Monitor – David J. Kent

CSS Virginia Abraham Lincoln spent much of his day on March 9, 1862 fretting over the battle of the ironclads. The Union ironclad Monitor had fought to a draw with the Confederate ironclad Virginia (former the USS Merrimack) at Hampton Roads, Virginia. The Virginia had been created from the burnt out hull of the Merrimack, left behind at Gosport Navy Yard at the beginning of the war after the state of Virginia seceded. The Merrimack was converted by the Confederate Navy into a seemingly indestructible metallic monster soon to prey on Union ships. Even though the ship was now officially the Virginia, the alliteration of Monitor and Merrimack (and the end of the Confederacy) means most people refer to the ship by its former name, both then and now.*

The day’s consternation started early as Lincoln received a report from General Wool at Fortress Monroe that the Merrimack had destroyed the USS Cumberland and the USS Congress, two Navy frigates, whose wooden hulls and lack of maneuverability were no match for the ironclad behemoth the Confederacy had created. A dispatch received later in the day, described the arrival of the Monitor in time to save USS Minnesota from destruction, then engagement in a pitched battle with the Merrimack. Both vessels were damaged and there was no clear winner. Ironically, both vessels would retreat for repairs and would never fight another battle before their destruction – the Monitor in a storm and the Merrimack/Virginia by its crew.

During the day there was quite some excitement in Washington. Hampton Roads is within easy steaming distance of the Capitol and many in the city were fearful it would simply come up the Potomac and attack. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton was particularly anxious about this possibility, and while there was no actual attempt to do so, the fear of an attack kept everyone busy. At one point, Lincoln took a carriage with Senator Browning to the Washington Navy Yard to confer with Commander John Dahlgren, a recurring technical advisor who Lincoln called on repeatedly. While Stanton began plans to block river traffic, word came in that relieved those fears. Lincoln followed reports from his regular perch in the War Department’s telegraph office.

Lincoln had played a major role in cutting through the mutual disgust between the Monitor‘s designer John Ericsson and the Navy Department – the Navy had scapegoated Ericsson for a cannon mishap on the USS Princeton in 1844, which resulted in the deaths of two cabinet members and nearly injuring then-President John Tyler – and he would play a major role in the destruction of the Merrimack/Virginia two months later. I’ll have more on that incident in Lincoln: The Fire of Genius.

*Sometimes the spelling leaves off the “k” to make it Merrimac, but having grown up near the Merrimack River for which it is named, the “k” stays in. To confuse matters more, there was a USS Merrimac during the Civil War, a sidewheel steamer first used by the Confederate Navy but captured and used by the United States Navy.

Pre-order Lincoln: The Fire of Genius now on Amazon and Barnes and Noble (click on the respective links to pre-order). The price is likely to drop before the final shipment, and any pre-orders will automatically get charged the lower price at fulfillment. Pre-ordering now helps the publisher get a sense of the interest, which could mean a bigger print run. So please go ahead and pre-order without worries. While you’re there, check out my other books.

The book is also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. That will also ensure you get informed of the release date AND will let you try for one of ten free hardcover copies of the book that I’ll be giving away this summer. I’ll also be giving away as many as a hundred e-books. [The book will also be put out on audio]

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

I’ll have much more about the book over the next few months, so join my mailing list here to keep informed.

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Abraham Lincoln had a particular affinity for ironclads, and today would bring him closer to both the Union ironclad Monitor and the CSS ironclad Virginia (formerly the Merrimack). On May 5, 1862, Lincoln, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, Secretary of the Treasury Salmon Chase, and other dignitaries set sail on the revenue cutter Miami. Their destination – destiny.

The day began with a visit from Lieutenant John Worden. Worden was recuperating after receiving wounds while commanding the Monitor against the Virginia at Hampton Roads in early March. The “battle of the ironclads” changed the Navy forever, as it became clear the old wooden sailing ships would not be able to withstand an onslaught from largely unassailable iron vessels. Worden had been in the pilot house of the Monitor when a shell from the Virginia struck, temporarily blinded as the two ships battled to a draw. Still with impaired eyesight (he would eventually recover), Worden stopped by to brief President Lincoln at the White House; tomorrow he would visit the Capitol.

USS Monitor deck

That evening Lincoln would be headed for Fort Monroe on the Miami. With driving rain and stormy seas, even Lincoln, who had spent much time on the waters as a flatboatman and river pilot, felt ill and unable to eat, according to Chase, who suffered the same fate. During their trip they stopped off to tour the eponymously-named ocean steamer provided to the navy by wealthy magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt. After arriving at Fort Monroe they sailed out into Hampton Roads and toured the Monitor, now improved with a new steam pump and engines in preparation for their next encounter with the Virginia. According to the Monitor‘s paymaster, William Keeler, Lincoln “examined these vessels with much care, making the most detailed inquiries as to their construction and operation.” He would have seen the dented turret made by the Virginia‘s cannonballs, along with the rebuilt and modified pilothouse where Lt. Worden had been injured.

As the week progressed, Lincoln would get close enough to see the Virginia sitting off Craney Island. The stage was set for another Monitor/Virginia battle, a battle that would never take place, in part due to Lincoln’s actions. In his book Lincoln Takes Command, Steve Norder describes how Lincoln served as his own commanding general in Hampton Roads, directing and pushing for the taking of Norfolk and the Gosport Navy Yard in nearby Portsmouth. He even guided a landing party on Confederate-held soil in search of a spot for the Union Army to make their trek into the city as it was being abandoned by the Confederates.

CSS Virginia

Meanwhile, all this activity being directed by Lincoln created problems for the CSS Virginia. Unwilling to take on the Monitor and its supporting ships, the Virginia‘s commander began preparations to run the ship up into the James River. Unfortunately, removing ballast to reduce how low the ship sat in the water made the Virginia neither capable of moving into shallower water nor in a position to fight its way out to the sea. Facing an unfathomable situation, commander Josiah Tattnall opted to save his crew for the future and destroy the Virginia to keep it out of Union hands. Lincoln and others could see the burning hulk from the Monitor and Fort Monroe. The Confederacy’s first ironclad was no more.

As they made their way back to Washington on the USS Baltimore, Secretary Chase wrote his daughter:

“So ended a brilliant week’s campaign of the President,” Chase wrote. He was “quite certain that if he [Lincoln] had not come down, Norfolk would still have been in the possession of the enemy & the Merrimac as grim & defiant & as much a terror as ever.”

This was the only case of a sitting president taking active command of troops in the field during a time of war. By the time Lincoln had returned to the Washington Navy Yard on May 12th, news of the capture of Norfolk and the destruction of the Virginia had already reached the city. Lincoln was greeted as a conquering hero. The Monitor never did get its second encounter with the Virginia, and it too would find a watery grave not long after in a storm. But the age of wooden sailing ships was over. The age of iron ships had begun.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!