Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1890-10-04
Ericsson and the Monitor.

AfuW iofh 4lmcs.
The name Of Ericsson will be manly
associated in popular estimation With
his planning OF the Monitor and her
successors, and undoubtedly 1t is bat
particular feature in his career Which
alone has inspired the present natilnal
demonstration Of respect to his menbry.
And, looking back twenty-eight yars
and more, the Importance at that lime
attributed TO the famous naval dfl Of
March 9, 1862, in Hampton Roats, is
seen not to have been exaggerated. The
ease with which the Merrimac hf de-
stroyed the Cumberland and Congress-
the day before she had demonstrated
her ability to sink or drive off tR en-
tire wooden feet Of naval v~esselsthere
assembled. The ruin which she Eould
thus have brought upon tnaj force
she could have repeated else
where. She probably could have
entered any harbor whose chan
mel was deep enough for her Saught
and have brought forts and citis under
her fire. Yet the moral ihfuenf OF the
Monitors success over the Mefimac IS
no less worthy Of consideratbn than
the material one. Had it beensudden-
ly disclosed to ~on-looking natbns that
the confederate government hid stolen
a march in the construction ~ofIronclads
and was practically master Of ghe naval
situation, the prospects OF Euppe inter
vention in the interest Of the south
might have been greatly Increased.
Even had not that indifference been at
taVnA AaA H. -.s,s-. u Al. I1.aA..Ia.
at confederate ports would have been
damaging to the cause OF tie govern
ment, while the operations against
Richmond and elsewhere along the
coast would have been seriously
checked.
To avoid this result there was but a
single source of reliance. Well did the
chamber OF m OF New York de-
clare, three days afterward, that TO the
genius and activity Of Ericsson alone
the people owed "their salvation from
a national disgrace and from disasters
from which otherwise there could have
been no remedy" that tie Monitor
will be forever mentioned;" finally
that the government should make TO
Captain Ericsson such suitable return
for his services as will evince the graft
tude of a great nation" In tho vote Of
thanks to Ericsson passed soon after by
congress, ''for the great service which
he has thus rendered TO the country
the same acknowledgment Of the utter
helplessness OF our wooden feet
was made, being declared that
the Merrimae was seemingly
irresistible by any other power
at our command" II was this
feature OF the contest which, coupled
with the small size of the Monitor,
looking like a cheese box on a raft"
compared with her Ourly antagonist,
that caused the combat 10 be likened in
popular comment TO that Of David and
Goliah. Indeed, the whole event was
one Of the most dramatic in the worlds
naval annals, the unlooked-fer appear
ance of the Monitor in hat hour Of
gloom making her triumph all the more
sensational. AS TO the practical value
of Ericsson's work, 1t finds adequate
witness, not only n the subsequent
naval history of our civil war, but in
the impress which it has left upon the
construction of battle ships the world
over to this day. The present temper
airy demonstration of national gratitude
should be promptly supplemented by a
OaFmanent mpmOrial.