has accomplished with consummate skill. He has herein, as in all his
other battle scenes on the water, avoided the portrayal of carnage and
destruction of human life in lurid colors as is the custom with most
painters. He has left these abhorrent scenes to the imagination, and has
thereby rendered his pictures, while suggesting all the dreadful
accompaniments of warfare, chaste, and free from scenes which are
revolting to the feelings.
The picture is perfect in itself, in its representation of the position
of the "Armstrong," swayed, as it evidently is, through the powerful
blasts from its own twenty-four pounder--the fire of the rifles from the
men in the British row-boats--the buildings on the shore in the
background on the left, with the suggestion of the hills on which the
town is built and the British ships in the offing on the right--with the
rising moon in the distance--and the shores of Fayal dimly defined upon
the horizon, extending, as they do in fact, with their two widening arms
around the harbor.
IRON VERSUS WOOD
Sinking of the Cumberland by the Merrimac
(_In Hampton Roads, March 8, 1862_)
[Illustration: Copyright, 1898, by Edward Moran.]
XI.
IRON VERSUS WOOD--SINKING OF THE CUMBERLAND BY THE MERRIMAC.
_In Hampton Roads, March 8, 1862._[N]
The title of this picture suggests not only the unequal character of the
fight which the wooden ship "Cumberland" fought against the iron-clad
"Merrimac," the first iron-clad that ever sailed in American waters, but
also recalls to mind the contrast between the steel-armored battleships
of the navies of the world of to-day and the wooden hulks which
prevailed up to that time. It is a long span of time from the battle of
brave Captain Reid in the harbor of Fayal in 1814 to the year 1861, but
during that half century little progress had been made in supplying the
ships of our navy with protecting devices, as there had likewise been
little occasion for naval warfare. In fact, outside of the Mexican War
and fights with the Indians, the country was at peace with itself as
well as with the outside world, and it was not until the great struggle
for the preservation of the Union called the whole country to arms, both
on sea and land, that the opportunity was again presented for the
shedding of additional lustre on our naval history.
The most thrilling and startling of all the events on the sea, during
this sanguinary conflict, followed when, at noon on March 8, 1862, a
novel craft, such as had never been seen before, was cut loose from her
moorings in Norfolk, and, after having steamed down the Elizabeth River,
was seen to head boldly for Newport News, where lay the United States
frigate "Congress" of fifty guns, under the command of Lieutenant Joseph
B. Smith, and the twenty-four gun sloop of war "Cumberland," in charge
of Lieutenant George U. Morris during the temporary absence of its
commander, William Radford, two of the fleet of national ships, all
riding at anchor in fancied security, without a thought of the death and
destruction which the appearance of the stranger portended. It was an
odd-looking craft--the "Merrimac," as it is generally called--more like
a house afloat than a war ship, and the officers of the Federal ships
were at first inclined to belittle its importance. The undertaking of
the "Merrimac" itself (or "Virginia," as she was called by the
Confederates) was one of great courage, the vessel in its last stages
having but just been converted into an iron-clad, in great haste, out of
the hulk of a sunken old style man-of-war (the "Merrimac"), which had
been raised by the Confederates. The experiment was a new one; the men
had not been drilled; its armament had never been tested, and its
commander, Commodore Buchanan, had only recently arisen from a sick-bed.
He had been a Union officer in the regular navy, and as such had placed
the entire naval service under great obligations in being the first to
have located the Naval Academy at Annapolis under a commission from the
Secretary of the Navy. When it was realized by the commanders of the
American ships that the "Merrimac" was steaming towards them in dead
earnest there was hurried preparation for the impending conflict, and as
she approached the "Cumberland" and the "Congress" they opened fire on
the huge craft, but their heavy projectiles glanced from her as if they
were paper balls. About 2:30 P.M. the "Merrimac," then within easy
range, opened fire on the "Cumberland," doing much damage. The two
Federal ships, which were only about one hundred feet away, then gave
the "Merrimac" full broadsides, but without the slightest effect, and
the latter craft mercilessly sent four shells crashing into the
"Congress," notwithstanding that Commodore Buchanan had a brother,
McKean Buchanan, paymaster on the "Congress,"--a harrowing illustration
of the horrifying encounters among the closest kindred in civil warfare.
After disabling the "Congress," the "Merrimac" directed her attention to
the "Cumberland," and under a full head of steam her iron prow or ram,
which projected four feet, struck the Federal ship "nearly at right
angles under the fore rigging in the starboard fore channels." I quote
further from Maclay's "History of the Navy": "The shock was scarcely
felt in the iron-clad, but in the 'Cumberland' it was terrific. The ship
heeled over to port and trembled as if she had struck a rock under full
sail, while the iron prow of the 'Merrimac' crushed through her side and
left a yawning chasm. In backing out of the 'Cumberland,' the 'Merrimac'
left her iron prow inside the doomed ship. Following up the blow by the
discharge of her bow gun, she backed clear of the wreck. In response to
a demand for surrender, Lieutenant Morris defiantly answered, 'Never!
