ARRIVAL OF THE "MONITOR" IN HAMPTON ROADS. 363

she was attacked by the Merrimack and two of the Confederate gun-boats, the Jamestown and Patrick Henry.' Fortunately, the water was so shallow that the Merrimack could not approach within a mile of her. She fought gallantly, and at dusk her assailants, considerably crippled, withdrew, and went up toward Norfolk. Marston did not get up in time with the Roanoke to join in the fight. His vessel was grounded, and so was the frigate St. Lawrence, towed by the gun-boat Cambridge, that was trying to join in the conflict.3

a March 8, 1862.

The night after the battle" was one of greatest anxiety to the loyal men on the northern borders of Hampton Roads. It was expected the savage Merrimack would bear down upon the fastgrounded Minnesota in the morning, destroy her and perhaps others of the squadron, escape to sea, and appear like a besom of destruction in the harbors of the seaboard cities of the North. There seemed to be no competent human agency near to avert these threatened disasters, when, at a little past midnight, a mysterious thing came in from the sea between the capes of Virginia, lighted on its way by the burning Congress, and appearing to the wondering eyes of sentinels, who had no warning of its existence nor its expected advent, like a supernatural

apparition. It was, indeed, a strange but substantial reality, for it was Ericsson's Monitor, on its trial trip to fulfil the stipulation of the contract with the Government, that she was not to be accepted until after a successful trial of her powers before the heaviest guns of the enemy, and at the shortest range. She was in command of Lieutenant John L. Worden, of the Navy, and had been towed to the Roads by the steamer Seth Low, with two others as a convoy. Her sea-worthiness had been tested by a heavy gale and rolling sea, that had been encountered on

JOHN ERICSSON.

her way from New York. Worden reported to the flag-officer in the Roads for orders on his arrival, and was immediately sent to aid the Minnesota. He was in conference with her commander (Captain Van Brunt) at two o'clock on Sunday morning. The Monitor lay alongside of the grounded vessel, "when," said Van Brunt afterward, "all on

¿March 9.

1 The armed vessels that assisted the Merrimack in her raid, were the Patrick Henry, Commander Tucker, 6 guns; Jamestown, Lieutenant-Commanding Barney. 2 guns; and Raleigh, Lieutenant-Commanding Alexander; Beaufort, Lieutenant-Commanding Parker, and Teazer, Lieutenant-Commanding Webb, each one gun.

2 Commodore Buchanan and several others on board the Merrimack were wounded. The Commander was so badly hurt that Captain Jones, his second in command, took charge of the vessels. Two of her guns were broken; her prow was twisted; some of her armor was damaged; her anchor and all the flag-staffs were shot away, and the smoke-stack and steam-pipe were riddled.-Report of Catesby Ap R. Jones to Flag Officer F. Forest, March 8. 1862.

Report of Flag-Officer John Marston to the Secretary of the Navy, March 9, 1862; also, of Lieutenants Morris and Pendergrast.

4 See page 865, volume I.

364 BATTLE BETWEEN THE "MONITOR" AND "MERRIMACK.”

board felt that we had a friend that would stand by us in an hour of trial."

That Sabbath morning dawned brightly. Before sunrise the dreaded Merrimack, with her attendants, was seen coming down the Elizabeth River again, to begin anew her savage work. The drums of the Minnesota beat to quarters, and the people hidden in the Monitor prepared for battle. As the Merrimack approached, the stern guns of the Minnesota were opened upon her, when the Monitor, to the astonishment of friend and foe, ran out and placed herself alongside the huge monster. She seemed like a pigmy at the foot of a giant. What she lacked in size she possessed in power, but it was power yet untried. It was immediately put forth. Her invulnerable. citadel began to move, and from it her guns hurled ponderous shot in quick succession. These were answered by broadsides from her antagonist; and in this close and deadly encounter, in which the blazes of opposing guns met each other, these strange combatants struggled for some time, each thoroughly illustrating the wonderful resisting power of armored ships, which had just been manifested in a less degree on the Tennessee River. Neither of the mailed gladiators was damaged in the terrible onset.

The Monitor now withdrew a little, and each commenced maneuvering for advantage of position. The Monitor sought her antagonist's port-holes, or some vulnerable part of her armor, that she might send a shot through to her vitals, while the Merrimack pounded her foe awfully with her heavy shot, some of them masses of iron weighing two hundred pounds each, and moving at the rate of two thousand feet in a second. They struck her deck and turret without bruising them, and many of the projectiles went over the little warrior that lay so close to the water's edge. Heavy round shot and conical bolts that struck the turret, glanced off as pebbles would fly from contact with solid granite, they receiving more harm than their intended victim."

