The First Battle Between Ironclads- The Merrimack Versus The Monitor
"Such a craft as the eyes of a seaman
never looked upon before."
BATTLE OF THE IRONCLADS:
THE MERRIMACK VERSUS THE MONITOR
March 9, 1862
Hampton Roads, Virginia
CAPTAIN G. J. VAN BRUNT, U.S.N., AND LIEUTENANT JAMES H. ROCHELLE, C.S.N.
The Merrimack fought forthe South, the Monitor forthe North. The Merrimack, originally a Union ship, had been captured by the South and fitted with iron plates to make it "invincible (It had also been renamed the Virginia, a name that lacks the alliteration we remember today.) The innovative ironclad seemed to give the South a deadly advantage. It quickly won its first battles, with the Cumberland and Congress, and ran the Minnesota aground.
But in the North inventor John Ericsson had also been building an ironclad ship, from scratch. The odd-looking Monitor chugged to the rescue ~ the Minnesota. It was little more than a floating gun turret, but it was a match for the Merrimack. They fought to a draw. The Monitor had to retreat when its captain was partially blinded, but it had saved the Minnesota.
Captain Van Brunt was commander f the Minnesota. Lieutenant Rochelle served on the Patrick Henry, a Confederate ship that also fought in the battle. (He refers to the Merrimack as the Virginia.)
VAN BRUNT
On Saturday, the 8th instant, at 19 :45 P. M., three small steamers, in appearance, were discovered rounding Sewell's Point, and as soon as they came into full broadside view I was convinced that one was the iron-plated steam battery Merrimack, from the large size of her smoke pipe. They were heading for Newport News, and I immediately called all hands, slipped my cables, and got underway for that point to engage her. While rapidly passing Sewell's Point the rebels there opened fire upon us from a rifle battery, one shot from which going through and crippling my mainmast. I returned the fire with my broadside guns and forecastle pivot. We ran without further difficulty within about i 0 miles of Newport News, and there, unfortunately, grounded. The tide was running ebb, and although in the channel, there was not sufficient water for this ship, which draws 23 feet. I knew that the bottom was soft and lumpy, and endeavored to force the ship over, but found it impossible so to do.
At this time it was reported to me that the Merrimack had passed the frigate Congress and run into the sloop of war Cumberland, and in fifteen minutes after I saw the latter going down by the head. The Merrimack then hauled off, taking a position, and about 2:30 P. M. engaged the Congress, throwing shot and shell into her with terrific effect, while the shot from the Congress glanced from her iron-plated sloping sides without doing any apparent damage. At 3:30 P. M. the Congress was compelled to haul down her colors.
At ~ P.M. the Merrimack, Jamestown, and Patrick Henry bore down upon my vessel. Very fortunately the iron battery drew too much water to come within a mile of us. She took a position on my starboard bow, but did not fire with accuracy, and only one shot passed through the ship's bow.
The other two steamers took their position on my port bow and stern, and their fire did most damage in killing and wounding men, inasmuch as they fired with rifled guns; but with the heavy gun that I could bring to bear upon them I drove them off, one of them apparently in a crippled condition. I fired upon the Merrimack with my pivot I o-inch gun without apparent effect, and at j P.M. she too hauled off, and all three vessels steamed toward Norfolk. The tremendous firing of my broadside
guns had crowded me farther upon the mud bank, into which the ship seemed to have made for herself a cradle. From I 0 P. M., when the tide commenced to run flood until 4 A. M., I had all hands at work with steam tugs and hawsers, endeavoring to haul the ship off of the bank but without avail, and, as the tide had then fallen considerably, I suspended further operations at that time. At 2 A.M. the iron battery Monitor, Commander (Lieutenant) John L. Worden, which had arrived the previous evening at Hampton Roads, came alongside and reported for duty, and then all on board felt that we had a friend that would stand by us in our hour of trial.
RO C H £ L L E
The night after the battle the Confederate squadron anchored under Sewell's Point, at the mouth of Norfolk Harbor. There was little time for slumber that night, as the conflict was to be renewed the next morning, and it was necessary to make many repairs and preparations. About midnight a column of fire ascended in the darkness, followed by a terrific explosion. The Federal frigate Congress, which had been on fire all the evening had blown up, the fire having reached her magazine.
At the first peep of dawn on the 9th of March the Confederate squadron was underway, it having been determined to destroy the Minnesota, that vessel being still aground near Newport News. As the daylight increased the Minnesota was discovered in her old position, but the Minnesota was not the only thing to attract attention. Close alongside of her there lay such a craft as the eyes of a seaman never looked upon before
an immense shingle floating on the water, with a gigantic cheese box rising from its center; no sails, no wheels, no smokestack, no guns. What could it be? On board the Patrick Henry many were the surmises as to the strange craft. Some thought it a water tank sent to supply the Minnesota with water; others were of opinion that it was a floating magazine replenishing her exhausted stock of ammunition; a few visionary characters feebly intimated that it might be the Monitor which the Northern papers had been boasting about for a long time.
All doubts about the stranger were soon dispelled. As the Virginia steamed down upon the Minnesota the cheese box and shingle steamed out to meet her. It was indeed the Monitor, and then and there commenced the first combat that ~ad ever taken place between ironclads. The Patrick Henry and the other wooden vessels took little part in the events of the day, except to exchange shots with the Monitor at long range as she passed and repassed during her maneuvering with the Virginia.
VAN BRUNT
At 6 a.m. the enemy again appeared, coming down from Craney Island, and I beat to quarters, but they ran past my ship and were heading for Fortress Monroe, and the retreat was beaten to allow my men to get something to eat. The Merrimack ran down near to the Rip Raps, and then turned into the channel through which I had come. Again all hands were called to quarters, and when she approached within a mile of us I opened upon her with my stern guns and made signal to the Monitor to attack the enemy. She immediately ran down in my wake, right within the range of the Merrimack, completely covering my ship as far as was possible with her dimensions, and, much to my astonishment, laid herself right alongside of the Merrimack, and the contrast was that of a pigmy to a giant. Gun after gun was fired by the Monitor, which was returned with whole broadsides from the rebels with no more effect, apparently, than so many pebble-stones thrown by a child. After awhile they commenced maneuvering, and we could see the little battery point her bow for the rebels, with the intention, as I thought, of sending a shot through her bow porthole; then she would shoot by her and rake her through her stern.
In the meantime the rebel was pouring broadside after broadside, but almost all her shot flew over the little submerged propeller, and when they struck the bombproof tower the shot glanced off without producing any effect, clearly establishing the fact that wooden vessels can not contend successfully with ironclad ones; for never before was anything like it dreamed of by the greatest enthusiast in maritime warfare. The Merrimack, finding that she could make nothing of the Monitor, turned her attention once more to me. . . By the time she had fired her third shell the little Monitor had come down upon her, placing herself between us, and compelled her to change her position, in doing which she grounded, and again I poured into her all the guns which could be brought to bear upon her. As soon as she got off she stood down the bay, the little battery chasing her with all speed, when suddenly the Merrimack turned around and ran full speed into her antagonist. For a moment I was anxious, but instantly I saw a shot plunge into the iron roof of the Merrimack, which surely must have damaged her. For some time after the rebels concentrated their whole battery upon the tower and pilot house of the Monitor, and soon after the latter stood down for Fortress Monroe, and we thought it probable she had exhausted her supply of ammunition or sustained some injury.