i
a prelude to the peninsular campaign of april to june, 1862
by james kendall hosmer
obviously the capture of richmond was the proper objective in the offensive campaign in the east for which mcclellan had been so long preparing. the selection of that city by the confederacy for the seat of government caused all its interests to centre there; the maintenance of its capital, moreover, was essential to the good standing of the confederacy before europe, recognition from which was so earnestly desired. if the north could capture richmond, quite possibly nothing more would be necessary to crush the south. the protection of washington, too, could not be left at all in doubt. should that city be lost to the union, england and france might justly feel that the cause of the north was hopeless, and no longer refrain from intervention.
before washington, mcclellan and johnston faced each other throughout the fall of 1861, the latter having, in october, a force of 41,000, which later grew to 57,337.211 under johnston at the end of the year were three subordinates—jackson,275 in the valley of virginia; beauregard, about leesburg, near the potomac; and holmes, below washington, about acquia creek, where confederate batteries closed the potomac. mcclellan had fully twice as many men, an army well disciplined and equipped, devoted to their leader, and of fine morale. why could the army not be used? because the general always imagined before him a host of enemies that greatly outnumbered his own, and insisted on more men and a more perfect training before setting out. meantime he grew cavalier in his treatment of his superiors. the venerable scott, who now retired at seventy-five, had his last days embittered by the scant courtesy of the new commander, and even the president was slighted. “i will hold mcclellan’s horse for him if he will only win us victories,” said lincoln, with good-natured patience. in december, mcclellan fell ill, and all was in doubt. with the new year, 1862, prospects brightened for the union. the great successes in the west and south, ending with the capture of new orleans, brought cheer; at last the army of the potomac was in motion.
in march, johnston withdrew southward; and mcclellan, his command now restricted to the “army of the potomac,” as he had baptized his splendid creation, was ready for the long-delayed advance. lincoln, whose good sense when applied to warfare often, though not always, struck true, earnestly desired that richmond should be approached by a direct southward movement, washington being covered, while at the same time richmond was threatened. but mcclellan judged it better to proceed by the chesapeake, landing at the end of the peninsula running up between the york and james rivers, and marching against richmond from the east. much could be said in favor of this route: troops and supplies could be carried by water to the neighborhood of richmond without fatigue or danger. yet the president yielded reluctantly, fearing danger to washington, laying276 it down as fundamental that the capital must be protected by forty thousand men.
the peninsular campaign had a dramatic prelude. a necessary condition was a command of the waters, which was secured in early march by an event that startled the world. among the many disadvantages under which the south labored in her struggle with the north was a painful lack, as compared with her opponent, of factories, machine-shops, ship-yards, and skilled labor; yet determination and ingenuity brought about several wonderful fighting contrivances, of which the most remarkable was the virginia. the hull of the merrimac, a frigate of thirty-five hundred tons and forty guns, one of the most formidable vessels of the old navy, partly burned and afterward sunk at the evacuation of norfolk by the federals in april, 1861, was raised, and found to be sound enough for further use. good heads, among whom john m. brooke, manager of the tredegar iron works at richmond, was prominent, fitted to the hull a casemate, or box, pierced for cannon, and heavily plated with iron—the first effective armored ship. there was a frank farewell to masts, sails, and other former appliances for motion and management. the winds were superseded by steam, applied for the first time in naval warfare, not as auxiliary, but as the sole motive-power. one appliance of the virginia was, however, not a new invention, but a revival of a fighting arm common in the days of salamis and actium—a ram, projecting from the prow like that of an ancient galley.212 the craft was cumbrous, hard to steer, and provided with engines far too weak for her immense weight, but she had marvellous defensive power and was fast enough to approach and destroy any resisting sailing-ship.