The Merrimack was wasting precious time in fighting an invulnerable and more agile antagonist; so she left the Monitor, and again made, a furious assault on the grounded Minnesota. As she approached, Van Brunt opened upon her with all his broadside guns and a ten-inch pivot-gun,—“ a broadside," he said, "which would have blown out of the water any timber-built

1 The following description, by Captain Ericsson, will explain the way in which the guns of the Monitor were made to bear on her antagonist: "On one side of the turret there is a telescope, or reflector, the image being bent by a prism. The Sailing-Master, having nothing to do, was to turn the turret. He not only looked through the telescope, but. by means of a small wheel, turned the turret exactly where he liked. He did that to admiration, pointing exactly on the enemy. As the Monitor went round, the turret kept turning (it no doubt astonished Captain Buchanan), so that, wherever the Monitor was, in whatever position it was placed, the two bull-dogs kept looking at him all the time."

The Moritor had some wrought-iron shot, that were first forged into square blocks and then turned into spheres in a lathe, each weighing 184 pounds. These were not used, as the Dahlgren guns had not been tested with them. It was Ericsson's opinion that the armor of the Merrimack would have proved no defense against them.

MASHED BOLT.

2 The annexed picture shows the effect produced upon a 100-pound solid iron bolt, now in the Naval Museum at Washington City, by its striking the turret. It was mashed like a piece of lead, while the turret was uninjured by it. The effect of such a blow, as we shall observe hereafter, was somewhat stunning to persons within the turret. You were very correct," wrote Engineer Stimers to Captain Ericsson, "in your estimate of the effect of shot upon the man inside of the turret when it struck near him. Three men were knocked down, of whom I was one. The other two had to be carried below; but I was not disabled at all, and the others recovered before the battle was over."

END OF THE BATTLE IN HAMPTON ROADS.

365

ship in the world," but with very little effect. The Merrimack sent in return one of her terrible shells, that went crashing through the Minnesota to midships, exploding two charges of powder on its way, bursting in the boatswain's apartments, tearing four rooms all into one, and setting the ship on fire. The flames were soon extinguished. Another of her shells penetrated the boiler of the tug-boat Dragon and exploded it. Meanwhile at least fifty solid shot, from the Minnesota, had struck the Merrimack without the least effect, but her fiery little antagonist was bearing down upon her, and soon commanded her whole attention. The latter placed herself between the combatants, and compelled the Merrimack to change her position. In

so doing she grounded, when Van Brunt again brought all his guns to bear upon her. Her situation was a critical one, and as soon as she got afloat again she turned her prow toward Norfolk, when the Monitor gave chase. The monster suddenly turned upon its pursuer and ran with full speed upon the little warrior, its huge beak grating over the deck of the Monitor. It was more damaged by the contact than the vessel it assailed. This was instantly followed by the plunge of a heavy shot through the armor of the Merrimack, and the concentration of the guns of the latter on the turret and pilot-house of the Monitor. The encounter was desperate, but suddenly ceased, and the combatants withdrew; the Monitor making her way toward Fortress Monroe, and the Merrimack and her tenders toward Norfolk. The Minnesota, relieved of immediate danger, was lightened by throwing some heavy guns overboard, and was put afloat at two o'clock the next morning.'

During the combat, the gallant Captain Worden, whose record in the history of the Navy is without blemish as a man and a soldier, had suffered severely. He had stationed himself at the pilot-house, while Lieutenant Greene managed the guns, and Chief Engineer Alban C. Stimers, who was on board in the capacity of Government inspector, worked the turret. Nine

1 Report of Captain G. J. Van Brunt to the Secretary of the Navy, March 10, 1862; Letter of Engineer A. C. Stimers to Captain Ericsson, March 9; oral statements to the author by Captain Worden, and various accounts by contemporaries and eye-witnesses; also, Report of Lieutenant Jones to the Confederate "Secretary of the Navy" at the close of the first day's engagement.

366

THE COMBATANTS.-CAPTAIN WORDEN.

times that turret was struck by the Merrimack's projectiles. The side armor was hit eight times by them; three times they struck and glanced from the deck, and twice they gave the pilothouse-the most vulnerable pointa heavy blow. One of these struck fairly in front of the peep-hole, at which Worden was watching his foe. It shivered some cement, and cast it so violently in his face that it blinded him for several days, and so shocked him, that for a time he was insensible. In the turret, Stimers and two others were knocked down by the concussion, when it was struck; but, with the exception of Worden, no one was very seriously injured on board the Monitor. He was taken to Washington City, where, for a few days, his life was in peril, but he recovered and performed other gallant exploits during the war. His cour

JOHN L. WORDEN.2

age in going out upon the Atlantic at that stormy season, in an untried vessel of strange fashion, and his bold fight with and glorious success against the most formidable warrior then afloat, belonging to the Confederates, won for him the most unbounded admiration. It was felt that he was the savior of his country at a most critical period; for had the Merrimack not been checked as she was, who shall say what conquering power she might not then, before the National navy was much clad in armor, have exerted in securing a triumph for the conspirators? Worden the warrior, and Ericsson the inventor, shared in the public gratitude. On the day of the battle, Chief Engineer Stimers wrote to the latter, saying, "I congratulate you upon your great Thousands have this day blessed you. I have heard whole crews cheer you. Every man feels that you have saved this place to the nation by furnishing us with the means to whip an iron-clad frigate, that was, until our arrival, having it all her own way with our most powerful vessels."

success.

a March 9, 1862.

