The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1885-03-13
MONITOR AND MERRIMAC.
Union and Confederate Accounts
Of Their Fight.
The Union omcer,s Story.

The Union Officers Story.
The late Commodore S. d. Greene,
in the Century War Series, writes of the
fight between the vessels Monitor and
Merrimac. from which is taken the fol
lowing:
cit was at the close of this dispiriting
trial trip Cher voyage from New York;,
in which all hands had been exhausted
in their efforts to keep the novel craft
ahoat, that the Monitor passed Cape
Henry at four p. m. on Saturday,
March s. At this point was heard the
distant booming of heavy guns, which
our Captain rightly judged to be an en-
gagement with the Merrimac, twenty
miles away He at once ordered the
vessel stripped of her sea-rig, the tur-
ret keyed up, and every preparation
made for battle. AS we approached
Hampton Roads we could see the fine
old Congress burning brightly, and soon
n pilot came on board and told of the
arrival of the Merrimac, the disaster to
the Cumberland and the Congress, and
the dismay of the Union forces. The
Monitor was pushed with all haste and
reached the Roanoke Captain Mars
tom, anchored in the Roads, at nine y.
m. The dreary night dragged slowly
on; the officers and crew were up and
alert, to be ready for any emergency.
AT daylighS on Sunday the Merrimac
and her consorts were discovered at
anchor near Sewall's Point. At about
half-past seven o'clock the enemy's YES
sells got under way and steered in the
direction Of the Minnesota. AT the
same time the MonitSr got under way,
and her officers and crew took their sta
tions for battle
"Worden took his station in the pilot
house, and by his side were Howard.
the pilot, and Peter Williams, Quarter
master, who steered the vessel through
out the engagement My place was in
the turret, to work and fight the guns;
with me were Stoddard and Sinners
and sixteen brawny men, eight to each
gun.
"Worden steered direct for the enc
my's vessels, in order to meet and en-
gage them as far as possible from the
Minnesota, AS he approached, the
wooden vessels quickly turned and left.
Our Captain, to the establishment of
Captain Van Brunt Gas he states in his
official report), made straight for the
Merrimac, which had already com
menced firing; and when he came with
IN short range he changed his course SO
as to come alonside of her, stopped the
engine, and gave the order Commence
1iring? triced up the port, ran out
the gun, and taking deliberate aim,
pulled the lock string. The Merrimac
was quick TO reply, returning rafting
broadside (for she had ten guns to our
two), and the battle fairly began. The
turret and other parts of the ship were
heavily struck, but the shots did not
penetrate; the tower was intact, and it
continued to reyolye. A look of CON
tidence passed over the mems faces.
and we believed the Merrimac would
not repeat the work she had accom-
plished the day before.
1.-The fight continued with the ex-
change of broadsideS as fast as the
guns could be served and at very short
range, the distance between the vessels
frequently being not more than a few
yards. Worden skillfully unanswered
his quick-turning vessel, irving to find
some Vulnerable point in his adversary.
once ne made dash at her stern, hop
ing to disable his screw, which he thinks
he missed by not more than two feet.
Our shots ripped the iron of the Merrl-
mac, while the reverberation of her
shots against the tower caused anytbino
but pleasant sensation. While Stod-
dard, who was stationed at the machine
which controlled the revolving motion
OF the turret was incautiously leaning
against the side of the tower, a laroe
shot struck in the vicinity and disabled
him.
As the engagement continued the
working of the turret was not altooeth-
er satisfactory 1t was difficult to start
1t revolving, or, when once started, to
stoplt, on account of the imperfections
OF the novel machinery, which was now
undergoing its first trial Sinners was
an active, muscular man, and did his
utmost to control the motion of the tur-
ret; but, in spite of his effort. it was
difficult if not impossible to secure ac-
curate firing. The conditions were very
dliierent from those of an ordinary
broadside gun, under which we had
been trained on wooden ships NV
only view of the world outside of the
tower was over the muzzles of the guns,
which cleared the ports by few inches
only When the guns were run in the
por' aoles We're covered by heavy iron
pendulums, pierced with small holes to
allow the iron rammer and sponge
handles to protrude while they were In
use. To hoist these pendulums re-
CURED the entire guns crew and vastly
increased the work inside the turret.
The effect upon one shut up in !
revolving drum is perplexing, and it 4
not a simple matter to keep the bear
ings. White marks had been placed
upon the stationary deck immediately
below the turret to indicate the direc-
ton OF the starboard and port sides.
and the bow and stern; but these marks
were obliterated early in the action. 1
would continually ask the CAPTAIN:
How does the Merrimac bearp' He
replied: On the starboard BEAM or
'On the po-t quarter, as the case MIGHT
be. Then the difficulty was to deter
mine the direction of the starboard-
beam OF port-quarter, or any o,her