hampton roads
on march 8th, from the direction of norfolk, the virginia, a mass low-lying upon the water, suddenly appeared277 before the astonished eyes of the federal onlookers in hampton roads.213 five stately wooden frigates lay at anchor off hampton, and they gallantly discharged their broadsides at this strange assailant, but the balls glanced harmless from her impenetrable back. she turned and pierced the cumberland with her ram, sending the frigate to the bottom; then she assailed the congress, which presently went up in flames; the brave crews as helpless as if their means of defence were bows and arrows. mistress of the situation, with three more frigates—minnesota, roanoke, and st. lawrence—aground on the shoals or offering a futile defiance, the virginia then withdrew for the day; she was certain of her prey and could afford to wait for a few hours, meanwhile making some changes which would render her more effective. vivid terror overspread the north as the news was despatched278 in the evening; and it was nowhere greater than in the cabinet-room at the white house, where lincoln anxiously studied upon means to meet the exigency; and stanton, pacing the room “like a caged lion,” predicted she would come up the potomac and shell washington.214
on the forenoon of march 9th, doing all things deliberately, as one that has no reason to hasten, the virginia again appeared and moved toward the minnesota, aground and apparently certain to become a helpless victim. suddenly in the path appeared a little craft scarcely one-fourth the size of the virginia, “a cheese-box on a raft,” as it will go down in history, the monitor, an iron-clad of another pattern. this vessel, undertaken as an experiment, and completed in one hundred days, was due to the genius and indomitable zeal of john ericsson, its designer. that it should have arrived from new york at this moment is one of the fateful accidents of history. a multitude beheld the encounter, from the ships close at hand, from the shores near and far. the superior size and armament of the virginia were neutralized by her unwieldiness and depth of draught. the monitor, more active, and passing everywhere over shoal or through channel, could elude or strike as she chose. neither had much power to harm the other; each crew behind its shield man?uvred and fired for the most part uninjured. worden, commander of the monitor, in his pilot-house at the bow, built of iron bars log-cabin fashion, received in the face, as he peered through the interstice, the blinding fire and smoke from a shell that struck within a few inches, but he escaped death. the casualties on the virginia were few. on the morning of that day both north and south believed that the confederacy was about to control the sea. the anticipation, whether hope or fear, vanished in the smoke of that day’s battle. with it, too, passed away the traditional beauty and romance of the old sea-service—the oakribbed279 and white-winged navies, whose dominion had been so long and picturesque, at last and forever gave way to steel and steam.215
ii
the battle described by captain worden and lieutenant greene of the monitor
by lucius e. chittenden
some weeks after the historic battle between the monitor and the merrimac in hampton roads, on march 9, 1862, the former vessel came to the washington navy-yard unchanged, in the same condition as when she discharged her parting shot at the merrimac. there she lay until her heroic commander had so far recovered from his injuries as to be able to rejoin his vessel. all leaves of absence had been revoked, the absentees had returned and were ready to welcome their captain. president lincoln, captain fox, and a limited number of captain worden’s personal friends had been invited to his informal reception. lieutenant greene received the president and the guests. he was a boy in years—not too young to volunteer, however, when volunteers were scarce, and to fight the merrimac during the last half of the battle, after the captain was disabled.
the president and the other guests stood on the deck, near the turret. the men were formed in lines, with their officers a little in advance, when captain worden ascended the gangway. the heavy guns in the navy-yard began firing the customary salute when he stepped upon the deck. one side of his face was permanently blackened by the powder shot into it from the muzzle of a cannon carrying a shell of one hundred pounds weight, discharged less than twenty yards away. the president280 advanced to welcome him, and introduced him to the few strangers present. the officers and men passed in review and were dismissed. then there was a scene worth witnessing. the old tars swarmed around their loved captain, they grasped his hand, crowded to touch him, thanked god for his recovery and return, and invoked blessings upon his head in the name of all the saints in the calendar. he called them by their names, had a pleasant word for each of them, and for a few moments we looked upon an exhibition of a species of affection that could only have been the product of a common danger.
when order was restored the president gave a brief sketch of captain worden’s career. commodore paulding had been the first, captain worden the second officer of the navy, he said, to give an unqualified opinion in favor of armored vessels. their opinions had been influential with him and with the board of construction. captain worden had volunteered to take command of the monitor, at the risk of his life and reputation, before her keel was laid. he had watched her construction, and his energy had made it possible to send her to sea in time to arrest the destructive operations of the merrimac. what he had done with a new crew, and a vessel of novel construction, we all know. he, the president, cordially acknowledged his indebtedness to captain worden, and he hoped the whole country would unite in the feeling of obligation. the debt was a heavy one, and would not be repudiated when its nature was understood. the details of the first battle between iron-clads would interest every one. at the request of captain fox, captain worden had consented to give an account of his voyage from new york to hampton roads, and of what had afterward happened there on board the monitor.
in an easy, conversational manner, without any effort at display, captain worden told the story, of which the following is the substance:
281 “i suppose,” he began, “that every one knows that we left new york harbor in some haste. we had information that the merrimac was nearly completed, and if we were to fight her on her first appearance we must be on the ground. the monitor had been hurried from the laying of her keel. her engines were new, and her machinery did not move smoothly. never was a vessel launched that so much needed trial-trips to test her machinery and get her crew accustomed to their novel duties. we went to sea practically without them. no part of the vessel was finished; there was one omission that was serious, and came very near causing her failure and the loss of many lives. in heavy weather it was intended that her hatches and all her openings should be closed and battened down. in that case all the men would be below, and would have to depend upon artificial ventilation. our machinery for that purpose proved wholly inadequate.