I'll sink alongside.' * * * * The scene in the 'Cumberland' soon became
awful. One shell, bursting in the sick bay, killed or wounded four men
in their cots. More than a hundred of the crew very soon were killed or
wounded; the cockpit was crowded; the decks were slippery with blood and
were strewn with the dead and dying, while the inrushing waters and the
rapid settling of the ship too plainly indicated that she would soon go
to the bottom. In order to prevent the helpless wounded on the berth
deck from being drowned, they were lifted up on racks and mess chests,
and as the ship settled more and more they were removed from this
temporary refuge and carried on deck and placed amidship. This was all
that their shipmates could do for them, and when the ship finally went
down they perished in her."
After sinking the "Cumberland," the "Merrimac" again turned on the
"Congress" with her entire broadside and, owing to her own impervious
character, soon got the Federal ship into such condition,
notwithstanding the heroic defence of her men under Lieutenant Smith,
who soon was killed, that she had to surrender, and thereafter caught
fire from the hot shot of the enemy and was destroyed. The "Merrimac,"
now under the command of Lieutenant Jones, a rifle ball having struck
both Commodore Buchanan and Flag-Lieutenant Minor, not yet satisfied
with the destruction which she had wrought, then turned her attention to
the remaining Federal ships, the "Minnesota," "St. Lawrence" and
"Roanoke," and after having, with the assistance of some accompanying
Confederate gunboats, played havoc especially with the "Minnesota,"
about seven o'clock in the evening, owing to the ebbing tide, turned her
head towards Sewell's Point, where she anchored for the night, with the
intention of renewing her dread work on the following morning, after one
of the most disastrous days in the history of the Federal navy.
In selecting the destruction of the "Cumberland" by the "Merrimac" as
the subject of this painting, the artist showed his usual good judgment.
It was one of the earliest as well as most startling incidents of the
entire war, and in its effect in revolutionizing the construction not
only of our ships, but those of the world, easily holds first place in
all naval history. The picture is wonderfully painted and dramatically
handled and is considered by some critics the most interesting of the
series.
The huge, truncated bulk of the Confederate ram is shown in the act of
plunging her prow through the wooden hull of her opponent in the teeth
of a broadside of fire and shell. The contrast of colors and values is
forcibly expressed; the black soft coal smoke from the single stack of
the "Merrimac" drifts forward and envelopes her antagonist as the
cuttle-fish darkens the water that it may more easily destroy its
victim.
An examination of this painting is its best description. It is almost
impossible to paint in words the scene which the great artist has here
perpetuated with his brush. The water is incomparable and the effect of
the shipping as a background, the bright afternoon sun, with the stars
and stripes on the "Cumberland," and the stars and bars, the emblem of
the Confederacy, on the stern of the death-dealing Southern monster, the
crowded deck of the "Cumberland," in contrast with the apparently
unmanned craft of the enemy, all add to the thrilling and vivid effect
of the extraordinary combat itself.
When the news of the destruction wrought by the "Merrimac" reached the
North the general consternation was indescribable. At a hastily called
Cabinet meeting the then Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, is
reported to have said: "The 'Merrimac' will change the whole character
of the war; she will destroy every naval vessel; she will lay all
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." But the fate of the "Merrimac" was sealed, for while she was
being moulded out of the old Federal hulk into the terrifying ram, with
great ingenuity, by Constructor John L. Porter, with the assistance of
Chief Engineer William P. Williamson, after some rough drawings prepared
by Lieutenant John N. Brook, who originated the idea of her
construction, all then of the Confederate navy--through a strange
coincidence a genius had been at work in the North perfecting the
world-renowned little "Monitor," which was soon to meet the formidable
Southern iron-clad in battle, the history of which is suggested by the
next painting of the series. It is also strange that in two of the most
noted dramas in the records of our navy, the one above recounted, and
that, already referred to, in which Lieutenant Hobson later bore so
heroic a part, the most conspicuous objects were vessels which were both
known as the "Merrimac." The valor of Lieutenant Morris, in the part
which he bore in the defence of the "Cumberland," has been immortalized
not only through this canvas, but also through a special message of
Abraham Lincoln to Congress under date of December 10, 1862, as follows:
"In conformity to the law of July 16, 1862, I most cordially
recommend that Lieutenant-Commander George U. Morris, United States
Navy, receive a vote of thanks of Congress for the determined valor
and heroism displayed in his defence of the United States
ship-of-war 'Cumberland,' temporarily under his command, in the
naval engagement at Hampton Roads on the 8th March, 1862, with the
rebel iron-clad steam frigate 'Merrimac.'"
