Litchfield enquirer., 1862-03-20


 op 7rtE MONITOR Capt. Ericsson was present nt the meeting of the New York Chamber o1 Commerce. on Wednesday of last week, and read the following letter from Engineer Sinners oi the Monitor, ..ss s,,. -.-.s *a.3 Ar
 s InoS CLAD MONITOR,
 . HAMPTON ROADS, March g, 1862.
 Mr.Bsxh SrR. After stormy passage, whion T profeisthis to be the finest sea .boatI was ever fn, lMs fought the Msrrimac for more than three houfS tiaislforenoon, and sent her back to Nor folkSnzas sinking condition. Iron clad against iron clad. WelmanGuvred about the bay here, and went at each other with mutual ferceness I consider that both ships were we'll fought; we vert struck twenty-two times, pilot house twice surrst nine times; side armor eight times, deck thrss tines, The only vulnerable point was the pilot house. One of your great logs, made oi wrought ffnns I9 by 12 inches thick is broken in No. n Tho shot struck just outside of where the Captain had bis eye. and it has disabled him by destroying his left eye and temporarily blind ing thesother. The log is not quite in two, but is broken, and pressed inwards Il inches. Z, She triedvte run, us down, and sink us as she did the Cumberland yesterday, but she got the worst oi 1t. Her bow passed oyer our deck, and our sharp uppeE Adged side cut through the light iron shoe upon her stern, and well into her oak. She will not try that again. She gave us tremendous thufp, but did not injure us in the least We are just able to find the point of contact.
 The turret is 9 splendid structure. I don't think much of the shield, but the pendulums are Ane things, though cannot tell you how they wo.ltfstaAdihe shot, as they were not hit
 You were very correct in your estimate of the effect of shot upon the man on the inside of the turfst When 1t was struck near him. Three men were knocked down, of whom was one, the ethar two hsd to be carried below, but was not disabled Ut all, and the others recovered before the battle was eSer. Capt. Worden stationed himzslf It rhe pilot house, Green fired the guns, end turned the turret until the Captain was disabled, and was relieved by Greene when managed the turret myself, Master Stodden hav- 6ng been one of the two stunned men. -gFrg5r
 Capt Ericsson, l congratulate you upon your great success. Thousands have this day bless ed you. l 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 ar riva having it all her own way with our most powerful vessels. d, e. a ---z
 am, with much esteem, yer: t1aIy yours, '~ ~ VI f'ts&7's-s ALrAN c. SINNERS.
 Capt. Ericsson also stated that at first it was Tthoughtthat Capt. Worden had lost one of his eyes, but such proved fortunately not to have
 AstS tic damage to the turret, Capt. Ericsson explained that the part injured was an addition al protection placed upon the side of the struc-
 
 placed there to protect the turret. The turret vas strpng enough without it, but it was feared $hst, without something to break the concussion during an engagement, the men would be more likely to be deafened or knocked down. Before the Monitor left, he had charged the officers particularly, before they went into battle to ln- str,eE aIie men not to be frghtenedi in case there should be severe. shock. He told them that they need not be surprised if they should go down upon their knees, and not to be alarmed if the shock should stun them and knock them dowp,f they would get up again unharmed. Some of the men put the question, s Will the shot go through?" He assured them that all the shot would1stay on the outside. It would be no won- der that g man should be shocked by ball weighing l50 pounds, moving at the rate of 2.OO0 fectper second, should strike within foot of his head. h3e 7,s z>s-.sq- r.- ~---c
 h speakipg of the advantages ofthe turret of the Monitor, Capt. Ericsson said he had propos- cd to the Captain that the Sailing Maste or should during an engagement, attend to the telescope, and keep the turret moving. The telescope was so arranged that D man could, by looking through it, and turning little wheel within reach, keep the guns continually bearing upon the enemy while the Monitor is moving round her. This duty was admirably performed by the Sailing Master inthisinstance, and the guns were thus keptalways pointed at this pirate, for such he would call the Merrimac This novel movement must have astonishcd Capt. Buchanan, who found the M6uths of the bull dog pointed at him all the time. - s .~-,.
 Capt. Ericsson attributed great part of the success of the engagement to the skill of the engineer Sinners. II -.-,-
 Iaspeaking of the ability of the Monitor as a sazgoing vessel, he said that it foated on the water like corked bottle, and that it would re- quiFe sprcssure of 679,0O0 pounds to put her under. She can be wholly submerged, all cx- thA ,yrNL Lns. p.uk .amstery allows ample room for large number to stand upon.e .s--s.-,
 After reading the letter, Capt. Ericsson said, hhst in relation to the point Immediately under consideration whether the Monitor was capable of resisting the Merrimac, he would say that, had the guns of the Monitor been pointed lit tile lower she would have sunk the Merrimac.- MT. .Stimers calculated the distance but he put his gun in such position that when the shot struck the Merflmac they glanced off. instead of .peaatfsting as they would if they hit point blank. He fired fifty shots, and some of them took effegt--scyeral, no doubt entered the Mer- rimS6. Tho ricochet shots of the Monitor will be nearly parallel with the water line. He felt quite confident that the next time the Monitor got an opportunity she would sink the Merrimac, Hredicted that she wonld do it in the third
 There was another thing to be considered = They had on the Monitor fifteen wrought iron shot1 gapt.a Dahlgren was a little afraid of bursting his gun, and gave peremptoryT orders that these should not be used. The arnlor of the MerrimAc could not resist these shot, but would, be .psnetratcd by them. The next time thedMeAitor will uas he wrought iron shot, while the Merrimae is either advancing or re- krsshlns. s.siaae49 8ss9 @ .35s@2
 The paliadium, in speaking of The allotment systslh. says that sMessrs B. Bear dsley of West Winted, sud Charles E. Johnson of Norwich. al- lottmept commissioners for Connecticut. have just visited the 18th regiment, and met with great success. Three-qu&rters of the regiment have averaged $9 per month for each man. The whole amount allotted will be about $S,000- The paynaster gives to each soldier the amount he has allotted in sight draft, payable at tke sub-treasury in New York, (of course, honored and cashed at all the banks in the ntate,) to the order of the person who is designated.
 THE PREsEDExr AND CAPTAIN WoRpEN.--The Washington correspondent of the Philadelphia the Monitor, is in that city, the lion of the day.
 HIs syes which were injured by the flame of s1sllsxplosion, are kept closely bandaged, ,and troduced slLr. Lincoln the tears gushed from the Presidents eyes as he grasped his hand and sxslaimed, We owe it to you, sir, the preserya- tion of our navy I cannot thank you enough. :.
 .Et2@ss sss x StsF4 .@aas Fs s3ssas Stf& Efs7s
 In many of the correspondents' reports of. the engagement at Roanoke, nearly all the credit Mas given to the Hawkins Zouaves They are of course entitled to their share but letter from an officer in the on ra ;ror, a,t =, :t ,