“we were in a heavy gale of wind as soon as we passed sandy hook. the vessel behaved splendidly. the seas rolled over her, and we found her the most comfortable vessel we had ever seen, except for the ventilation, which gave us more trouble than i have time to tell you about. we had to run into port and anchor on account of the weather, and, as you know, it was two o’clock in the morning of sunday before we were alongside the minnesota. captain van brunt gave us an account of saturday’s experience. he was very glad to make our acquaintance, and notified us that we must be prepared to receive the merrimac at daylight. we had had a very hard trip down the coast, and officers and men were weary and sleepy. but when informed that our fight would probably open at daylight, and that the monitor must be put in order, every man went to his post with a cheer. that night there was no sleep on board the monitor.
“in the gray of the early morning we saw a vessel approaching which our friends on the minnesota said282 was the merrimac. our fastenings were cast off, our machinery started, and we moved out to meet her half-way. we had come a long way to fight her, and did not intend to lose our opportunity.
“before showing you over the vessel, let me say that there were three possible points of weakness in the monitor, two of which might have been guarded against in her construction if there had been more time to perfect her plans. one of them was in the turret, which, as you see, is constructed of eight plates of inch iron—on the side of the ports, nine—set on end so as to break joints, and firmly bolted together, making a hollow cylinder eight inches thick. it rests on a metal ring on a vertical shaft, which is revolved by power from the boilers. if a projectile struck the turret at an acute angle, it was expected to glance off without doing damage. but what would happen if it was fired in a straight line to the centre of the turret, which in that case would receive the whole force of the blow? it might break off the bolt-heads on the interior, which, flying across, would kill the men at the guns; it might disarrange the revolving mechanism, and then we would be wholly disabled.
“i laid the monitor close alongside the merrimac, and gave her a shot. she returned our compliment by a shell, weighing one hundred and fifty pounds, fired when we were close together, which struck the turret so squarely that it received the whole force. here you see the scar, two and a half inches deep in the wrought iron, a perfect mould of the shell. if anything could test the turret, it was that shot. it did not start a rivet-head or a nut! it stunned the two men who were nearest where the ball struck, and that was all. i touched the lever—the turret revolved as smoothly as before. the turret had stood the test; i could mark that point of weakness off my list forever.
“you notice that the deck is joined to the side of the hull by a right angle, at what sailors call the ‘plank-shear.’283 if a projectile struck that angle, what would happen? it would not be deflected; its whole force would be expended there. it might open a seam in the hull below the water-line, or pierce the wooden hull, and sink us. here was our second point of weakness.
“i had decided how i would fight her in advance. i would keep the monitor moving in a circle, just large enough to give time for loading the guns. at the point where the circle impinged upon the merrimac our guns should be fired, and loaded while we were moving around the circuit. evidently the merrimac would return the compliment every time. at our second exchange of shots, she returning six or eight to our two, another of her large shells struck our ‘plank-shear’ at its angle, and tore up one of the deck-plates, as you see. the shell had struck what i believed to be the weakest point in the monitor. we had already learned that the merrimac swarmed with sharpshooters, for their bullets were constantly spattering against our turret and our deck. if a man showed himself on deck he would draw their fire. but i did not much consider the sharpshooters. it was my duty to investigate the effects of that shot. i ordered one of the pendulums to be hauled aside, and, crawling out of the port, walked to the side, laid down upon my chest, and examined it thoroughly. the hull was uninjured, except for a few splinters in the wood. i walked back and crawled into the turret—the bullets were falling on the iron deck all about me as thick as hailstones in a storm. none struck me, i suppose because the vessel was moving—and at the angle, and when i was lying on the deck, my body made a small mark difficult to hit. we gave them two more guns, and then i told the men, what was true, that the merrimac could not sink us if we let her pound us for a month. the men cheered; the knowledge put new life into all.
“we had more exchanges, and then the merrimac tried new tactics. she endeavored to ram us, to run us down.284 once she struck us about amidships with her iron ram. here you see its mark. it gave us a shock, pushed us around, and that was all the harm. but the movement placed our sides together. i gave her two guns, which i think lodged in her side, for, from my lookout crack, i could not see that either shot rebounded. ours being the smaller vessel, and more easily handled, i had no difficulty in avoiding her ram. i ran around her several times, planting our shot in what seemed to be the most vulnerable places. in this way, reserving my fire until i got the range and the mark, i planted two more shots almost in the very spot i had hit when she tried to ram us. those shots must have been effective, for they were followed by a shower of bars of iron.