THE WHITE SQUADRON'S FAREWELL SALUTE
To the Body of
CAPTAIN JOHN ERICSSON
(_New York Bay, August 25, 1890_)
[Illustration: Copyright, 1891, by Edward Moran.]
XII.
THE WHITE SQUADRON'S FAREWELL SALUTE TO THE BODY OF CAPTAIN JOHN
ERICSSON.
_New York Bay, August 25, 1890._[O]
No more fitting funeral cortege could have been devised than the one
which, on August 25, 1890, conveyed to Sweden, to their last
resting-place, the remains of the great engineer, John Ericsson, whose
inventive genius had clad the wooden navies of the world in armor of
impenetrable iron and steel. Little had he dreamt when, in 1839, at the
age of thirty-six (he was born at Vermland, Sweden, on July 31, 1803) he
came to the United States in one of the old wooden ships of that day
after a weary journey of many weeks--as yet comparatively unknown to
fame--that at the time of his death, on March 8, 1889, in the city of
New York, almost twenty-seven years to a day after the epoch-making
battle of his "Monitor" with the "Merrimac," his name would be on every
tongue in every land, and that the Government of the United States would
deem it an honor to place the magnificent protected cruiser "Baltimore"
of the United States Navy at the disposal of his native country on his
farewell journey from our shores to his long home, amid the salutes, to
their flag-ship, of the other giants of the White Squadron and the
reverent tokens of grief and respect displayed on all the shipping in
the harbor, as the funeral convoy slowly plied her way towards the
ocean, with the flags of Sweden and the United States waving at half
mast over her decks.
It is this impressive panorama which the artist spreads before us in
this canvas, which was the sensation of the Spring exhibition of 1891 at
the National Academy of Design in New York. In this picture he has
delineated details of the shipping from sketches made by himself at the
time and a careful study of our war vessels, as holds likewise true of
the next succeeding and last picture of this series. There is something
impressively grand and solemn about this painting, associated as it is
with the story of the great inventor. The sky is superb, and the water
has that realistic motion without turbulence which only Edward Moran
could depict, while the white gleaming sister ships of the "Baltimore"
in the background on the right, the shipping in the harbor of all
descriptions and sizes in more sombre hue on the left, and the Statue of
Liberty looming up in the rear, stand like sentinels on guard as the
great white cruiser, with its flags at half mast and its stacks sending
forth, like a veil of mourning, a cloud of black smoke--ploughs with
foam encircled prow majestically through the water, like a great living,
breathing, moving thing.
As this creation of the artist perpetuates the tribute of national
gratitude to the great inventor of the first "Monitor," so, it may be
said, a fitting tribute has been paid to the picture itself through its
reproduction in a superb etching by another great American artist, his
own brother, Thomas Moran.
That the United States Navy should take so deep an interest in paying
the last honors to John Ericsson, with an Admiral of the Navy, Daniel L.
Braine, superintending the ceremonies, and a future Admiral, Winfield
Scott Schley, commanding the funeral convoy, is not surprising, for to
Ericsson it owed not only the bomb-proof floating fortresses of the
ocean, but the screw propeller, first applied in the construction of the
United States man-of-war "Princeton," with propelling machinery under
the water line out of the reach of shot. The first steam fire-engine
ever constructed in the United States was also the work of Ericsson in
1841, and many and varied were the other inventions of his creative
brain. But the greatest service rendered by Ericsson was in the
construction of the "Monitor," not only on account of the immediate,
almost inestimable benefit which it conferred in saving the United
States Navy from destruction by the Confederate iron-clad "Merrimac," in
1862, but also, still more, in view of the impetus which it gave to the
development of marine craft to their present perfection and in almost
revolutionizing the entire science of naval warfare.
When, at 8 o'clock on March 9, 1862, the "Merrimac," after the havoc
which she had wrought with the Federal ships on the evening before,
including the burning of the "Congress" and the sinking of the
"Cumberland," steamed out from the shore in order to continue her work
of destruction--which contemplated successively the annihilation of the
"Minnesota," the "Roanoke" and the "St. Lawrence," and would thus clear
the way for her intended attack on the capital of the nation--she was
surprised to discover a diminutive craft of peculiar construction,
almost sunk beneath the water line, with a strange-looking iron turret
in the centre, steaming boldly towards her from out the shadow of the
powerful frigate "Minnesota." The "Monitor" had sailed from New York
Harbor on March 6th, in tow of a tugboat, to brave the waters of the
Atlantic, although she was originally designed only for smooth inland
waters. Before she had passed Sandy Hook she received urgent despatches
to hurry to Washington and, after inconceivable hardships in the
towering seas of the Atlantic coast, arrived off Fortress Monroe about 9
o'clock in the evening of March 8th, where she heard for the first time
of the depredations of the "Merrimac" and witnessed the final
destruction of the "Congress" amid lurid flames and the bursting of her
own shells. Though worn out and disheartened in their own struggle for
life with the tempestuous billows of the ocean on this, her first trial
trip of thirty-six hours from New York until she reached the side of the
"Minnesota," the crew of the "Monitor," encouraged and reassured by its
heroic commander, Lieutenant John L. Worden, prepared for the expected
combat with their redoubtable opponent.