The Merrimack, whose exploits on Saturday had caused joy throughout the Confederacy, was so much disabled on Sunday,' and had acquired such a wholesome respect for the Monitor, that

1 Worden had no thought for himself. When he recovered from his insensibility, his first question was, Is the Minnesota safe?" He had been ordered to her assistance, and that was his special duty. When informed that he had not only saved that ship, but driven off the Merrimack, he said, "I don't care. then, what becomes of me." While lying in a critical state at Washington, he received the most assiduous attentions from everybody that could administer them; and it is said that the tender-hearted President, when he first visited him, wept like a father over the blinded hero, to whom he felt extremely grateful for his inestimable services for the National cause.

2 This is from a fine likeness of Captain Worden, taken before his injury on board the Monitor. 3"By this daring exploit," said the Norfolk Day Book, "we have raised the James River blockade without foreign assistance, and are likely, with the assistance of the Virginia [Merrimack], to keep open the communication." The Charleston Mercury said exultingly: "The iron-clad steamer Virginia cost $185,000 to fit her up, and in one day destroyed $1,000,000 worth of Yankee property." Even so late as the 11th, or two days after the Monitor had sent the Merrimack back to Norfolk a disheartened cripple, Jefferson Davis, in a message to the "Congress" at Richmond, claimed a triumph for the Confederates, saying, "The disparity of forces engaged did not justify the anticipation of so great a victory."

MOVEMENTS IN WESTERN VIRGINIA.

367

she did not again invite her little antagonist to combat,' and it was believed that the free navigation of the James River by the National gun-boats would speedily follow. Impressed with this idea, and influenced by the masterly movement of Johnston from Manassas, General McClellan somewhat changed his plan for moving on Richmond. He called a Council of War at Fairfax Court House, by which it was decided to go down the Chesapeake and debark the army at Fortress Monroe, instead of Urbana or Mob-Jack Bay, and from that point, as a base of supplies, press toward the Confederate capital. This plan was approved by the President, on the condition that a sufficient force should be left for the perfect security of Washington City, and to hold Manassas Junction.

a March 13.

Preparations for the new movement were immediately commenced. It was important for the security of Washington, to hold the Confederates in check in Western Virginia and in the Shenandoah Valley. Movements to this end had been made very soon after the close of the campaign in Western Virginia, recorded in Chapter IV. Early in January, the gallant and accomplished General Lander, who was suffering from a wound received in a skirmish at Edwards's Ferry, a few days after the battle of Ball's Bluff, in October, took command of a force to protect the Baltimore and Ohio Railway. He had a wily and energetic opponent in "Stonewall Jackson," who was endeavoring to gain what Floyd, and Wise, and Lee had lost, and to hold possession of the Shenandoah Valley. Lander, with a force of about four thousand men, made a series of rapid movements against him. With only four hundred horsemen, he dashed upon him in the night at Blooming Gap, in the middle of February, cap

Feb. 14.

tured seventeen of his commissioned

FREDERICK W. LANDER.

officers and nearly sixty of his rank and file, and compelled him to retire. Lander also occupied Romney, but fell back on the approach of Jackson's superior force, when the latter took post at Winchester.

Lander's career as an independent commander was short. His wound became painful from constant exertions, and this, with anxiety and exposure, brought on disease which assumed the form of a fatal congestion of the brain.

The huge prow of the Merrimack was twisted by her collision with her foe; her flag-staff and anchor were shot away; her pipes for smoke and steam were riddled; and her commander (Buchanan) and seven of her crew were killed and wounded. Another Confederate gun-boat lost six men. The entire loss of the Nationals, during the two days of conflict, was not much short of 400 men, besides the fine frigates Congress and Cumberland, the tug Dragon, and damage inflicted on the Minnesota, and the property in the two vessels first named.

2 General McClellan issued a stirring address to his soldiers, in the form of a General Order, in which he said: "For a long time I have kept you inactive, but not without a purpose. You were to be disciplined and instructed. The formidable artillery you now have had to be created. Other armies were to move and accomplish certain results. I have held you back that you might give the death-blow to the rebellion that has distracted our once happy country. The period of inaction has passed: I will bring you now face to face with the rebels, and only pray that God may defend the right."