“the third weak spot was our pilot-house. you see that it is built a little more than three feet above the deck, of bars of iron, ten by twelve inches square, built up like a log-house, bolted with very large bolts at the corners where the bars interlock. the pilot stands upon a platform below, his head and shoulders in the pilot-house. the upper tier of bars is separated from the second by an open space of an inch, through which the pilot may look out at every point of the compass. the pilot-house, as you see, is a four-square mass of iron, provided with no means of deflecting a ball. i expected trouble from it, and i was not disappointed. until my accident happened, as we approached the enemy i stood in the pilot-house and gave the signals. lieutenant greene fired the guns, and engineer stimers, here, revolved the turret.
“i was below the deck when the corner of the pilot-house was first struck by a shot or a shell. it either burst or was broken, and no harm was done. a short time after i had given the signal, and, with my eye close against the lookout crack, was watching the effect of our shot, when something happened to me—my part in the fight was ended. lieutenant greene, who fought the merrimac285 until she had no longer stomach for fighting, will tell you the rest of the story.”
can it be possible that this beardless boy fought one of the historic battles of the world? this was the thought of every one as the modest, diffident young greene was half pushed forward into the circle.
“i cannot add much to the captain’s story,” he began. “he had cut out the work for us, and we had only to follow his pattern. i kept the monitor either moving around the circle or around the enemy, and endeavored to place our shots as near her amidships as possible where captain worden believed he had already broken through her armor. we knew that she could not sink us, and i thought i would keep right on pounding her as long as she would stand it. there is really nothing new to be added to captain worden’s account. we could strike her wherever we chose; weary as they must have been, our men were full of enthusiasm, and i do not think we wasted a shot. once we ran out of the circle for a moment to adjust a piece of machinery, and i learn that some of our friends feared that we were drawing out of the fight. the merrimac took the opportunity to start for norfolk. as soon as our machinery was adjusted we followed her, and got near enough to give her a parting shot. but i was not familiar with the locality; there might be torpedoes planted in the channel, and i did not wish to take any risk of losing our vessel, so i came back to the company of our friends. but except that we were, all of us, tired and hungry when we came back to the minnesota at half-past 12 p.m., the monitor was just as well prepared to fight as she was at eight o’clock in the morning when she fired the first gun.”
we were then shown the injury to the pilot-house. the mark of the ball was plain upon the two upper bars, the principal impact being upon the lower of the two. this huge bar was broken in the middle, but held firmly at either end. the farther it was pressed in, the stronger286 was the resistance on the exterior. on the inside the fracture in the bar was half an inch wide. captain worden’s eye was very near to the lookout crack, so that when the gun was discharged the shock of the ball knocked him senseless, while the mass of flame filled one side of his face with coarse grains of powder. he remained insensible for some hours.
“have you heard what captain worden’s first inquiry was when he recovered his senses after the general shock to his system?” asked captain fox of the president.
“i think i have,” replied mr. lincoln, “but it is worth relating to these gentlemen.”
“his question was,” said captain fox, “‘have i saved the minnesota?’
“‘yes, and whipped the merrimac!’ some one answered.
“‘then,’ said captain worden, ‘i don’t care what becomes of me.’”
“mr. president,” said captain fox, “not much of the history to which we have listened is new to me. i saw this battle from eight o’clock until mid-day. there was one marvel in it which has not been mentioned—the splendid handling of the monitor throughout the battle. the first bold advance of this diminutive vessel against a giant like the merrimac was superlatively grand. she seemed inspired by nelson’s order at trafalgar: ‘he will make no mistake who lays his vessel alongside the enemy.’ one would have thought the monitor a living thing. no man was visible. you saw her moving around that circle, delivering her fire invariably at the point of contact, and heard the crash of the missile against her enemy’s armor above the thunder of her guns, on the bank where we stood. it was indescribably grand!
“now,” he continued, “standing here on the deck of this battle-scarred vessel, the first genuine iron-clad—the victor in the first fight of iron-clads—let me make a confession and perform an act of simple justice. i287 never fully believed in armored vessels until i saw this battle. i know all the facts which united to give us the monitor. i withhold no credit from captain ericsson, her inventor, but i know that the country is principally indebted for the construction of this vessel to president lincoln, and for the success of her trial to captain worden, her commander.”