The eyes not only of the men in the shipping and on shore, both Union
and Confederate, but of the whole country, were anxiously centred on the
two iron-clads as they approached each other, and the little "Monitor"
hardly seemed a match for the huge craft of the Confederates, who looked
with contempt upon the diminutive "cheese box," as they called it, which
dared to take up the gage of battle with their formidable "Merrimac."
Soon, however, it became apparent that the prowess of the little Union
craft had been entirely underestimated, and in the combat which ensued
the very smallness of the "Monitor" gave her a great advantage, in the
swiftness of her movements, over her gigantic opponent, not unlike an
undersized but agile and skilful athlete in encounter with a large and
lumbering, though more powerful, antagonist. Lieutenant Worden was the
hero of the occasion in the rapidity of his manoeuvring, while
Lieutenant Jones, now in command of the "Merrimac," was surprised to
find that his shot made no impression on the "Monitor." After more than
two hours of incessant fighting, Lieutenant Worden having been
temporarily blinded through the powder from an exploding shell which
struck a sight-hole in the pilot-house of the "Monitor," through which
he was watching the enemy, its command devolved upon Lieutenant Greene.
As in the ensuing confusion the "Monitor" had drifted into shoal water,
where the "Merrimac" could not follow, the latter ship retired to the
shore, and although refitted and repaired for further combat she did not
again meet the "Monitor" in battle, and, on the evacuation of Norfolk by
the Confederates on the 10th of May following, they consigned her to
destruction.
The courage of Lieutenant Worden in the handling of the novel and
untested craft under his command, and his brave words--even when blinded
and wounded by the powder and particles from the shells of the enemy and
suffering intense pain--when he was told that the "Minnesota" had been
saved: "Then I can die happy,"--stamp him as worthy of a place in the
long list of our naval heroes.
It is not surprising that Abraham Lincoln, with his quick perception of
genuine merit, caused the following communication to be sent to
Lieutenant Worden:
"NAVY DEPARTMENT, _March 15, 1862_.
"_Lieutenant John L. Worden, United States Navy,
Commanding United States Steamer 'Monitor,'
Washington._
"_Sir_:
"The naval action which took place on the 10th[P] inst. between the
'Monitor' and 'Merrimac' at Hampton Roads, when your vessel, with
two guns, engaged a powerful armored steamer of at least eight
guns, and after a few hours' conflict repelled her formidable
antagonist, has excited general admiration and received the
applause of the whole country.
"The President directs me, while earnestly and deeply sympathizing
with you in the injuries which you have sustained, but which it is
believed are but temporary, to thank you and your command for the
heroism you have displayed and the great service you have rendered.
"The action of the 10th and the performance, power, and
capabilities of the 'Monitor' must effect a radical change in naval
warfare.
"Flag-Officer Goldsborough, in your absence, will be furnished by
the Department with a copy of this letter of thanks and instructed
to cause it to be read to the officers and crew of the 'Monitor.'
"I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
"GIDEON WELLES."
The President followed this up with a special message to Congress on
December 8, 1862, as follows:
"_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:
"In conformity to the law of July 16, 1862, I most cordially
recommend that Commander John L. Worden, United States Navy,
receive a vote of thanks of Congress for the eminent skill and
gallantry exhibited by him in the late remarkable battle between
the United States iron-clad steamer 'Monitor,' under his command,
and the rebel iron-clad steamer 'Merrimac,' in March last.
"The thanks of Congress for his services on the occasion referred
to were tendered by a resolution approved July 11, 1862, but the
recommendation is now specially made in order to comply with the
requirements of the ninth section of the act of July 16, 1862,
which is in the following words, viz.:
"'That any line officer of the Navy or Marine Corps may be advanced
one grade if upon recommendation of the President by name he
receives the thanks of Congress for highly distinguished conduct in
conflict with the enemy or for extraordinary heroism in the line of
his profession.'
"ABRAHAM LINCOLN."
In this fight the "Monitor" had been struck twenty-two times without
appreciable effect, the deepest indentation having been made by a shot
that penetrated the iron on her side to the depth of four inches. On the
"Merrimac" ninety-seven indentations of shot were found, twenty of which
were from the 11-inch guns of the "Monitor," which had shattered six of
the top layers of her iron plates.