Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1885-05-22

and put subordinate, it would not change
our relations in the least" OF Sheridan
he said: che is the peer of any soldier
living" He has said often he owed his .
own success to the able seconding he re-
ceived from his lieutenants and he said |
he could not sleep nights if through any
fault of his they failed of the promotion .
they had as fairly earned as he had his
own. Suppose Grant had instead always
said 81 destroyed the rebellion. Sher-
man and Sheridan and Thomas and
Meade were nothing. They were all mn
der me-generals only in name. TO me
alone is the honor due'-would he stand
where he does in the esteem of a grateful
people Captain Ericsson would appear
in a much better light, if instead of say
ing al cannot suggest single altera-
tion," to an article claiming "for one
man only--John Ericsson''-allth the renown
for the Monitor, he had admitted his in
debtedness to his associates and Cocoon
tractors, whose faith and energy and cap
ital enabled him to realize his concep-
ton.
We must say one thing more. We have
learned in our study of this subject a fact
new to us, and not mentioned in any
history of the Monitor or biography of
Ericsson that has come under our eye-a
fact which raises the question whether
Ericsson is justly entitled to be kept in all
respects so far foremost, as he has been,
as the inventor of the Monitor. That he
is a great and original inventor no intel
ligent man doubts-that he borrowed any
of the distinctive ideas embodied in the
Monitor we do not say. But it will be adj
mtted that the especially distinctive fea-
ture of the Monitor was the revolving
turret-and it is a fact shown by the Pat
ent Office records. that on the 18th of Janu-
airy, lS43-eighteen years before the war
Mr. Theodore X. Timby now of Wash
ington, ID. c., filed in the Patent Office, Il
cdrcdt for a revolving turret for War
purposes, and that patent for such a tur
ret, based on the description of the con
struction thereof contained in his caveat,
was issued to Mr. Timby in September
1862 and it is a further fact that Mr.
Timby claimed, AND WAS PAID, royalties
to the amount of $4,000, on Monitors
subsequent to the first constructed by the
same parties OF these parties Captain
Ericsson was one. He must have learned
then, if not before, that he was not the
original Inventor vi lIle T6NOlNlllR IuGGeU
The Engineer expressed surprise, in its
first article that Capt. Ericsson had never
received cent for the invention of the
Monitor system. The fact that its chief
feature had been patented before him, by
another man. may perhaps in part explain
that circumstance. 1t should certainly
teach him caution in claiming, or encour-
aging others to claim for him, al the hon
or due for the Monitor.
The above article has been submitted to
Hon. John +. Winslow, who returns it
with the following endorsements
POUGHKEEPsIE, n. Y, May Is, 1855.
G. q. Benedict, Esq, Editor Of the Burlington
Free Press, burlington, VI:
DEAR SIR: have to-day received and have
carefully read the proof slips of your article
entitled The First Monitor Once More" and
fully confirm the statements of fact therein
contained, and believe them to be incOn-
trOvcrtible. Your argument in their support
is clear and conclusive and is presented in II
spirit and tone that must command respect.
Very respectfully yours,
JOHN +. WINSLOw.